A Classic Alfred Hitchcock Plot Structure Device For Screenwriters by Michael Hauge

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MICHAEL HAUGE is a script consultant, story expert, author and lecturer who works with writers, filmmakers, marketers, business leaders, attorneys and public speakers, both in Hollywood and around the world. He has consulted on projects starring Morgan Freeman, Julia Roberts, Tom Cruise and Reese Witherspoon, and for Overbrook Entertainment, where he consulted on the scripts for (among many others) I AM LEGEND, HANCOCK, THE KARATE KID, SUICIDE SQUAD and BRIGHT, which is currently in production.
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[@scottslotterbeck3796]

Classic example: Touch of Evil, when we see a ticking bomb being placed in a car, but no one else sees it. Also great example of a long tracking shot.

[@alexispapageorgiou72]

These are executions of the past ... You take the idea, the technique... That's just my opinion anyways... For example, in the dark night, Nolan did this a million times better with the two ships. And that was a side story ffs, running simultaneously with the Batman and Joker skyscraper main action. Of course, that's the story everyone remembers I guess, so it's a two-edged knife and really shows the power of the technique and how ahead of his time Hitchcock was. Nolan also did it before the main plot point with the two bombs and the little twist about where Rachel and Harvey were kept. Again, a million times better than just showing a bomb under a table, especially out of the blue. Coen's also did this, and it lasted the whole film, with the introduction of the coin toss. Every time you saw that coin, you knew it was a 50/50. Blah, blah ... It would be nice if these professors modernize just a tad.

[@nerd_in_norway]

@@alexispapageorgiou72 Modernization is besides the point. Hitchcock used the bomb as a simple example that any fool can understand. Chris Nolan, as great as he is, doesn't come close to Hitchcock at the top of his game. The entire point of Hitchcock's example is that: THERE IS NO TERROR IN A BANG. THERE IS ONLY TERROR IN THE *ANTICIPATION* OF A BANG. Using the example with the boats in Nolan's Batman would just overcomplicate a very basic and simple rule too many filmmakers ignore, and a main reason this rule is getting ignored much too often by modern filmmakers, is because they've overcomplicated filmmaking, and losing sight of the stuff that truly matters: using the camera to create suspense. The example from Hitchcock would work even if you removed all sound and dialogue. The example from Nolan would be much more difficult to follow if you turned off the sound. Hitchcock's advice is pure visual cinematic suspense.

[@alexispapageorgiou72]

@@nerd_in_norway Thus modernization. We have more in our arsenal. Only a fool wouldn't use them. Feed the people!

[@stylelabyrinthg.8153]

The one example that comes to my mind at the moment is when Daisy Domergue from The Hateful 8 sees someone poisoning the coffee at the cabain.

[@nectarcape]

Or when the gun under the table is shown!

[@123rebelguy]

I hve seen hitchkok's "to catch a thief" and i thought it has every thing....such a underrated masterpiece ...

[@jasonkeene9834]

A Quiet Place. The nail.

[@brandonhicks9926]

Every Alfred Hitchcock movie ever has an example of this

[@smashcrookspranks]

This is by far the most brilliant person you guys have had on this channel. Everyone else is negative and distasteful.

[@scottslotterbeck3796]

Yeah, but Truby and so many others are brilliant. To be honest, I've probably learned more from Film Courage than any number of screenwriting books. (But I often buy their books anyway!)

[@melo86argh]

Superior position In the beginning of inglorious bastards by Tarantino... great example. Ticking clock exemplars are in every movie basically...

[@jackt8658]

Film Courage, Please keep going with those precious pieces of advice...this is truly great filmmaking treasure and is really needed out there.! Thank you !!

[@filmcourage]

Hi Jacob, thank you. When did you discover this channel?

[@jackt8658]

I guess it's been a few years now...one of the best channels in terms of directing and screenwriting tips ! I learned a lot, guys..! thank you again...

[@AllThingsFilm1]

All if these interviews around screen writing are such a tremendous help. Subbed to channel.

[@filmcourage]

Thanks for subscribing VFX Todd. If there is anything specific about screenwriting you would like us to cover, please let us know.

[@tansi8424]

Most of David Fincher's films have 'ticking clocks' to me, such as Se7en or Gone Girl. On the other hand "superior position" seems to be mostly used in horror movies like when the audience already knows that this mansion is haunted, or that a child is possessed.

[@ashtongrist]

I have the superior position of knowing that supernatural stuff is a load of bollocks

[@ConnerNielsen6]

Eye in the Sky was so great! I thought I was the only person who saw that

[@prathamraina9445]

mission impossible 1 the scene where Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is hanging with a rope. We've had a brief exposition of the three things that could go wrong 1) room temperature 2) voice and 3) motion detection. And apart from that you have the looming threat of the person who operates the room and the way that scene is handled.

