Genre THRILLER

Introduction The genre thriller/suspense is widely used in cinema. I chose this genre because it always captivates me, especially the suspense, which leaves you thinking what's going to happen next. I am going to use Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘rear window’ as an example for this presentation which stars James Stewart and Grace Kelly

Rear Window. In this movie Hitchcock uses an effect called pure cinema. This is where there is no dialogue in the movie and the camera tells the story, he uses this effect for the opening scene of the movie. This would be using the suspense part of the genre I have chosen. as the movie progresses, the more thrilling it gets. it starts out, slow paced, just getting to know the characters, but as curiosity starts to settle in, so does the genre of suspense/thriller. L.B Jefferies (James Stewart) has been sitting in his apartment for the past six weeks because of a broken leg. From his rear window he can see into many of his neighbours apartments, and Hitchcock manages to show the personalities of these people using only the camera and no dialogue (pure cinema). As we get to know the other characters, he starts to sense that something's wrong in one of the other apartments, he thinks he has witnessed a murder. He even becomes so fascinated with it, that as hard as Lisa Freemont (Grace Kelly) tries to get his attention, he barely even notices. But just as he thinks he is onto something, and an old friend, a detective tells him he’s wrong, you would imagine he would be happy to think no one is murdered, he is disappointed and still searches for the truth. So Lisa starts to help him, even though she thought it was outrageous at first.

L.B Jefferies Jefferies was a photographer, and we can see at the start from his pictures, he's known for taking difficult pictures no one else can get. By being stuck in his apartment for the past six weeks, he relieves his boredom by looking at the lives of the other people in the apartments he can see out his rear window. Convinced that he witnessed a murder, he becomes so unaware of that other people are telling him he’s wrong, because its his first thrilling moment he had in the time he spent in his apartment. Knowing that Lisa is in love with him, he doesn’t feel she is right for him, even though he admits she is everything anybody would want, he wants to travel the world, while she wants him to stay with her, but as he realises she starts to change, he does fall for her, when she starts getting involved in stuff he thought only he would do.

Lisa Carol Freemont Lisa according to Jeffries, “She's too perfect, she's too talented, she's too beautiful, she's too sophisticated, she's too everything but what I want.” and she is clearly in love with Jefferies, she come into his house being everything he described in that sentence. She does a lot to get his attention, while he is absorbed into the thought of a murder that might have took in an apartment across from his, she is showing up to his apartment in stunning dresses, and bringing him up expensive food and buying him stuff. But as she realises its not working, she wants to change for him, so she gets involved in his assumption that someone may be murdered. She starts to take risks for him, leaving the audience concerned about her. But as she takes these risks Jefferies starts to take more notice to her than anything, and as we can see from the clip I showed you how distressed he was over her, nearly jumping out of his seat, as well as the audience.

The scene and genre. ( 1:33:20 - 1:37:55) In this scene we see Lisa sneak into Thorwald’s (the assumed murderer) apartment, the whole movie built up to these last couple of scenes, using a lot of suspense. she wanted to prove Jefferies theory right, they thought if they could find his wife's handbag with her make-up, jewellery and possibly a wedding ring, Jefferies could be right. And going by what Lisa said earlier in the movie “A woman never goes anywhere but the hospital without packing makeup, clothes, and jewellery.” Jefferies had distracted Thorwald by ringing him and telling him to meet him somewhere else, by telling him he knew what he done with his wife. He left his apartment and she snuck into it. She finds the hand bag and finds the jewellery, and tries to get out, only to hear Thorwald coming up to the door, meanwhile, Jefferies back at the flat can see everything that’s going on, and he cant do anything about it, but call the police. This would be one of the most thrilling parts of the movie, Thorwald walks into the room, while she tries to hide, he senses something is wrong, he spots her and grabs her and puts out the light, while she screams Jeffries name, he is left unable to do anything but watch, and realise it was him that got her into this mess. But thankfully the police arrive just in time. Leaving the audience sitting on the edge of their seats

Thriller/suspense in film This genre, covers a lot of movies, because its is very popular with audiences. Here are some examples over the past 50 years 1954 – rear window – sir Alfred Hitchcock 1960 – psycho – sir Alfred Hitchcock 1975 – jaws – Stephen Speilberg 1982 – first blood - Ted Kotcheff 1991 – point break - Kathryn Bigelow 2001 – vanilla sky – Cameron Crowe