Jeffrey Michael Bays - Poke the Tiger: Hitchcocks Suspense Techniques for Filmmakers

Bays has spent years studying and writing about the undisputed Master of Suspense. In this latest book, he takes his vast knowledge of Alfred Hitchcocks suspense techniques and shows us how to make our scripts more suspenseful and how to increase tension and suspense in the editing room.

PETER D. MARSHALL, filmmaker, author, Making the Magic Happen

Just as Jeffreys mother forced him to watch Rear Window as a teen, my mother said watch The Birds and Im forever thankful to both mothers for doing so. Jeffrey Michael Bays is the ultimate expert regarding Hitchcocks masterful filmmaking. Filmmakers, Hitchcock enthusiasts, film critics, and university media instructors like me need this book.

LAURIE SCHEER, author, The Writers Advantage

Suspense with a Camera is the new filmmaking bible for any director who wants to gain access to Alfred Hitchcocks suspenseful bag of tricks.

ALEX FERRARI, Indie Film Hustle

An invaluable book for anyone looking to understand and master the fine art of filmmaking.

STEVE LONGI, co-producer, Hacksaw Ridge

The insights provided are exemplary. Bays dissection and analysis of the Hitchcock craft should be mandatory reading for not just scholars of suspense, but for both aspiring and seasoned filmmakers hoping to hone their art by walking in the footsteps of the cinematic master.

ADAM ROCHE, The Secret History of Hollywood podcast

Bays has written a great book. He understands suspense in all the ways many people gloss over. The camera, music, photography, how to use actors, and many more ways to create suspense are here. He digs deep, we come up rich.

DAVE WATSON, author of Walkabout Undone; editor, Movies Matter

Bays has created a master class in suspense that is thorough, clear, and actionable. Suspense with a Camera is an essential read for modern filmmakers that reveals how to engage audiences through legendary director Alfred Hitchcocks classic, time-tested techniques. By investigating cinemas roots, the book serves as a powerful reminder of the wisdom that can be gained from studying the greats. It also suggests how the fundamentals of film could help chart a way forward for new forms of entertainment. There are valuable lessons here for every scholar and practitioner of film and future mediums.

MICHAEL KOEHLER, founder, Lights Film School

Bays latest book deftly and confidently maneuvers between theory and craftaccomplishing the remarkable task of not only illustrating Hitchcocks techniques but giving the reader a sense of how suspense works in general as well as the tools to implement it in their own films

JOHN P. HESS, FilmmakerIQ

No one knows and understands Hitchcocks train of thought better than Bays. Now that you are holding this book in your hands, walk to the front of the store and purchase this amazing resource. You will be very happy that you did.

FORRIS DAY, JR., host, Rolling Tape

Whether you are making a no-budget film in your backyard or a huge studio blockbuster you need to read Suspense with a Camera first. Filled with practical information on shots, composition, movement, and story that is required reading no matter what your genre. An advanced college film course that fits in a backpack and you can take to set every day!

WILLIAM C. MARTELL, writer, Hitchcock: Mastering Suspense

A manifesto for manipulating audiences. Bays makes the case for the essential nature of suspense as a filmmaking device, by positing a well-researched study that walks a tightrope between academia and practicality. Bays passion for Hitchcock and his techniques is so contagious, readers will have half a mind to set the book down and rush out to watch the entirety of Hitchcocks catalog, so they may see for themselves all that is laid out here.

CALEB HAMMOND, MovieMaker Magazine

Writers, directors, and editors of every genre can benefit from Jeffreys clear and practical breakdown of how to craft moments of suspense.

ANGELA BOURASSA, founder, la-screenwriter.com

SUSPENSE

WITH A CAMERA

- A FILMMAKERS GUIDE TO

HITCHCOCKS TECHNIQUES

JEFFREY MICHAEL BAYS

MICHAEL WIESE PRODUCTIONS

Published by Michael Wiese Productions

12400 Ventura Blvd. #1111

Studio City, CA 91604

(818) 379-8799, (818) 986-3408 (FAX)

www.mwp.com

Cover design by Johnny Ink. www.johnnyink.com

Interior design by William Morosi

Copyediting by David Wright

Printed by McNaughton & Gunn

Manufactured in the United States of America

Copyright 2017 by Jeffrey Michael Bays

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bays, Jeffrey Michael, 1977- author.

Title: Suspense with the camera : A filmmakers guide to Hitchcocks suspense techniques / Jeffrey Michael Bays.

Description: Studio City : Michael Wiese Productions, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017012769 | ISBN 9781615932733

Subjects: LCSH: Hitchcock, Alfred, 1899-1980--Criticism and interpretation. | Suspense in motion pictures, television, etc.

Classification: LCC PN1998.3.H58 B38 2017 | DDC 791.4302/33092--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017012769

Printed on Recycled Stock

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

BY FILM RIOTS RYAN CONNOLLY

MY FIRST HITCHCOCK EXPERIENCE was with Dial M for Murder (1954) during my early teenage years when a library card was like gold to me; not because I was an avid reader, but because I discovered that you could borrow films for free! (Side note for anyone reading this: you still can.) Even at that age I loved classic cinema, but I was always grading on a curve considering the era in which they were madeuntil I discovered Hitchcock.

Dial M completely blew me away. Here was this (at that time) forty-year-old film that still managed to hold me at the edge of my seat and pull me into the story just as much, if not more, than any film I had seen in recent memory. A classic film that was remarkable by any standard. After that, just like most, I faithfully worshiped at the cinematic alter of Hitchcock.

I found a new education in film by reading about his methods, studying his films, and listening to his candid interviews. His outlook on cinema completely changed and molded how I see and approach filmmaking today. One of his biggest influences on me came from his extreme focus on crafting an experience for the audience. Hitchcock had an understanding of his audience like no one else, and a great respect for them too. Thats a characteristic summed up nicely in one of my favorite quotes of his: A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter were worth it.

With that focus on providing a worthwhile experience for his audience, he mastered the art of drawing us in and filling us with suspense. He prolonged tension for the audience instead of just surprising them. Hitch believed that you can turn an ordinary conversation into something fascinating just by giving your audience a single piece of information. His example was, reveal to the audience that there is a bomb under a table where the conversation is taking place. Suddenly, what was a trivial chat is now the subject of great suspense. A recent example of this exact idea in practice is during the opening scene of Quentin Tarantinos