Two books and one movie were particularly informative and helped me understand certain important techniques that are used to create mysteries.  For example, in “And Then There Were None,” Agatha Christie provides clues to help the reader deduce who the murderer was.  Some of these clues were easier to figure out, while others were more complex and difficult; however, the clues continuously drew the reader in to try to solve the mystery.  It also gave me insight into character development and how character development can be used to present clues or create red herrings for the reader.  These same techniques can be seen in the film Murder on the Orient Express, which is based on Agatha Christie’s novel of the same name.  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was expert at candidly presenting clues to the reader of varied complexity.  The difficulty is discerning the clues and interpreting the meaning of those clues.  His Sherlock Holmes short stories are very helpful in developing my skills of deduction which will help me create my own clues and reasoning in my mystery.  

Knowing how much time I spent getting through plot in a number of the books I read, I would have started with some locked room mysteries and the Sherlock Holmes stories, which provide less plot and helps build clue identification and deciphering skills and techniques.  This would have helped me when reading the longer mystery novels in identifying what was truly important to the mystery as compared to the red herrings and macGuffins.  I will also be more selective with the movies I watch to make sure they are true mysteries and not simply suspense thrillers.

I have had the opportunity to watch a number of movies that I believed would be helpful in depicting certain techniques relating to my topic.  Having watched these movies, I have determined that a few did not provide much assistance including North by Northwest, which wasn’t a traditional mystery, but instead was an action thriller.  There were no techniques relating to mysteries or revealing clues to the audience.  The Maltese Falcon, showed the technique called the “MacGuffin,” as coined by Alfred Hitchcock.  This is where the storyline follows a specific object that obscures the main focus and goal of the protagonists, and is unimportant to the overall storyline.  In this case, the Maltese Falcon was the MacGuffin, and the real mystery was the murder of Sam Spade’s partner and the mystery woman’s involvement.  I plan to read shorter mystery stories, including “locked room” mysteries which I will take less time to read and provide better guidance relating to techniques for providing and revealing clues.   

The biggest obstacle so far is the extent of the materials and having to parse through numerous sources to narrow down my selection to the most relevant materials. I have also come up with some additional movies that I plan to watch, including, Fargo, Usual Suspects, Blue's Clues, Nancy Drew, and the new Sherlock Holmes movies. The other obstacle is convincing my parents that watching these movies is actually part of my school work. I already watched Thirty Nine Steps and have learned certain techniques used by filmmakers to create suspense and mystery. The main techniques used by Alfred Hitchcock in the movie was sound, switching screen shots between characters, presenting an important clue early on, but shifting focus off the clue and making ti seem insignificant. Sound is crucial in creating the mood of the scene. It can create suspense when needed, or frenzy during chase scenes. Also important during a chase scene was the constant change in camera focus. One second the camera would be focused on the main character, running for their life, then it would shift to the antagonists' pursuit. This along with the music created a sense of frenzy and excitement.  The movie opens with a show, which presents an important clue to the outcome of the movie.  hitchock creates a diversion by presenting another clue, which shifts the audiences' focus from the important clue.  Then about halfway through the movie, the protagonist starts whistling a tune, which is another important clue.  At eh end of the movie, he realizes where the tune came form and all the clues tie in to the surprise ending.  I would give more detail, but I wouldn't want to ruin the movie (or the show which is now playing on broadway) for any potential viewers.