Alfred Hitchcock, a master of suspense and storytelling, offers invaluable insights for filmmakers. Here are 10 essential tips to elevate your filmmaking craft.
10 Filmmaking Tips From Alfred Hitchcock
It would be hard to find a director with more flair and more panache than Alfred Hitchcock. The guy basically made being a director the coolest job on the planet, and his vision and technical skill are pretty much unmatched.
Today, I wanted to look at 10 tips inspired by this Hitchcock video that will help you along with your filmmaking career.
Let’s dive in,
1. Create Suspense with the “Bomb Theory”
This is Hitchcock’s most famous principle that explains the difference between surprise and suspense.
- Surprise: A couple is talking at a table. Suddenly, a bomb hidden underneath explodes. The audience gets a 15-second shock.
- Suspense: The audience is shown that there’s a bomb under the table with a timer set to go off in five minutes. The characters, unaware, continue their mundane conversation about baseball. Now, the audience is in agony, mentally screaming, “Stop talking about baseball! There’s a bomb under the table!”
The key is to give the audience information that the characters don’t have. The audience becomes filled with anxiety and anticipation. Surprise is fleeting, but suspense can be stretched out to create unbearable tension.
2. Make the Audience Scream and Cry to Make Them Giggle
‘Rope’
Credit: Criterion
Hitchcock was the master of emotional catharsis. Sure, he subjected the audience to intense emotions like terror, dread, or profound sadness, but he always diffused it with humor or juxtaposition.
He took them to the edge and brought them back safely. And after a while, they trusted him to take them anywhere. This emotional rollercoaster is a deeply satisfying experience that audiences will pay to have again and again.
3. Disguise Exposition
‘Notorious’
Credit: Criterion
Exposition is the necessary background information that the audience needs to understand the story. But the worst way to deliver it is through characters telling each other things they already know or saying things “On the nose.”
Hitchcock’s advice is to disguise exposition as something else, like action or a series of conflicts.
Weave information into the drama so you can keep the audience engaged and allow them to piece things together themselves.
4. Direct the Audience, Not Just the Actors
‘Shadow of a Doubt’
Universal Pictures
An actor’s performance is just one tool in the filmmaker’s toolbox. A director’s primary job is to orchestrate the audience’s experience.
So, how do you do this?
- Framing and Composition: Using a close-up to emphasize a crucial object or a character’s reaction.
- Editing: Controlling the pace and rhythm of the scenes. Quick cuts heighten anxiety; long takes can build dread.
- Sound Design: Using music and sound effects to create a specific mood or signal danger.
- Point of View (POV): Forcing the audience to see the world through a character’s eyes, making them feel their fear and vulnerability directly.
5. The Importance of Audience Identification
‘Spellbound’ CREDIT: United Artists
Look, most people go to the movies to watch a story where they are interested in the characters.
So, how can you get them to identify with who is on screen?
Give us conflict and give us reasons to root for them.
The stronger the audience’s connection to the character, the more powerful their emotional response will be when that character is placed in jeopardy.
6. Prioritize the Emotional Response
The Birds
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Universal-International Pictures
The plot, the dialogue, and the special effects are all just vehicles to get an emotional response out of the audience.
So maximize that by asking yourself these questions:
- Does this camera angle make the character look powerful or weak?
- Does this music create a feeling of hope or dread?
- Does this line of dialogue reveal vulnerability or build tension?
7. Mystery vs. Suspense
Vertigo
Paramount
Hitchcock drew a sharp line between these two concepts.
- Mystery is an intellectual process. It’s a puzzle for the audience to solve, like a classic “whodunit.”
- Suspense is an emotional process. It’s about anxiety and anticipation. As explained in the Bomb Theory, suspense is generated when the audience knows more than the characters on screen.
A film can contain both, but suspense provides a much more visceral, gut-level experience for the audience.
8. The Kuleshov Effect: “Show, Don’t Tell”
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The Kuleshov Effect is a fundamental principle of film editing that audiences derive more meaning from the juxtaposition of two shots than from any single shot in isolation.
This is the ultimate “Show, don’t tell.”
It proves that meaning and emotion in film are constructed through editing, allowing filmmakers to guide the audience’s thoughts and feelings without any dialogue.
9. A Story Begins with a Couple of Sentences
How the Score of ‘Psycho’ Changed Movie Music Forever
Credit: Universal Pictures
If you can’t distill the essence of your story into one or two intriguing sentences, like a logline, then you might need to keep working on it.
A strong logline contains:
- The protagonist.
- Their goal.
- The primary conflict or obstacle.
Example (from Jaws): “When a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community, a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seaman must hunt the beast down before it kills again.”
10. A Clear Horizon for Creativity
‘Rear Window’
Paramount Pictures
Hitchcock believed that negative, consuming emotions like hatred, anger, and envy are “wasted energy.” You should always be working on yourself and your movies, not wasting time being jealous.
Creativity requires a free and open mind, not one constrained by negativity.
Summing It All Up
Hitchcock is one of those directors who reward you over and over when you watch his films. The tips he shares above work no matter what decade you’re making a movie.
Hopefully, they inspire you to do your best work and bring your own stories into Hollywood.
