Rebecca Mahoney's Fan Fiction Draft Plan

24 July 2013

I'm looking at Hitchcock films for my fan fiction, specifically North by Northwest and Rear Window.
Both of these films were made by Alfred Hitchcock in the late 1950's and early 1960's.

My main interest is in the way that Hitchcock manufactures suspense and how I can recreate that in a literary format. POV and Soundtrack are both visual features that Hitchcock's films heavily rely on to generate fear and suspense so my challenge will be creating the same effect without the visual cues.

Hitchcock as the 'Master of Suspense' employs a complex web of narrative features that position the audience as self-conscious voyeurs. He does this by aligning a character with the viewer and then making the audience privy to information not available to the character.

A classic example of this is the Psycho soundtrack. The famous shower scene is accompanied by high pitched violins that crescendo in volume until Marion is murdered. The soundtrack informs the audience that something terrible is going to happen and the audience automatically associates fear with the music each time it replays in the film.

I've got more research to do from here but looking forward to seeing how Brief 1 will take shape!

31 July 2013

Since last week's studio I've done a bit of research looking at Hitchcock's female characters and landed on this essay by Jodi Ramer (2004). It's based on a work by feminist literary theorist  Laura Mulvey that I was already familiar with called Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. 

While I don't one hundred percent agree with everything Mulvey says, it paints an interesting picture of Hitchcock's cinematic intentions and has definitely clarified the purpose of his female characters in his narratives. It's because of this that I want to focus my fan fiction around Eve Kendall, the female protagonist in North by Northwest.

To retain a cinematic quality in the fanfic, the narrative will be in third person. I feel like this might deviate from that film noir-ish idea of being inside the main character's head but I want it to feel as filmy as possible.

DRAFT PLOT SYNOPSIS

Eve is meeting Roger at a corner bistro on the Upper East Side.

She arrives first and sits at the mahogany panelled bar, orders a Tom Collins without the cherry.

Smoothes her dress and reapplies her crimson lipstick in the bar mirror from a small brown leather purse.  

Eve hands her coat and hat to the porter, one gloved hand pushing the back of her ice blonde hair off her bare shoulders.

As usual, her outfit was carefully considered: A cream silk dress, an off the shoulder bodice and a full skirt to the calf with matching gloves and black stilettos.

Across the bar a man sits having not removed his hat. His good eye is dark, the other covered by suede patch of indeterminable colour.  The one eyed man’s suit is double breasted and perfectly fit. He drains his martini and signals the barman for another, all the while his gaze not leaving Eve’s.

The cantilevered shutters cast dappled light across the room, the exhale of Eve’s cigarette sending striped clouds darting across the window.

She turns her attention to the door, where a couple enter arm in arm and are seated in a booth by the door.

The waiter presents a note on a small silver tray. Roger will be fifteen minutes late.

The one eyed man is still watching her. Feeling wary, Eve orders another Collins and sips it quietly, conscious of the man focus.

A siren wails in the distance.  

Eve retires to the powder room. Roger wouldn’t be long now. Her tortoiseshell comb catches a strand of hair by the nape of her neck and breaks.

Eve returns to the bar and the one eyed man has moved two seats closer.  Roger has not yet arrived.

Eve is deep in her thoughts when a grey Mercedes hurtles across the side walk and through the front window of the bar.

(7 August 2013)

A state of flux ensues. Drinkers and diners are enveloped by dust and broken glass, falling masonry narrowly missing scattered bodies and thumping onto the bonnet of the car. A steady stream of vapour cascades from the The smoke lifts and people stumble towards the clearing. 

Eve has surfaced unharmed from under the walnut booth she was thrown towards. The driver of the grey Mercedes is crumpled motionless over the steering wheel. She pulls away the badly damaged door and clears a hasty space on the ground to drag the man from his seat. 

*

Ten minutes earlier Roger Thornhill runs down Lexington. The billowing smoke from eight blocks in front sends panic through his body. A siren cries out not far ahead, piercing the intersection at East 73rd. Roger runs faster.

*

The driver is dead. He drops heavily to Eve's feet, his glassy eyes unresponsive. Reeling, Eve makes a discovery. The driver's hands are tied behind his back. Tucked into the knot fastening is a note. Trembling, Eve unfolds it. 

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, MISS KENDALL.

Stumbling backwards, Eve turns on her heel and flees the ruins of the diner. She hails a cab through the surging crowd and climbs in, failing to notice a man with an eye patch watching from the phone booth.

"To Grand Central. Now."

*

Gasping for air, Roger arrives to chaotic scene. Emergency staff are everywhere and the remaining rubberneckers are retreat back into apartments and stores. It takes Roger only a moment to realise that Eve is not there. Feeling ill, Roger bends over the curb and recomposes himself. 

Between his knees, a folded note flutters in the drain. He opens it at the same time the cold metal of a .38 revolver gently presses between his shoulder blades.

 *

THE END

To be written into fanfic format.