With Halloween just a day away, now is a perfect time to talk about creating suspense in your film. in order to have suspense in your scenes, you have to leave the audience on the edge of their seat wondering what's going to happen next. Before you set the tone, you have to make sure the scene has conflict and serves a purpose. What is the character in the scene trying to achieve? What is standing in their way? What happens if they don't succeed? How do they feel in the scene? Not every scene in your script should create suspense, but the tone of the film has be to be same throughout the film
Suspense doesn't have to apply to horror films, but it can apply to any genre, even action movies. Let's take a look at Goldfinger (1964) for example. James Bond is strapped on a table under a laser that is slowly moving towards him. The only way he can escape the situation is to talk his way out to Goldfinger, but Goldfinger wants to see him suffer. Throughout the scene, the audience wonders how Bond is going to get out of the situation. Does he get sliced in half or does he survive?
When you are writing a scene that has suspense, don't make the suspense last too long or too short. You want to have the right amount of pacing to hold the audience's interest. Don't worry about making the scene perfect first time around. It's going to take some time to create suspense, but your hard work will pay off in the end.
Have any questions? Let me know! I'd be more than happy to help you out!