Marathon Man (1976) was produce by the conglomerate Paramount and directed by John Schlesinger. The classic Thriller has numerous scenes where suspense and high tension brews amongst its audience. I aim to explore three key examples where I believe suspense is most evident, successful and heightened.
A key scene where suspense is created is when two elderly men are arguing on a New York street, cross cutting is used to convey the action whilst medium shots focusing in and out of the characters arguing highlights this. Comedy is soon replaced by fear when the male behind rams in to the others car; diegetic sound emphasises the crash. An extreme close up shows incident followed by a cutaway of puzzled bystanders and a point of view shot of the aggressor; his victim drives away. This scene ends with an explosion as the pair collides into an oil canister, suspense is particularly created when victim tries to swallow a key that holds his wealth but inconveniently dies beforehand. An extreme close up of the remaining key combined with eerie non-diegetic music mounts suspense.
Diegetic sound of a black male playing ethnic drums in a dingy alley is semantic to voodoo and the audience suspect danger will soon follow. A tracking shot then follows the squeaky wheels of a black buggy; black connotes death. This parallel cutting switched to the victim. The buggy is depicted later in the sequence positioned next the targeted agent’s car. A zoom into the stranded buggy shows that it contains a doll, as its glassy eyes open we realise it’s a death trap. The digetic sound of a ticker bomb builds suspense until the black buggy explodes. The slow build up to the culminating scene creates suspense.
Suspense is again created towards the end of the film when the central character (Dustin Hoffman) is in a secluded suburb and becomes outnumbered by three rogue government agents. A long shot conveys him surrounded by the three agents. He then foolishly orders them into a unoccupied home, this mounts suspense as he audience realise that he’s inexperienced and sense danger. Later in the scene suspense and tension increased when Hoffman is compelled to kill all three agents-when they retaliate- in order to save his life. Diegetic sound of shots being fired highlight the danger and intensifies the suspense and tension.
These scenes convey key conventions of a thriller film which all mount tension for its audience and create a feeling of suspense. John Schlesinger achieves his aims of creating suspense mainly through the use of diegetic sound and camera shots as it mounts the feeling of unease and tension amongst its audience.
A key scene where suspense is created is when two elderly men are arguing on a New York street, cross cutting is used to convey the action whilst medium shots focusing in and out of the characters arguing highlights this. Comedy is soon replaced by fear when the male behind rams in to the others car; diegetic sound emphasises the crash. An extreme close up shows incident followed by a cutaway of puzzled bystanders and a point of view shot of the aggressor; his victim drives away. This scene ends with an explosion as the pair collides into an oil canister, suspense is particularly created when victim tries to swallow a key that holds his wealth but inconveniently dies beforehand. An extreme close up of the remaining key combined with eerie non-diegetic music mounts suspense.
Diegetic sound of a black male playing ethnic drums in a dingy alley is semantic to voodoo and the audience suspect danger will soon follow. A tracking shot then follows the squeaky wheels of a black buggy; black connotes death. This parallel cutting switched to the victim. The buggy is depicted later in the sequence positioned next the targeted agent’s car. A zoom into the stranded buggy shows that it contains a doll, as its glassy eyes open we realise it’s a death trap. The digetic sound of a ticker bomb builds suspense until the black buggy explodes. The slow build up to the culminating scene creates suspense.
Suspense is again created towards the end of the film when the central character (Dustin Hoffman) is in a secluded suburb and becomes outnumbered by three rogue government agents. A long shot conveys him surrounded by the three agents. He then foolishly orders them into a unoccupied home, this mounts suspense as he audience realise that he’s inexperienced and sense danger. Later in the scene suspense and tension increased when Hoffman is compelled to kill all three agents-when they retaliate- in order to save his life. Diegetic sound of shots being fired highlight the danger and intensifies the suspense and tension.
These scenes convey key conventions of a thriller film which all mount tension for its audience and create a feeling of suspense. John Schlesinger achieves his aims of creating suspense mainly through the use of diegetic sound and camera shots as it mounts the feeling of unease and tension amongst its audience.
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