Exploring How Hitchcock Creates Tension in Psycho
The film Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock is a horror movie about a
girl called Marion being dramatically killed in Norman Bates’s motel.
It was made in the 1960’s and still considered extremely scary because
of the techniques Hitchcock has used such as lighting, sound tracks,
costumes, the use of colours, weather, camera angles and music.
Hitchcock has been described as “the master of horror movies” because
he has perfected these techniques by using them at the right time and
place; also he has shown a lot of experience of making horror movies
within the other’s he has made.
Hitchcock used the plot to build tension. He relaxes us at first by
starting with a love scene, where Marion is in her underwear in a room
kissing with her boyfriend which leads us into a thought that it’s
going to be a romantic film with a happy ending. However, as the film
goes on so does the track of suspense which makes the audience feel
suspicious?
Hitchcock’s manipulation of soundtrack constructs tension at many
points.. Hitchcock has used this technique in the film in the shower
scene. While Marion was in the shower there was no music except for
the sound of the water and suddenly the music is loud, crashing and
brings terror to the audience as the murder occurs. This use of
soundtrack makes the audience comfortable at first and as soon as the
loud music comes in, it makes the audience fell menacing which makes
us jump but always acts as a contrast to the sharp music.
Hitchcock uses the costumes to be shocking and sometimes makes the
characters scary. For example he has used this technique for ...
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...rman Bates’s house next to the motel,
which showed a shadow of somebody walking past the window. This makes
us enquiring such as who lives is in the house or is the house owned
by ordinary people which has the effect of make the audience nervous.
This use of shots combines with other techniques, which creates the
overall effect of tension for the audience.
In conclusion, Alfred Hitchcock deserves his title of the ‘master of
horror movies’ because of the way he builds up to tension to the main
scene in the shower. He drags tension rapidly when the audience feels
relaxed to make us jump. He tries to makes us suspicious at a maximum
level, by combining different techniques in one scene. At his moment I
thkn the best part of the film would be where Hitchcock has mislead
the audience that it is a story of a stealng scene.
Through the use of irony, mis en scene and recurring symbols, Hitchcock has reinforced the fundamental idea of duality throughout his film, Psycho. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960’s American psychological horror thriller, was one of the most awarded films of its time, proposing contrasting connections between characters, Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh, and cinematic/film techniques to develop this idea. Irony identifies contrasts between the dual personalities of Marion Crane and Norman Bates, often foreshadowing the future events of the film. Mis en scene is particularly influential to enforcing the idea of duality, evidently shown through the music and diegetic sounds used. The recurring symbols including the mirrors and specifically the birds, underpin a representation of the character’s dual personalities. Hitchcock’s use of devices reinforces the dual personalities of characters Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh.
Film Analysis of Psycho When ‘Psycho’ was first screened in New York on 16th June 1960, it was
Hitchcock employs the notion of the capability of isolation to create conflict and fear. Isolation is apparent in the crop dusting scene due to the lack of people and buildings which juxtaposes to the busy streets of New York City earlier in the film. An establishing shot of the empty desert and Thornhill standing on the road alone, implies that Thornhill is insignificant and isolated as the scene is predominantly the landscape. A long shot of Thornhill and an unknown character in a “typical standoff” scene creates tension and fear for the audience. As the two men speak, non-diegetic sounds of a plane becomes prevalent. When the man says “I’ve seen worse” in response to Rodgers question, this is a foreshadowing of the crop dusting plane attack
Development of Suspense by Hitchcock in Psycho 'Psycho,' the somewhat infamous film by Alfred Hitchcock was produced in 1961, a time when the American censors, The Hays Office, still dominated the film industry with their strict rules and principles. It earned its notoriety by defying the traditional cinematic convections of that time and pushing the boundaries of what could be shown in mainstream cinema. The rules implemented by The Hays Office were far stricter than they are today, and Hitchcock uses all available means to reach and go slightly beyond the set limit. Using clever and different camera angles, he implies things that are not shown. He proves that innuendoes can portray the same image and retract the same audience responses as blatant actions and pictures.
