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Apollo 13 Essay
Apollo 13 was one of the most terrifying and suspenseful events that happened in history. Directors and authors try their best to create an environment where the reader or viewer can feel they were there when it happened. The author or director creates suspense in many ways. In text the author may use descriptions, vivid verbs, phrases that cause fear, and frightening facts. In movies, directors can create suspense by using music, different angles with camera shots, lighting, and characters emotions.
In the book “The Race to Save Apollo 13” the author Michael Useem created suspense in multiple ways. One of those ways he created suspense was the phrases that would cause fear. One of the phrases is when Kranz was on the phone with Chris Kraft “…It seems there’s been an explosion.” This phrase creates suspense because it’s not specifically telling the reader what happened. It also makes the reader wonder what will happen next. In the movie, Apollo 13 directed by Ron Howard, there are different ways of how suspense was created. When astronaut Lovell tells Houston “there is something leaking into space”, the director used camera angles to create suspense. Ron Howard, the director, used a camera shot that showed the oxygen leaking into space. This makes the viewer be on the edge of their seat because they will want to know what will happen next. At both of these parts the author and director used different techniques to keep drawling in their audience.
Another example from the book where the author created suspense is when he writes “life support systems in rapid decline.” This phrase makes the reader infer that something terrible is about to happen. The word rapid describes the rate of which the support systems where declining at. This really makes the reader wonder and worry about the astronauts. Another example of how the director created suspense in

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