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Psycho
Three scenes from Psycho demonstrate the Master of Suspense's expertise behind the camera. The scene in which Marion pulls up to the Bates Motel in the pouring rain is replete with anxiety and introduces the film's main setting and its characters, namely the Bates Motel and Norman. Lighting and mood are especially poignant in this early scene of the film. Next, the shower scene is probably the most famous murder scenes in cinema history and demonstrates the importance of both the musical score and editing techniques to conveying mood, theme, and plot. Finally, Arbogast's murder shares many elements in common with the shower scene, such as the music. However, it differs from the earlier scene in terms of pacing as well as camera angles and editing. Although the audience expects the immanent demise of the private investigator, Hitchcock still manages to imbue this scene with as much thrill and suspense as the shower scene.
No music plays as Marion stumbles upon the Bates Motel; the beating of pouring rain offers a percussive alternative to the moody violin music that accompanies many other scenes in Psycho. For the most part, the audience sees what Marion does as she pulls into the hotel: the windshield wipers improve her vision somewhat but the rain is extremely heavy. Moreover, it is nighttime, and both the weather...
As the car pulls into the driveway, the camera cuts between a shot of the neon sign and Marion's hesitant visage. A close up of her face reveals her trepidation even more. When Marion espies the house, the audience is also treated to an ELS of the mansion, which is framed in the sinister storm clouds of the creepy skies.
Norman rushes over from the house with an umbrella after Marion honks her horn. When she and Norman go through the formalities of registering in the office, the lighting is considerably brighter than it was outside. The camera reveals Marion's signature, as she offers a fake name. There is a remarkably brief yet entirely noticeable pause as Norman picks off one of the keys from the board; it is obvious he chooses the room intentionally. No music accompanies this scene; rather, it is imbued with uncomfortable silence and hesitation on both the part of Marion and Norman.
Hitchcock uses some foreshadowing in this scene, as when Norman turns the light on in the bathroom, gesturing to it. When they speak in her cabin, Norman's shadow looms eerily on the wall, suggestive of his shadowy nature. The cabin is unusually bright compared with most other scenes of the Bates Motel. As Marion hides the money in the newspaper, the violin music starts again, with a somber tone. However, when the haunted-looking house is shown again amid the stormy sky, the music stops so that a voice over of Norman conversing with his mother can be clearly heard.
Before Marion enters the shower, soft, suspenseful, and sinister music plays in the background. Norman lifts a painting to reveal a peephole, from which light streams in on Norman's face. The shot of Marion undressing is framed in a circle, as if we are seeing what Norman sees as he spies. The director cuts to an ECU of a…
However, in Psycho, the main character dies at the end of Act 1. Given that Psycho varies so significantly from Syd Field's classic three act paradigm, it is possible to define a new paradigm based on Pyscho's plot structure. Psycho follows Field's three act paradigm during Act 1, where the main character, and his or her situation, is outlined. However, the plot point at the end of Act 1 can
Psycho Alfred Hitchcok's Psycho was released in 1960, and encapsulates the social, psychological, and political tensions of the Cold War era. As Raubicheck and Serebnick point out, Psycho could have been a bridge to the 1960s but the film is "less linked to and reflective of the so-called radical sixties than they are of the more controlled fifties and possess more cultural texture of this earlier era," (17). The issues related
Film: The Historical Impact of Melodrama In the first half of the 19th century, classical cinema was the norm in the American film industry, and filmmakers had become accustomed to uniform styles for creating visuals and sounds used in making motion pictures. Due to the dominance of this distinctive cinematic style, viewers had come to anticipate certain stylistic choices for certain narratives. However, by the second half of the century, melodrama
The “mother” of all other horror movies, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho transformed the directorial, cinematographic, and narrative style of cinema (“Psycho - How Alfred Hitchcock Manipulates An Audience”). Especially in the way Hitchcock attempted to involve the audience directly by creating a subjective, unreliable narrator, it was possible to generate the intense suspense and tension that permeates the film. As a result, viewers place themselves into Marian’s shoes. Even though Hitchcock
In conclusion, costumes are used in two essential ways in the film. The first is that it reinforces the sense of normalcy and creates a background that juxtaposes and heightens the horror and drama of the film. The second use of costume in the way that Bates dresses as his mother is a complete transgression of normalcy and psychologically and socially diametrically opposed to the mundane costumes worn by the
Movie Analysis: Psycho (1960 film) The movie's most relevant cast for this discussion includes Norman, Norman's mother (Mrs. Bates), and Marion. After the death of his dad, Norman becomes entirely dependent on the love, attention, and support of his mother. It is for this reason that when she (Norman's mother) takes in a lover, Norman feels as if he is no longer a priority in his mother's life -- he feels