And last but not least is the villain in these movies. Most of the killers in these films are portrayed as mentally deranged and/or has some type of facial or bodily deformation and who have been traumatized at an early age. Even though these characters terrorized and murder people they have taken on the persona of anti-heroes in pop culture. Characters like Halloween’s Michael Myers, A Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger and Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees have become the reason to go see these movies. However, over time,”their familiarity and the audience’s ability to identify and sympathize with them over the protagonist made these villains less threatening (Slasher Film (5))”.
bank. Marion went home there was a close up shot on the money then on
shots in the film was the extreme close up of Bates eye when he was
PSYCHO is a unique film because it is a black and white film in the
Cinematography of Hitchcocks Psycho Alfred Hitchcock is renown as a master cinematographer (and editor), notwithstanding his overall brilliance in the craft of film. His choice of black and white film for 1960 was regarded within the film industry as unconventional since color was perhaps at least five years the new standard. But this worked tremendously well. After all, despite the typical filmgoer’s dislike for black and white film, Psycho is popularly heralded among film buffs as his finest cinematic achievement; so much so, that the man, a big
It looks like a normal house, like one you’d find in the suburbs. It looks like no one’s home, with the little lace curtains drawn shut.
Psycho is a suspense-horror film written by Joseph Stefano and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This film was loosely adapted from Robert Bloch’s 1959 suspense novel, Psycho. A majority of the movie was filmed in 1960 at Universal Studios in Los Angeles. Psycho is about Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), a secretary from Arizona who steals $40,000 from her employer’s client. She takes that money and drives off to California to meet her lover Sam Loomis (John Gavin) in order to start a new life. After a long drive, she pulls off the main highway and ends up taking refuge at an isolated motel owned and managed by a deranged Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). In Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Psycho, symbols, character and point of view are three literary aspects used in the film to manipulate the audience’s emotions and to build suspense in the film.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo starts off with a detective who is chasing a criminal across the rooftops of San Francisco. This detective whose name is Scottie Ferguson finds himself dangling from the gutter of a building after he slips and falls. When one of his partners tries to rescue him, he falls to his death. He soon discovers his new fear of heights which results in his quitting the police force. Scottie is later contacted by a college friend Gavin Elster who wishes to hire him to trail his wife who he believes is possessed by the spirit of her great grandmother Carlotta who committed suicide at the age of twenty six which happens to be the same age as Elster’s wife Madeline. He eventually tracks her down at the Mckittrick Hotel in which he discovers she has been spending time there under the name of her deceased great grandmother which we later find is Carlotta’s former home.
In the film Rear Window that was released in 1954 Alfred Hitchcock the director uses suspense through out the film to create a mystery. Hitchcock uses several techniques like symbolism, narratives, and voyeurism. Hitchcock main focus in the film was to create the entire film from a one-point vantage spot. The film depicts a vision in the audience head that is produced by visuals. How do gender roles. Having the film shown by the eyes of the protagonist Jefferies eyes the audience have a connection to the film and have one specific vocal point to focus through out the film.
Sound is an incredibly relevant part of filmmaking. Although often misunderstood, it helps to generate a more realistic episode by recreating the sonic experience the scene needs. Its main goal is to enhance the emotions that each section is trying to convey by adding music and effects alongside moving images. Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960), is one of the most popular films of the XX Century (Thomson, 2009). Commonly recognised as a masterpiece for its cinematographic, editing and musical values, it changed cinema forever by “playing with darker prospects (…) of humanity such as sex and violence (Thomson, 2009)”. This paper will analyse the sound effects used in the shower scene and its repercussions
Buying and owning your home is part of the American dream. Although the dream itself has since changed, the home still remains the main focal point. Today owning a home doesn’t necessarily mean a house. People now buy duplexes, cooperative apartments, and condominiums. For some families it could take up to a couple of generations before it’s able to have the capabilities of buying a home. To many people it means a certain achievement that only comes after years of hard work. It is a life altering decision and one of the most important someone can make in their lifetime. The reasons behind the actual purchase could vary. Before anything is done, people must understand that it’s an extraneous process and it is a long term project.