Suspense and Shock

Suspense is a state or feeling you get when you are excited or anxious if you are uncertain over what may happen next.

In North By North West, suspension was created in the crop duster scene. When Roger Thornhill was waiting to meet Caplin, there was a crop duster in the distance supposedly dusting crops. He walked over to a man who was waiting for a bus and just before the man got on the bus, he said "That's funny, that plane is dusting crops where there ain't no crops." So that made the audience wonder what the plane was doing, but then the plane started heading for Thornhill, and there was a massive escape scene where Thornhill had to try to get away from the plane, which created suspense for the audience wondered if he would survive or not.

Suspense was also created in The Birds when we saw the scene on the farm where a man was sitting in his house, dead, with his eyes pecked out. The mother walks up to his room, finds dead birds all around the room, the room was ruined, as though there was a fight, and a man had blood all down him, his clothes were ripped, and his eyes were pecked out. This created suspense for the audience wondered what had happened and whether the same was going to happen to the mother.

Shock is a surprising event or experience or a sudden upsetting. It is a feeling of disturbed surprise resulting from a sudden upsetting event, such as a death.

In North By North West, shock is shown when Eve shoots Roger and the audience are all surprised that he is dead, it was a massive shock to the audience for they do not think that the main character would die. Then in the next scene, we find out it was all a ruse and Eve and Roger were working together to fool the villains.

There was many shocks in The Birds, some with and some without suspense. Some shocks without suspense was when Melanie first got pecked by the bird, the attack of the birds at the children's party, and when the birds came down the chimney. However, the shocks with suspense was the school attack, when Annie was dead and when the gulls pecked out the farmer's eyes. The scene when the birds came down the chimney was very shocking for the audience was not expecting it; when Mitch pointed out a bird, Melanie was shocked, for she knew exactly what was going to happen, and then the birds just started pouring out of the chimney.