'Psycho' is a psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, it is based on a man called Norman Bates who has a split personality and is possessed.

Marking Draft-Psycho

‘Psycho’ is a psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, it is based on a man called Norman Bates who has a split personality and is possessed.

Norman is possessed because his mother died and he tries to act like his

Mother. Norman kills two people because of this. The director manipulates his audience very well.

Hitchcock creates a dramatic atmosphere by making the background music to

Match what is going to happen. For example when someone is about to be stabbed, the spine-chilling music sounds.

The atmosphere is very scary and in some rooms they have stuffed birds of prey on the wall. The cameras are often lowered to make things appear bigger, like the exterior of the Bates house, which is, filmed very low down to make it Appear much bigger and more intimidating. The colour is black and white meaning it's an old movie.

I will explore the creation of atmosphere, tension and shock by looking at three sequences in the film.

Most of the dramatic events take place in the Bates Motel and Bates House.

Hitchcock creates atmosphere in the shower sequence by putting so many Camera positions into the sequence. When Marian Crane goes in the shower she takes off all her clothes making herself very vulnerable. Hitchcock deliberately made her do this to create tension as the audience can predict she will get Attacked. She then washes away her guilt; she decided to give the money back to her employer. Then you see a dark shadowy figure appearing behind the curtains. Hitchcock did this to create further tension as the audience want to know who is behind the curtain. the figure behind the curtain then gets raises his arm with a knife , Which makes the audience know what will happen, so it makes the audience expect to see her die. After that, really terrifying music plays creating excitement within the audience. The man then slashes with the knife, which makes Marian scream causing shock in the audience. At this point the audience are brought to the attention of the movie. You then see Marians hand slipping down to the bottom of the shower.

Hitchcock now shows a close-up of Marian’s eye, and then zooms out, and then the eye appears to be staring at the audience. You see Marian’s hand lying flat on the floor and blood Going into the plughole of the shower, you then see a close-up of the plughole with the blood circling around the hole. Hitchcock used chocolate sauce for the blood. Now you hear the water from the shower crashing to the base of the shower Hitchcock did this to confirm Marian's death. Hitchcock has now taken the audience down again after ...

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Hitchcock creates a lot of atmosphere in the Arbogast murder scene,

When Arbogast walks up the hill a cupid is looking at Arbogast. Hitchcock does this because he wants the audience to get excited and to know bad things are going to happen. Now as Arbogast shuts the door it makes a large noise. Hitchcock does this to link it with when Norman Bates (dressed as Mrs Bates) stabs him. We then see a lot of subjective shots because Arbogast is wondering and looking at things, Arbogast then looks up at the stairs, and this is a subjective shot. As this happens the tension builds up rapidly because audience think Norman can be anywhere, they don't know where Norman is. The music also adds to the build up of tension Arbogast then quietly walks up the stairs. We see a door slightly opening and the audience's tension increases tremendously as they want to know what's happening behind the door. Arbogast reaches the top step and as he turns, Mrs Bates walks then the frightening music plays and the audience stare at the anxius to know what will happen. As Mrs Bates stabs Arbogast, Arbogast is shocked to see Mrs Bates. The music also plays when something terrible is about to happen. Arbogast thought he would see Mrs Bates. Arbogast is then stabbed and he is in shock, Arbogast is then stabbed and he is in shock, Arbogast eventually falls down the stairs.

In this scene Lila and sam go the to the Motel and rent a room. They confront Mr Bates. As sam and Mr bates are talking Lila foes up to the house to find Mrs Bates to speak to her about the disappearence of her sister. As she is doing so Norman Bates manages to overpower Sam and comes rushing up to the house. Lila then has to seek a hideout because Norman tries to find her, she manages to find the fruit cellar where she hides. She then looks around and finds a door she opens the door and touches many things inside the room. She then gets scared when she looks in the mirror ash she thought someone was there, she eventually finds a female figure sitting on a chair. She then goes near the chair and touches it, the figure then turns round 180 degrees and is a corpse of Mrs Bates. Lila then screams and Norman Bates(who is dressed as Mrs Bates) then finds her so he speeds to the scene and finds Lila and he then grabs his knife and suddenly Sam comes from behind to save Lila. Sam then grabs his head and eventually Normans wig falls off and Mrs Bates is revealed as Mr Bates with a wig.

Hitchcock creates tension and shock in the last ten minutes by making Norman’s mother turn 180 degrees and the audience find out Mrs Bates is dead. Showing a corpse is a very frightening way of doing this. After this Marian’s sister screams and the audience then hear that unnervina music play suddenly Mrs Bates comes and has a knife in her hand. Sam then grabs

Norman (who is dressed as Mrs Bates) and Normans wig falls off so Lila and Sam discover Mrs Bates is dead and Norman was trying to be his mother.

Hitchcock ends the movie by putting Norman in jail. After this Norman

is now smiling in a evil way and the movie ends. Hitchcock does this because he wants the audience to feel scared and frightened.

My favourite moment from ‘Psycho’ was when Mrs Bates corpse turns

one hundred and eighty degrees and the audience saw all the flesh on the corpse was all gone. I like this moment best because I found that this part of the movie was the most horrifying and I was hooked to the movie. I thought the film on the whole was a very good movie especially considering the fact it was made in 1960 and the cameras where not as technical as the current ones. The movie also was very enjoyable and was easy to understand except the ending of the movie.

Psycho has made me look at film a different way because next time I do a film study I know how to look at it and what to watch out for.

My favourite movie would be a horror movie because they make you get into the movie quicker and it scares you. I would say my favourite movie is ‘Scream Two’ because it is very frightening. BY Chiraag Suchak B10AR