Alfred Hitchcock's Notion Of Isolation In Psycho

282 Words1 Page

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

Show More
Related

  • Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

    666 Words  | 2 Pages

    Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho"-the movie the world recognised-was first premiered in the home town of New York on the 16th June 1960.The film follows the life and strife of a young beautiful woman Marion Crane, played by the Janet Leigh, who is on the run from the police after stealing $40.000, she manages to find refuge at the Bates motel where she makes her worst mistake possible. During and after the film production of "Psycho" Alfred Hitchcock had his aids buy as many copies as possible of the novel "Psycho"-written by Robert Bloch. Why? To conceal the ending form the public's eye so when the film was shown in cinemas the audience would'nt know the ending. When people found out the title of the movie Hitchcock said it was based on a greek love story "Psyche".

    Read More

  • In the Heat of the Night

    481 Words  | 1 Pages

    This pleasant outlook is often in stark contrast to what is being said. What I did next is to watch the scene several times without sound, to try and pick up the visual points in the scene. The first shot struck me as an ominous one; it is of the camera pointing. directly into the cutting blades of a large cutting machine, which is. moving towards the camera.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

    1736 Words  | 4 Pages

    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))”.

    Read More

  • Use Of Psychopathic Elements In Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

    191 Words  | 1 Pages

    “Poor decisions and bad luck are contingencies of most horror films” (Wesley Morris). The 1960’s thriller, Psycho, is no exception. It has been acclaimed as one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best films because of its use of psychopathic elements to create what has come to be known as a “slasher films”, a subcategory of horror films. It evolved the horror genre from monsters and the supernatural to the human condition and the monster living inside. The motion picture Psycho tells the story of a Marion Crane, a secretary who flees Phoenix, Arizona with $40,000 she steals from her boss. Days later she arrives to the Bates Motel in Oregon. At the isolated, vacant motel, she meets the owner Norman Bates who shows her hospitality. Later, however, we find

    Read More

  • Hitchcock's Techniques in Psycho

    459 Words  | 1 Pages

    bank. Marion went home there was a close up shot on the money then on

    Read More

  • Isolation In 'The Haunting Of Hill House'

    1389 Words  | 3 Pages

    When reading ghost stories, a common occurrence or idea often takes place in all these stories. This occurrence is the repeated idea of the female character as either the victim of the supernatural occurrence or is the ghostly victim. The female characters are often the victim either in life, death, or both. This idea often coincides with the theme of isolation, as isolation is often a strong factor in the cause of the female character’s often untimely demise. Isolation in the ghost story genre is common as the mental isolation or physical isolation is from society and impacts emotional connection to others. The isolation mentally, physically and in some case both, causes the female character’s ultimate destruction in the end. Isolation is

    Read More

  • Microcosm In Hitchcock's Rear Window By Alfred Hitchcock

    734 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cinema’s director Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most important and influential filmmakers of all the times. Using revolutionary techniques and controversial topics, Therefore, Hitchcock captivated the public as no other director of his time. One of the techniques that he made famous, his use of the hearing as a voyeur of the action on the screen. Hitchcock used this technique to dim the line between the innocent and the guilty. As well as to the public in the position where they were personally involved in the characters of the film. In the Alfred Hitchcock movies, you can see how many of its protagonists “look”. In RearWindow (1954) the protagonist observes his neighbors through binoculars. Moreover, The man who knew too much (1956) Ben McKenna

    Read More

  • Hitchcock's Film Psycho

    1579 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hitchcock's Film Psycho Ever since the first horror movies were produced they have attracted huge audiences seeking to be scared, chilled and thrilled. Horror movies are so popular because the audience can get the adrenaline rush of being scared without actually putting themselves in danger, and also the audience ultimately get a rush of relief at the end of the film when the killer is killed. This is the same reason why people go on roller coasters because you get the adrenaline rush and then the relief when you get off. Also often horror movies are highly sexual films, and what's more it's a great excuse to hug your girlfriend! Horror movies started in the 1920's with German masterpieces of the silent era such as the ''Nosferatu'' directed by F.W Murneau (1922).

    Read More

  • Exploring Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

    2381 Words  | 5 Pages

    For this paper I chose to explore Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho because it has remained the only horror movie I’ve seen to date. I went into a couple others but immediately left; let’s just say horror is not my favorite genre of film. People may or may not always call Psycho a horror film, it may be more of a thriller to people nowadays, but I still believe the correct genre analysis is horror because it should always refer to the genre at the time the film was created and released. I chose Psycho because I spent multiple weeks in high school studying Hitchcock, and Psycho specifically, so I feel comfortable writing on it. I also thoroughly enjoy the film, its backstory, and the character development. Plus, it’s been roughly adapted into one of my favorite shows: Bates Motel, which I will also briefly explore.

