PSYCHO ESSAY
PSYCHO
- Director - Alfred Hitchcock
- Film Release Date - 1960
- Genre: Mystery/Slasher
I have chosen Psycho because this is an iconic masterpiece by a very decorated director, this scene birthed ideas for new directors and this had a big imprint in the film industry, this film revised the standards for horror and suspense films.
“Psycho” is a 1960 American psychological mystery/slasher directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film follows a secretary by the name of Marion Crane who, after embezzling money, finds herself at an isolated motel with the motel 's troubled owner/manager, Norman Bates.
The famous “shower scene” features 77 camera angles and contains 50 different film cuts. Most of the shots are extreme close-ups, except for medium shots in the shower right before and after the murder.
The mixture of the close shots with their short period makes this film a more unique “alternative” than it would have been if the images were presented alone or in a wider angle.
The soundtrack, composed by musician Bernard Herrmann, consists of shrieking violins and cellos, it is a unique piece titled “The Murder” and adds to the drama by sounding like screaming and heightening the audiences sense of fear and apprehension.
Most of the film was shot with 50mm lenses on 35 mm cameras. This technique carefully lets the audience see the film as if they were watching a ‘live scene’. This has the effect of drawing the audience closer into the action and fully immersing them into the screening.
Shower scene, when Marion enters the bathroom, everything is shown completely white, which signifies purity, where as Marion is not pure so it shows she is taking a shower to clear all her sins, then the scene starts continuing in different shots and camera angles which may show that something is about to happen (yes it does), then there is a silhouette shot of Marion which signals things are going to go on a darker side than white. The use of close shots makes the scene feel a lot longer and makes the viewers feel like they are viewing a murder, Hitchcock is famous for getting audiences immersed into his films.
The murder ends with a medium shot where blood is pouring into the drain tub and which shows the end of her life as the shot transitions into her eye, slowly zooming out, showing her lifeless body as she lays draped over the bathtub with broken shower curtains on her.
“Psycho” is a 1960 American psychological mystery/slasher directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film follows a secretary by the name of Marion Crane who, after embezzling money, finds herself at an isolated motel with the motel 's troubled owner/manager, Norman Bates.
The famous “shower scene” features 77 camera angles and contains 50 different film cuts. Most of the shots are extreme close-ups, except for medium shots in the shower right before and after the murder.
The mixture of the close shots with their short period makes this film a more unique “alternative” than it would have been if the images were presented alone or in a wider angle.
The soundtrack, composed by musician Bernard Herrmann, consists of shrieking violins and cellos, it is a unique piece titled “The Murder” and adds to the drama by sounding like screaming and heightening the audiences sense of fear and apprehension.
Most of the film was shot with 50mm lenses on 35 mm cameras. This technique carefully lets the audience see the film as if they were watching a ‘live scene’. This has the effect of drawing the audience closer into the action and fully immersing them into the screening.
Shower scene, when Marion enters the bathroom, everything is shown completely white, which signifies purity, where as Marion is not pure so it shows she is taking a shower to clear all her sins, then the scene starts continuing in different shots and camera angles which may show that something is about to happen (yes it does), then there is a silhouette shot of Marion which signals things are going to go on a darker side than white. The use of close shots makes the scene feel a lot longer and makes the viewers feel like they are viewing a murder, Hitchcock is famous for getting audiences immersed into his films.
The murder ends with a medium shot where blood is pouring into the drain tub and which shows the end of her life as the shot transitions into her eye, slowly zooming out, showing her lifeless body as she lays draped over the bathtub with broken shower curtains on her.
Tension is a type of atmosphere that makes you, the audience, nervous
and expectant of a tragedy. This essay will explain how camera shots,
sounds and monochrome make the film, particularly the shower scene,
full of tension and one of the greatest films of all time.
The fear that Psycho creates for the audience does not arise from the brutality of the murders but from the subconscious identification with the film’s characters who all reflect one side of a collective character. Hitchcock enforces the idea that all the basic emotions and sentiments derived from the film can be felt by anyone as the unending battle between good and evil exists in all aspects of life. The effective use of character parallels and the creation of the audience’s subjective role in the plot allows, this makes Psycho one of the most profound Horror films ever made and has made its mark in history.
and expectant of a tragedy. This essay will explain how camera shots,
sounds and monochrome make the film, particularly the shower scene,
full of tension and one of the greatest films of all time.
The fear that Psycho creates for the audience does not arise from the brutality of the murders but from the subconscious identification with the film’s characters who all reflect one side of a collective character. Hitchcock enforces the idea that all the basic emotions and sentiments derived from the film can be felt by anyone as the unending battle between good and evil exists in all aspects of life. The effective use of character parallels and the creation of the audience’s subjective role in the plot allows, this makes Psycho one of the most profound Horror films ever made and has made its mark in history.
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