I wanted to get an insight into how more films created suspense effectively as I had only looked at a smaller selection that I was more familiar with, that being Alien, 1917, other work by Ridley Scott and Neil Blomkamp's work alongside the two games Halo: ODST and Alien Isolation. I felt this would be good for any ideas on final improvements I could make to the current course of action. Thinking over films I had previously watched that I felt really handled suspense well brought one to mind, Knives Out. A film that handles suspense really well but in an interesting and unique way compared to other films I've looked at.
Knives Out
I wanted to talk about this film as it is one I've watched more recently so it's more fresh in my mind. There is one particular scene that came to mind which takes place at the climax of the film. The very basic summary for this scene is that Chris Evans' character is brought in and revealed to be the killer. Then he attacks the protagonist played by Ana De Armas with a knife that is revealed to be a fake.
What makes this scene and the majority of the film suspenseful once again relies on the idea of revealing information to the audience but it takes a slightly different approach. Throughout the film the audience are lead to believe that the protagonist is the killer, in the sense that she accidentally overdosed the victim on medicine. We for the most part follow her journey in the film and watch events unfold from her perspective. This helps create tension and suspense as she is seen as innocent by the detective running the case, since we know (or at least think we know) she's behind the death it means any close calls feel a lot more tense compared to if we were completely left in the dark and could only guess. It also makes the audience not want the information behind the murder to be found out, it flips the traditional narrative as naturally the audience usually wants to discover who actually did it. It makes the detective and the solution to the case feel like the antagonist for this film. It also creates suspense as the protagonist is a very morally good person, but throughout they are pushed to try and hide the truth and it's very tense to see how far she feels forced to go. Until the ending that is.
That's when the scene comes in, it suddenly reveals that Chris Evans' character is actually the one behind the death. What makes this suspenseful is the fact that it isn't as sudden as you realised. Throughout the film there is a lot of foreshadowing through dialogue and scenes that hint at him being the guilty party. It also reveals that many close calls for Ana De Armas' character was actually meant for the antagonist, such as a note from another character essentially blackmailing her revealed to not be directed at her at all. Then comes the moment where he attacks the protagonist with a fake knife. Very early on in the film the victim actually mentions how he can't even tell the difference between a fake knife and a real one, a very good example of the foreshadowing they use in the film. In this case most of the information is given to the audience subtly and that helps suspense as those with good ears will make some of these connections.
Overall this film created suspense through information that was misleading despite being relatively true. It brings a twist upon the method of giving the audience slightly more information than the characters and instead it makes them think this is the case. It essentially tricks the audience and this works really well. Whilst it isn't an idea that really works with my narrative, at least not without drastic changes, it gives me more insight into creative and unique ways filmmakers can create tension in their work.