(Alfred Hitchcock style)
1] Use the mind of the audience;
Consider how each scene affects the audience.
Engage them by the context.
`tease` the audience.
2] Frame for emotion;
Careful camera work - i.e. close ups etc.
Emotion directly from the actors eyes.
Sudden cuts = sudden surprise.
Strange angle = heighten dramatic meaning.
3] Pretend the camera is not a camera;
Let the camera take on human qualities.
Make the audience feel like they're involved.
Use of silence.
4] Dialogue mean nothing;
Facial expressions pull audience into a characters secretive world.
Focus of scene should never be on words being spoken.
5] Point of view editing;
Subjective cinema.
- take actors eyes, add something for them to look at.
Close up of actor. }
Cutting to shots of what's being seen } Builds tension
Cut back to actor to see reaction. }
6] Montage gives you control;
Control the timing.
Show various pieces of a scene.
"Transfer the menace on screen into the minds of the audience" - Hitchcock.
e.g. Psycho - the killing is not being shown, just before and after - the death takes place in the audiences' head.
7] Keep the story simple;
Simplistic, linear stories.
Easily followed.
Streamlined to offer maximum dramatic impact.
8] Characters must break cliché;
Opposite of what audience expects = more realism.
9] Make two things happen at one;
Contrasting situations.
Use two unrelated things.
Focussed on one, interrupted by another.
Dramatic counterpoint to real moment.
10] Suspense is information;
Showing what characters don't see.
Constant reminders of looming dangers.
Character completely unaware.
11] Surprise and twist;
Never end how expected.
(A version of the `Psycho` trailer - 1960)
Can you have a go at linking a Hitchcock trailer? It would be easier to analyse it and get comments from others.
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