How does Hitchcock create and maintain suspense in "Psycho"?

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How does Hitchcock create and maintain suspense in “Psycho”?

          The film Psycho was produced in the 1960’s by the famous director Alfred Hitchcock, and was based on the book by Robert Bloch. It was a groundbreaking film, as it was the first film to have shown a woman in a bra and slip which was to be censored, and a toilet being flushed, it was promoted in a number of ways. People were queuing to see this film “psycho”  even when pouring with rain. So they started to promote the film by giving out umbrellas to them to make them stay. Another, was when they sent out people, to buy all the books so people couldn’t find out what happened at the end as it would ruin the film. It was called the “Mother of the modern horror movie” as it was a new kind of horror with someone being stalked by a knife. Hitchcock wanted to manipulate his audience into fear and loitering them by not giving away anything about the end of the film, so they were in  suspense throughout  the whole movie. He did this in black and white instead of colour as it was cheaper to use.

          The title “Psycho” builds up tension and anticipation as it tells the viewer automatically that the film is about a psycho. The film starts off, with an everyday situation, when Marion’s at work. So the viewer feels nothing is going to happen yet. Her boss then enters, handing her money to bank. As she has the money in her hands, she decides to run away which makes the viewer think of what’s going to happen next. She goes home, and starts to pack her bags, leaving the money lying on her bed. There’s a close-up shot of the money which makes the viewer focus on the money. As she’s driving the car, the music has started which causes suspense and is very eerie. The music for “psycho”, was produced by Bernard Herman who used string instruments for high pitched sounds to create the tension and suspense. There’s then a couple of shots of her driving looking stressed and worried. The music then starts to gradually get faster as she sees her boss, staring at her at the traffic lights. The fastened music causes a lot of suspense as she keeps on looking back. As she has pulled over, a policeman approaches her asking her questions, and telling her to take care and be careful. The policeman is wearing dark, black glasses which makes him look in-human, also there's a close up of his eyes. When  being questioned, she acts guilty and paranoid which makes the police officer follow her. Driving, she starts to feel uncomfortable and, anxious. There’s a medium close up shot of her wide eyes and the music suddenly comes on, which is very frantic, when looking at the rear view mirror. She’s now looking very worried. Marion then stops to buy a car, she picks  up a newspaper maybe looking for “missing cash” headline. When buying the car, she acts very suspicious and worried. The viewer is now probably thinking that something will happen to her and that she might be caught by the money.

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             On the Road again, the music comes on which is very jaggedy, which causes suspense. Driving, she’s hearing voices in her head, and then there’s a view of the road which is dark which Marion can hardly can see. They show close-ups of her face and eyes squinting with lights blinding her. The music gets faster as she reaches the tall, dark, eerie house on top of the hill, in which they use a long angle shot. All she sees is a figure walking past the window, which makes the viewers think there’s someone ...

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