Suspense.

Suspense in media is something that if used correctly keeps us on the edge of our seats. It is a state of uncertainty and anxiety while creating tension in the viewer. It engages the audience and builds up their feelings towards certain actors. It also creates some sort of anticipation and keeps us locked into the action while we feel unable to help the actors with regard to what we see.

Suspense makes me feel conscious to what is around me while thinking what will happen in what i am watching/doing.

It is attractive to an audience because it will mean that they are hooked in what the are watching. You would more likely to see a film containing suspense because it would be more interesting and keep you satisfied for longer. Music and dark settings are the most common use of suspense

Elements in a film which could create suspense include; eerie music, shots of somebody where you cannot see their face, a silent scene and face paced action which builds up tension with the aid of music and pace increasing camera shots / editing.

Another way suspense can be created is through the use of a false plateau, this is where a full peak of suspense is created to the audieance but is in fact a trick and not the real peak of the scene, the real suspending ending action will occour after the false plateau at this point being much more effective at thrilling, shocking and scaring the audiance, the false plateau essentially lulls the audiance into a false sense of security, a good example is in Jaws (1975) where people on a beach beleive a shark is coming but it is infact two children in costume, a few miniutes later the real shark appears and kills a man.