TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY - SUSPENSE ESSAY

As our final piece is going to be a spy-thriller, I had chosen Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as a film of reference. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the a suspenseful and sophisticated movie and would be a perfect suggestion for us to use in my opening sequence. TTSS bears various conventions which adds a great amount of suspense to the narrative and the techniques used in the film would very much prove useful in mine and my groups production.

How do conventions of a thriller genre create suspense?

Thriller films abide by conventions to portray mass amounts of suspense as suspense is a vital element in which a thriller narrative revolves around. Suspense perpetuates throughout the spy thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as the story is governed by a significant feature in which thriller incorporates: unawareness of forthcoming danger. As Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a espionage thriller, the narratives focus is on that suggested feature of the thriller genre as mystery serves a great importance to a spy thriller. These conventions are portrayed through camera work and misé en scene.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy establishes various high intensity camera work consisting close up shots and tracking shots. The close up shots applied to a film with such mystery is rather appropriate to output suspense as it is used to relay the thought processes occurring in the narrative and characters. There is a number of implied thought implemented in the narrative of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy therefore close ups are essential for in order to signal a deeper meaning in things. Close ups are also used in discussions at the table of the “circus” between the main characters with the protagonist, Smiley, as everyone in there is said to be a potential mole who had infiltrated their intelligence. The close up shot applied in these discussions are of great significance to the narrative of the film as this arouses suspense and suspicion supplementing a feeling of hostility and nihilism as the audience does not quite know who the mole is. A further sense of suspense is achieved by the use of tracking shots throughout the film. Tracking shots allow the audience to sustain a feeling of intensity whist a character or object is moving through the setting, and in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the tracking shot signifies pursuit. A pursuit in a fairly slow paced film is seen to evoke intensity and suspense as it conveys a progress to the narrative. There are various camera angles cutting between the tracking shots which increase the pace and feel of intensity of the narrative whilst also increasing suspense as we do not know what the subject is approaching.

A convention Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy falls under is the hostility the protagonist may feel. The protagonist is usually placed in an unexpected and threatening situation and in this case Smiley, who had just retired is pulled back in to do a job for which only he can do as he is now outside of the “circus”. With this we are indulged in the protagonist’s perspective of other characters in the film as everyone is a suspect which induces a great amount of fear and suspense.

How the misé en scene is conducted throughout the scenes presents a great sense of suspense. Particular iconography is implemented in the narrative to signify suspense in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The briefcase seen every time the film visits the “circus” represents intelligence either being exported or imported which coincides with the film’s narrative. This is a powerful suggestion of suspense as film tends to the curiosity of who the mole is and how much intelligence is he exporting from the “circus”. The lighting in the majority of the film is low key. This is a usual convention for thrillers, especially spy/espionage thrillers, as the low key lighting suggests a mystery or sorts existing in the narrative. This immediately imbues a sense of suspense as the low key lighting conveys connotations of mystery and intensity.