Edgar Alfred Hitchcock Psycho Camera Techniques

The Tell Tale Heart, written by Edgar Allan Poe, and Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock were both formidable, revolutionary and horrifying creations to the audience’s of their times and to some extent, still are today. Hitchcock drew audiences in into his work by utilizing certain camera angles, mise-en-scene and diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. However, Edgar Allan Poe used a variety of literary techniques such as varying sentence structure, imagery and irony to draw his readers in. While these two masterpieces are unique in terms of content, both of them explore a prominent theme, fear.

In both productions, fear was a critical element in the story line and subtle techniques were used to convey this. In ‘Psycho’, Alfred Hitchcock used strategic camera angles and shots throughout the film to position the viewer to understand the relationships between the characters. An example of an effective camera angle is the notorious parlor scene where Norman Bates invited Marion Crane in to converse. As they are speaking, the tension between them is high and while the focus was purely on the two, the surrounding environment of the parlor portrays a much deeper and more disturbing scene. By this stage in the film, Norman was categorised as an awkward yet polite young man and

Marion as a thief and so the naive viewer may believe Marion to be the antagonist. However, in reality Norman was the ‘bad guy’ of the film. Hitchcock alludes to this by the use of a low angle shot at Marion, in Norman’s point of view and a high angle shot at Norman, in Marion’s point of view. This is to suggest that, while his actions seemed harmless, Norman was more dominant and powerful in comparison to Marion. Marion would be looking up at him, making her appear more vulnerable and insignificant. This subtle but significant technique allows the viewer to connect with both characters and increases the tension to induce fear.

Although Edgar Allen Poe couldn’t apply a visual representation of his work, his written piece applies many literary techniques to provoke a similar effect on the reader and prevents the narration from seeming monotonous. The most notable technique was the variation of sentence length and structure, which intensified the poem and offered the reader a sense of instability and unpredictability in the narrator. Throughout the whole poem, short, sharp sentences like the ones shown in the phrase ‘Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man.’ Poe used these to demonstration the chaos inside the mind of the narrator but it leaves a sort of vagueness. An example of a longer sentence would be ‘So I opened it – you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily – until, at length a simple dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye,’ which he uses to give a precise description and to weave the poem together. If the poem was being read aloud, the short, sharp, sentences would create jolts in the reader voice which would add to the fear factor.

In Psycho, Hitchcock’s used mise-en-scene to subtly foreshadow major events. Hitchcock alludes to the fact that Norman is the predator and Marion, the prey by purposefully placing frightful objects in Norman’s background and harmless objects in Marion’s. For example, in the parlor scene, Norman was usually surrounded by birds of prey, and the most frightful was an owl looming over him as he sat and talked to Marion. He is also surrounded by sharp, jagged objects, whereas Marion s surrounded by soft, rounded objects this contrast between the two characters, allows the viewer to portray Norman, as a predator and the Marion, his prey. And this theory is supported by the fact that Norman murders Marion later in the film while Marion is nude in the shower, in her most vulnerable state.

The imagery created in The Tell Tale Heart is astounding. The author uses descriptive language to illustrate the story and the sense in the deluded man’s rational. A great example of great imagery is the description given for the old mans eye, which the man says that ‘he had the eye of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold.’ And so he felt a need to kill the man. Poe creates these images to help the reader feel like they are actually there; experiencing the situations and intensifying the emotions.

One of the most effective methods to inducing fear in viewers of Psycho was the use of non-diegetic sound, usually in the form of music such as the shower scene.

Marion gets in the shower, and all you can here is the water. Right as Norman opens the curtain, screeching of the violins begins. The music paired with Marion's screaming, Norman's stabbing and the quick film clips, makes the horror scene extremely uncomfortable. Once Marion collapses to the bathroom floor, the music stops and the shower is left running. Music is crucial to the effectiveness of this murder scene. This alone is horrifying but paired with the other techniques Hitchcock uses, the fear in the audience in amplified even

more.

It is easy to see why the text and the film were and are still known as great masterpieces. The success of fear and suspense created throughout the film and the poem is credited to the variety techniques they used. In today’s society, most horror films are focused on gore and abandon a good storyline where as Alfred Hitchcock recognized the important of storyline to induce fear in the audience. Edgar Allen Poe was a master at creating suspense and fear in the reader and while both these stories were told using different mediums, they both are comparable in a lot of ways.