Alfred Hitchcock's Conventions

His Conventions:

Alfred Hitchcock was a believer that it was the implicit that evokes fear rather than the explicit. He was quoted saying "It's what you don't see that frightens you, what your mind fills in, the implicit usually being more terrifying than the explicit."

Alfred Hitchcock also created what is now known as the Ticking Bomb Theory. This is a theory using an analogy of a bomb, that it isn't actually the explosion that creates the tension, its the suspense in anticipation. He said "There's no terror in the bang, Only in the anticipation of it."

Hitchcock felt that music and sound is the true crux of any great movie, he felt that it was paramount in the success of creating tension, and evoking terror. He said "Music cannot stand apart from the movie. It's function is to set the mood and give continuity to separate strips of film. Silence is a sound too, for the composer, just as white is a colour for the painter."

Recurring themes in Hitchcock's films are also cases of mistaken identity, in almost all of his movies this theme reoccurs. Another recurring feature is the inclusion of a staircase. Hitchcock also frequently uses blonde haired women as the victims saying "They're like virgin snow that shows up in bloody footsteps."