    Read More

  • shadow of a doubt

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Shadow of a Doubt, Hitchcock utilizes and stretches the ambiguous line between comedy and suspense by utilizing smaller characters in the film to keep the story line moving, and to help break sequence or rhythm of what the audience had been perceiving at the time. Many of the minor characters were used as “fillers”, such as the waitress in the bar when Uncle Charlie and Charlie are sitting in the bar, and makes the comment “I would die for a ring like this”; or the quiet, gentle neighbor Herb who is fascinated with the process of homicide and murder. It brings to the audience an immediate comic relief, but similar to all of Hitchcock, leaves an unsettling feeling of fear and suspense with the viewer. Shadow of a Doubt is a film that hits very close to home for me, primarily because of the small town feel very similar to Orono that I have grown to know so well. There is a brutal irony that lurks through the film, especially during the time period that the film was made. The picturesque stereotype of small town life in the 40’s is brutally torn apart by Hitchcock wit and creative ingénue, putting the viewer in an uncomfortable mind stretch of reality.

    Read More

  • Alfred Hitchcock Psychology Essay

    1347 Words  | 3 Pages

    While Alfred Hitchcock is most well known for causing his audiences to feel fear, there is more to his movies then that. The themes of inadequateness of the police, control of all details in his films, and long stretches of no dialogue are prevalent in several of his films. He does not just happen to do these things by chance, but they are all related to things that happened to him during his childhood and his early career. No one can escape their past and not let it influence at least part of their life, and Alfred Hitchcock was no exception.

    Read More

  • Vertigo Analysis

    1251 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hitchcock captures the moments where the audience is able to see the visceral experiences with Madeline and Scottie through the use of camera movements. In the first scene of the film, the viewers see a chase in which a man is literally hanging from a rooftop, grasping tightly to not fall into his death. Hitchcock uses the zooming effect to enhance the fear of heights of Scottie Ferguson, as well as provide the point of view of the detective’s vertigo to appeal to the audience of Scottie’s emotive state of being. This traumatic experience of witnessing the policeman fall to his death represents that every experience will end tragically. The chase between the detec...

    Read More

  • Essay On Cinematography Of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

    559 Words  | 2 Pages

    Regular among his works, Hitchcock opens the film with a hovering crane shot coasting over the setting of Phoenix, Arizona. Even without the mysterious, chilling soundtrack, the shot itself watched in silence evokes a timid passage into danger. In a long take it sweeps across the cityscape to build initial curiosity in the viewer, and then surpasses a curtain-drawn window into the presence of a hotel room’s trysting occupants. Immediately the viewer is called into confronting his/her discretion regarding those things we are not customarily meant to see, in such ideas as privacy and good taste. How far should the law step into a man’s world before he is discovered with reasonable certitude for engaging in illegal activities?

    Read More

  • Freudian Psychology In Rear Window, By Alfred Hitchcock

    712 Words  | 2 Pages

    Alfred Hitchcock’s favorite subject was the superficial placidity of American life, whose clean, bright surfaces disguised the most shockingly moral, political, psychological and sexual aberrations. For Hitchcock, the most striking, funny, and terrifying quality of American life was its confidence in its sheer ordinariness. Beneath the surface, ordinary people and normal life were always ‘bent’ for Hitchcock.

    Read More

  • Field Of Dreams Film Analysis

    1471 Words  | 3 Pages

    The space always overwhelms the human beings in its midst — Ray has a small presence in the frame and is obscured by his crops as he shouts to Annie and Karin (shots 10 and 12), asking if they heard “that voice just now.” He has to shout because he’s so far away, the distance between them exaggerated by the camera angle and placement in shots 11 and 12. Shot 13 is the closest we get to Annie and Karen, and it is still a fairly wide view. Because the corn field takes up much of the space, it acts as a vital aspect of the scene — clear limits of the field are never shown, so that it just seems to go on and on forever. We don’t get to see the bigger picture (literally) and neither does Ray. Instead, a near-claustrophobic atmosphere is created as the maze of eye-level corn stalks prevents Ray, isolated and closed-off, from a sense of clarity. He can’t see where the voice might be coming from. The design of the shown space, in addition to the camera movement previously discussed, is also a signifier that the voice most likely comes from a holy or higher power. The establishing shots of the setting are very non-stylized and natural, emphasizing the beauty of the Iowa evening and the simplicity of the Kinsella’s home and lifestyle. (Note: Here, the filmmakers appeal to the audience’s preconceived notions and expectations to underline the

    Read More

More about Alfred Hitchcock's Notion Of Isolation In Psycho

Open Document