I’m thinking about the objects and non-humans and how they relate to the human protagonists. How do I make all of these public? How does science make its processes public- i.e. how does the narrative flow and progress?
The answer is suspense.
Today, the the film class instructor discussed two types of suspense:
Impure- broad suspense
-Delay
-Uncommunicative,
restrictive narration
keeps the audience in the
dark
-Viewer in a state of “anxious uncertainty”
This IMPURE type is largely the current state of affairs, I’d say.
Pure- local suspense
-Deadlines, Acceleration
-Highly communicative
narration keeps the
audience informed
-Viewer in a state of alert
attentiveness
The PURE type (e.g. Hitchcock) is perhaps what we are after in terms of making it public.
“Suspense is the most powerful means of holding onto the viewer’s
attention… It is indispensable that the public be made perfectly aware of all
the facts involved… [The] conditioning of the viewer is essential to the buildup
of suspense”
- Alfred Hitchcock
The pure type often involves cutting between the actions of the characters and other non-humans- clocks, trains, bombs, animals, etc…
The impure type focuses only on the protagonists so that when anything significant happens, it is a surprise to the viewer. As such, their responses can vary more widely depending their prior knowledge.
