Marion then enters the shower, and the music noticeably stops, leaving just the diegectic sounds of the shower and general noises, which creates a lot of nerve wracking tension. Upon turning on the water, Marion steps into the shower and succumbs to the allure of the water, becoming calm from the gentle flow of the shower on her. This relaxes now the audience as well, only for them to be traumatized and become startled when a figure appears behind Marion in the shower, their silhouette shown through the curtain. The figure then swiftly draws the curtain, and rapidly stabs and kills Marion. This scene is so horrifying and memorable, thanks not only to the brilliant directing but also the fantastic score in the piece, which was originally intended to be a silent piece, written by Bernard Herrmann. This ferocious and sickening murder, which was based on the life and murders of Ed Gein, was one of the most gruesome and graphic scenes of 1960’s horror films.
‘Psycho’ was originally a book written by thriller author Robert Bloch, who was paid $9,500 for the rights to the book. A famous sales tactic of Alfred Hitchcock’s was when he went out and bought as many copies of ‘Psycho’ before the film was released so that as little people as possible would know the plot of the story. Another tactic was that he ordered that no one be permitted into the screening of the film after the start so that people would have to come and see the film on time or not at all, which proved to be a good tactic, as people were steadily coming to see the film for well over a month. This tactic was also used to avoid the leaking of the fact that Janet Leigh, whom most people came to see the film for, was killed in the first hour of the film, which was sure to disappoint. The film proved to be a fantastic success, making a total of over $40 million (£22 million), of which Alfred Hitchcock received 60%.
When ‘Psycho’ was made, it was on a budget of around $800,000 (£455,000). This meant that the film had to cut back as much as possible and do everything as cheaply as possible, which was one of the main reasons for making the film in monochrome. Monochrome, though, turned out to be one of the reasons of the film was such a success. Colour pictures, by the 1960’s, were available, but were very expensive, so the producers decided to make the film in monochrome, but after watching the finished picture they decided the use of monochrome added alot of tension to the picture and that the shower scene was made considerably scarier by using black and white. Reasons for this range from the fact it was much easier to provide ‘blood,’ leaving it up to the audiences imagination to realise what it was, to other things like the fact it was more realistic and believable to the viewer as their televisions at home would have all been monochrome. This action that was originally for cheapness was one that helped to add tension and realism to the classic horror of the Shower Scene.
It took seven days to film the shower scene, during which most of the cast were not even on set, including Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates), who was away preparing for a play, leaving three different actors to play Norman dresses as Mother. In all four minutes of the scene, there were seventy-five different camera shots, each one of them strategically planned to add tension and make the audience guess what was happening, due to certification limits on what they could show. This scene shows great directing in how a director can make the viewer believe what they want even when we don’t actually see it, shown by how we believe Marion is being stabbed and slashed when we don’t actually see any penetration of the skin.
One camera shot used well in the shower scene was the over the shoulder shot. This is used when Marion’s killer is creeping behind her and you can see the silhouette of the killer through the curtain. This is a good camera shot as we know something is going to happen but we don’t know what or who is doing it, which creates a huge amount of tension.
Another shot that creates a lot of tension is a close up of the knife the killer is using to kill Marion. This shot, which shows Marion’s killer holding the knife over his/her shoulder about to stab Marion makes us soar up and shriek with terror as we realise what is going to happen. It is also at this point in the film we discover that the real plot of the film isn’t all about Marion on the run.
A final shot is a big close up, of which there are quite a few in this scene. The one I believe stands out the most is that of Marion’s hand sliding down the wall, being tracked by the camera. This shot shows how, like Marion’s hand, Marion’s life is sliding away.
Another technique used to create tension in the shower scene is by using diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. Diegetic sounds are sounds that you would actually hear in real life, such as the toilet flushing and the shower running. Non-diegetic sounds are noises that would not happen in real life, such as the music score in the background.
Using a lot of diegetic sounds in the shower scene makes the film very realistic, which creates a lot of tension. People are often more fearful of something if they believe what is happening could actually happen, and more essentially, it could happen to them. Sounds such as the toilet flushing, the curtain being drawn and most importantly the shower running create an air of realism which makes people anxious and dismayed as these are things that they do in their everyday lives. The fact that all the non-diegetic sounds stop once Marion turns the shower on create an atmosphere of suspense and tension, which makes the audience know something is going to happen but leaves us guessing. It is often worse to watch a film when we know what is going to happen and we are waiting for the event to happen as, although you aren’t surprised by the incident we are still shocked and tense as we didn’t know when it was coming.
One was that tension is created in the shower scene by the use of non-diegetic sounds is that the whole score is made up of string instruments, including violins, cellos, harps and violas. String instruments are particularly good at creating tension due to the variety of things that they can do. Short, sharp, high pitch notes make us shoot up in fear, whilst long notes create an atmosphere of calm, often relaxing you before the action. The high notes playing when Marion is being stabbed emphasise the realism, adding a lot of heart – racing tension.
In conclusion, I think the main way that tension is created by Hitchcock, who was nominated for an Oscar for this piece, although he lost to Billy Wilder's The Apartment, is by the use of sound, namely the non-diegetic sounds of the music. The stringed instruments add suspense and create an incredible atmosphere. The other way I believe is effective in creating tension is the camera shots, which let the audience believe whatever they want without being too violent or tasteless. The next way is the way that a sense of calmness is created before the ‘storm’ of action, and the last, but by no means least, way tension is created is by the use of monochrome, which is good but doesn’t compare to the standard of today’s colour pictures that we are all used to. I believe the film had a good storyline, was a highly original picture, used every technique to the best of its ability and I can understand why the film was as successful as it was. In summary, a fantastic film of its day, although it is now too dated to shock as it did in its prime. It still uses powerful methods of creating tension which have been the inspiration of many films of today.