[@stvp68]

Superior Position reminds me how much of realism is not actually reality, just realistic.

[@NatesFilmTutorials]

Brilliant! Thank you. :)

[@DaftRebel]

Speed, the 1994 film by Jan de Bont

[@LoudQuietVIDS]

I love your channel. Thanks!

[@shadethedon8351]

Jesus this guy is good !

[@judichristopher4604]

Oh my gosh... Michael Hauge is the Bomb... Thank YOU Film Courage for making this video.. Keep them coming... "Bravo"

[@2012XF3]

Suspense like this is great for a story im writing.

[@afrosymphony8207]

i dont know why i was grinning all through this lol

[@donkaiser3877]

Me too. Probably because it’s fun and comforting to be given sound advice from someone who knows what he’s talking about

[@Act2cam]

"Dramatic irony" explained

[@JEDIAL9]

The DEATH STAR in Star Wars! Thanks, Mr. Haug, I got it!

[@NeliaMTulik-nc2ht]

Fun trivia: that part, of the impending Death Star attack, was added in the second editing of the movie (which is why it is always in v.o. and we never see direct reactions of the characters other than generic expressions that were filmed). Originally they attacked it but the planet were the rebels were was not in danger. It is also a stellar example of why editing makes or breaks a movie.

[@abjames3098]

Apocalypto is a good example of a ticking clock.. The character in the movie, Jaguar Paw, has to try to get to his wife & child who he hid in a pit before the rain fills the pit and they drown... and Gibson continuously cut back to the pit and showed the water getting higher... then cut back to the conflict in the jungle and back and forth...

[@djacks247]

superior position reminds me of no country for old men. Anton Chigurh in the car accident.

[@elsilossos626]

Silence of the lamb, the night vision scene.

[@123rebelguy]

I like the video but i did'nt get how ticking clock, anticipation and superior position is structual device ?

[@joseafalvel]

This is my idol

[@jakmere]

superior postion sounds just like dramatic irony according to Professor Hauge

[@ComicPower]

Hitchcock was the master.

[@Nantchev]

Battle Royale and the poisoned noodles in the lighthouse.

[@dissolvemusicofficial7652]

Nantchev great and heartbreaking scene

[@TheTeamSX]

I always thought it was called Dramatic Irony.. What's the difference?

[@ashokallu123]

superior position is same as dramatic irony, when one of the characters on the screen doesn't know about something thing that the audience know in advance is called "Dramatic Irony"

[@DonovanPresents]

The clock throughout the TV series: "24"

[@donkaiser3877]

That’s a great example. Pretty ingenious television when you think about it. Talk about built in suspense every episode and every commercial break going to the sound of that clock 👍

[@venkatemadabathuni7670]

what do you mean by a ticking clock. can you Explain and give example.

[@filmcourage]

If you are familiar with Breaking Bad, Professor Peter Russell points out many of examples of ticking clocks in the pilot episode. Here is the link kzbin.info/www/bejne/hZOamoNugLKUbdE

[@KelleyNielsenSalticidSoft]

In the final moments of The Matrix, Neo is still in the Matrix while the Sentinels are breaking into the Nebuchadnezzar. If the crew sets off the EMP pulse to stop the Sentinels, it will also disable their own equipment, including Neo's link. So Neo has to finish his awakening, and his battle, and get out before the Sentinels destroy the Nebuchadnezzar. Meanwhile, the crew has to decide how long they are willing to wait for Neo, and how much danger they are willing to face to save him. The narrative keeps cutting back and forth between the two scenes to remind the audience of their progress.

[@venkatemadabathuni7670]

brilliant thank you.

[@SweDante]

Venkat Emadabathuni it's not rocket science to use Google you know :)

[@judichristopher4604]

Kelley Nielsen... "Way to go Girl..." Great Explanation... So True, So True

[@JoJo-xp6wr]

3:27 well, it was a flat table, the bomb was under the desk, just saying

[@BudsCartoon]

Can I be honest? I watched The Birds the other night (I saw it when I was a kid too) and it sucked. The middle was good, but the beginning sucked and the ending sucked. She meets a stranger and decides to drive 2 hours to take him some love birds. Then in full woman dress, she rents a small speedboat and just sails it across the sound. Then in the end of the movie, after a tiny bit of a bird attack while they are in the house, they just calmly get in the car and drive away. Wow.

[@donhooplah]

I feel duty bound to counter his recommendation of Eye in the Sky. Although it is certainly an example of what he is talking about it is also a complete mess of a film. Please please just go and watch some real Hitchcock (or anything else really)

[@churchofthesacreddrift3663]

How to write formulaic Hollywood crap 101.

[@clichyx]

This guy has a horribly commercial and sterile conception of film

[@blaisetelfer8499]

How so? Everything he says about creating anticipation and tension seems accurate