Suspense - what is it: a sense of horror or a movie reception?

If you try very easily to explain what suspense is in the cinema, then you can say - this is when the "breathtaking" when you whisper to the hero: "Do not go there!" Or "Turn around!", Bouncing in the chair. This inexorable rise in tense, anxious expectations, some kind of extraordinary anxiety, an anxiety that arises in the beholder. In the pronounced "sapens moments" the audience is involved in the action. The contemplator experiences as if he, and not the character of the film, are in danger, as if he is the most direct participant in all the events unfolding in the film. That is, the meaning of the term is the "weightless", "suspended" state of the individual, caused by the action on the screen. This is not meant to be suspended in space, but rather in time. Many directors often puzzle over how to achieve suspense, but you only need to become a "time master", that is, be able to compress or stretch time, change the perception of it by the viewer.

Origin and use

In English, the word exists from the fifteenth century, incidentally, with an accent on the second syllable. The term has Latin roots and originated from suspensus (literally "suspended"). And only in 1952 the concept was first used to designate the genre: suspense story, suspense thriller, suspense novel. Mostly it is used in horror films, thrillers and criminal insurgents, everything that was called "action movie" earlier. But modernity is amending, and now it is difficult to find a genre film that does not contain this technique. After all, he is one of the brightest and most powerful methods that allows you to intrigue, capture and retain the spectator's attention.

Examples in the author's cinema

To figure out for sure what suspense is, you can see some of the author's film projects. For example, Andrew Tarkovsky's film "Sacrifice", he is mostly built on this particular technique, it's not superfluous to mention "Stalker", this picture and to thrillers can be considered. It is worth noting that suspense was also used in the silent cinema. That this was possible, proves the picture of the Lumiere brothers "Arrival of the train", unquestionably the viewers at that time more than maximally got used to what is happening on the screen. The films of Tod Browning "Beyond the Law" (1920) and Fred S. Newmeier "Finally Safe" (1923) will also serve as an ideal proof of this fact.

King of horror, the standard of the thriller

Unsurpassed master of Horror - Alfred Hitchcock deservedly considered the king of suspense, his creative style irretrievably divided the movie into an elite and massive. This Anglo-American director, an ardent lover of detectives and all known Sigmund Freud, created a standard of the thriller. About the notorious author's style of Hitchcock says a whole galaxy of similar kinorabot, allowing them to distinguish them from the pictures of other directors. The style of the master is manifested in the repetition of certain plot motives, ways of presenting the material to the audience, unusual shooting techniques and even the type of actors. The great maestro of tension and forcing made millions of spectators tremble with fear. His work "The Habitant" (1926) is considered the primary source of suspense. Answering Hitchcock to the question: "Suspense - what is this?" - we can say that to achieve the effect of increasing tension, the viewer must know much more than the unhappy hero knows.

Another version

In another version of the development of suspense as a genre, his founder is David Lewelyn Wark Griffith, American director, screenwriter, actor, producer. The arguments are weighty enough: he was the first to use a close-up to achieve a special dramatic effect, pay close attention to the details that give the picture realism and allow the viewer to feel compassion for the characters, get used to what is happening. Also David was the first creatively and attentively to parallel editing. For the period from 1909 to 1912 he shot a whole series of short films on a single plot of the story - thrillers with the exciting effect of the emergence of help at the last moment: "Hardly escaped the danger", "The Lesser of Evils", "Telegraphist from Lawndale," "Girl and fidelity". Even under the name of some it is possible to state unequivocally - suspense. That this is nothing else confirms not only the parallel editing, but also the fact that at the culmination moment the shots become shorter and shorter, just so pumping up the most notorious tension. It is worth noting that if Hitchcock turned this device into his trademark sign, Griffith soon used it unconsciously, in a flash.

"Digital revolution" and the genre of mokyumentari

Today, the suspense genre, taking on arms mokyumentari and achieving the digital revolution, is evolving. Creation of the effect of presence, realism even more emotionally affects the audience. Traditional techniques described above, stop working, however, like films made in the style of "lost films." Those techniques that Hitchcock used, the modern spectator does not cause a panic, but a smile or bursts of laughter. In the sapens scenes, the directors increasingly use irony and humor for detente, such a combination (comedy and action scenes) can often be found in popular youth horror films. Here is a modern suspense. It's not worth to say that it's bad, time will put everything in its place.