Tension in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho
When Psycho was first released in cinemas in 1960, audiences all over
the world were shocked. They were shocked that something as sexually
explicit, for that era, was being screened in hundreds of cinemas.
Although audiences of the modern day are used to violence and sex
scenes, the audiences of the 60's reacted in different ways. Some
people viewed Psycho as a cinematic brilliance but other critics gave
the film many bad initial reviews. This is because Hitchcock was
extremely secretive in the making and publicity. He did not allow
critics' to see the film at special screenings. Instead they had to
see the film with the ordinary filmgoers after the release.
Mise-en-scene plays a major part in creating atmosphere, tension and
shock in Psycho. The most dramatic events in Pyscho take place in the
house and at the Bates motel, so Hitchcock needed to create tension by
make the sets look in such a way that the audience were on edge from
the very start of the film.
In the opening, the titles are slashed, spliced, split and cut which
represents knife or dagger cuts and immediately alerts the audience to
the nature of the film. Even though people hadn't seen the film till
its release date, the titles would have been extremely disturbing to
the subconscious mind of an average cinemagoer. Furthermore, the
beginning music written by Bernard Herwann, has a strict pulse and
beat like a heartbeat and seems to feel like the "motions" of stabbing
which is unnerving. This music repeats itself at different but
significant intervals throughout the film such as the minutes before
Marian's death. This running...
... middle of paper ...
...to finish. I wouldn't have
personally chosen it, as thriller/horrors aren't my preferred genre.
But I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was kept on edge all the way through. I
am scared very easily so Hitchcock's techniques worked well on me. The
music was electrifying and my favourite sequence was the shower
sequence because it scared me to bits. The way Marian died was
intuitive and original. Studying Pyscho has made me look at film
differently because now I always analyse films as I watch them.
Unfortunately it hasn't changed my favourite genre. My favourite genre
is fantasy/adventure and my favourite film is Pirates of the Caribbean
because it's witty, thrilling and a brilliant adventure. It also has
one of my favourite actors, Johnny Depp who is an excellent character
actor who isn't given enough chance to show his talent.
I enjoyed the beginning; it was realistic, made me believe that she was possessed by something. Almost like n exorcism, the devil inside the black crow, the gibberish they say because they are possessed, just like there is good in th...
‘Psycho’ is a 1960’s thriller that has been voted as one of the top 15
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
first time a woman had ever been shown in a bra. This type of film was
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
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
As a filmmaker, whose individual style and complete control over all elements of production, Alfred Hitchcock implied a great deal in the motion pictures that he made.
The setup of the stage was very simple. It was the living room of a home in the early 1980’s. It looked like a normal household, and it had small things such as crumpled up pieces of paper lying around the wastebasket. It also had a couch, circular class table and a recliner in the living room. The dining room was to the left side of the stage and only had the dining table and surrounding chairs. There was a door in the back of the set where characters entered and exited through. Beside the door was a table and stool where Willum presumably worked on his blueprints for the hotel. The lighting design was great; it put you into the atmosphere of the
was a spectacular film there were some things that I did not enjoy like, the
Alfred Hitchcock’s film Shadow of a Doubt is a true masterpiece. Hitchcock brings the perfect mix of horror, suspense, and drama to a small American town. One of the scenes that exemplifies his masterful style takes place in a bar between the two main characters, Charlie Newton and her uncle Charlie. Hitchcock was quoted as saying that Shadow of a Doubt, “brought murder and violence back in the home, where it rightly belongs.” This quote, although humorous, reaffirms the main theme of the film: we find evil in the places we least expect it. Through careful analysis of the bar scene, we see how Hitchcock underlies and reinforces this theme through the setting, camera angles, and lighting.
In life things happen which affect our mental state for that entire day. For each day these experiences can produce us with feelings of excitement, a rush of intensity, and also a feeling of suspense. Within William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is a play which has excitement, suspense, and Intensity within internal events which deliver such feelings like external events. Thankfully, this book has many characters to relate our lives to.
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
According to psychologist, Sigmund Freud, there are three main parts that make up a human’s personality: the id, ego, and superego. In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, the narrator of the story, Chief Bromden, represents each of these traits. In the beginning, Bromden only thinks of himself as any other crazy man, who no one pays attention to, but throughout the story Bromden develops mentally through all three stages of Freud’s personality analysis, maybe not in Freud’s preferred order, but he still represents them all.
...impossible to find myself anywhere but sitting on the edge of my seat. It was difficult to predict what would come next, constant suspense was all around. Thus, making the situations portrayed more interesting and entertaining to the viewer of the film.