Hitchcock knew how to play with people’s minds. At the start of the film the audience is made to think that the film is of a romance genre where the main plot of the film is where Marion tries desperately to find enough money for her to get married. However by fifteen minutes into the film the audience know that they are wrong and that there is a much serious theme to the film as Marion ‘steals’ the money and heads out of town.
Another thing that the audience can see as soon as the film starts is that it is in black and white. At the time that ‘Psycho’ was made colour films were being made but Hitchcock deliberately decided to make ‘Psycho’ in black and white. He did this to represent white as being good and black being evil.
Hitchcock has a special skill to tell the story through the camera. When Marian is in the room packing a suitcase the atmosphere is very tense. The audience can the money in a white envelope on the bed. The camera stops and looks at the money. These shots are repeated a number of times. While this happens a slow quiet music plays which adds to the suspense. The audience and made to keep wondering whether Marion will do the right thing and take the money to the bank or will she take it away with her.
All through the film Hitchcock puts the audience into false suspense. One example of when he uses false suspense is when Marion is sleeping in the car and the cop comes to her. Marion’s eyes widen but the cop in contrast to her looks cool and calm. Then the cop asks to see Marion’s driving license. Marion touches the money in her bag in the process of getting out her driving license. At the sight of the money the audience immediately become tense and expect the cop to see the money and expect the cop to arrest her. However the cop sees nothing and lets her go. This is an excellent example of dramatic irony.
After hours of tense driving through the night Marion rents a room at the Bates Motel where she speaks to Norman Bates while she has dinner. The room they are in is dimly lit which creates suspicion because the darkness creates suspicion. The room itself has sinisterly looking stuffed birds that loom ominously. When Marion suggests Norman to take his mother to an institute Norman’s expression immediately changes and he becomes angry. The audience become tense at this sudden change of expression and expects Bates to lose his temper and lash out but nothing happens.
I am now going to look at another great film made by Hitchcock: ‘The Birds’. I will compare ‘The Birds’ to ‘Psycho’.
The first thing the audience realizes about ‘The Birds’ is that it is in colour. This gives the audience the feeling that the film is light and fluffy. Then the film starts with a comic romantic scene. The audience immediately think that the film is going to be a romantic comedy. However when the birds start attacking colour is suddenly seen to represent danger and shock like the red blood and the flames from the fire at the petrol station. The duller colours of the birds really contrast to the vibrant colours of everything else in the film. All the birds are black, white and different shades of grey. As the film progresses all the bird attacks happen at night time when it is dark which creates the atmosphere that the colourfulness of the film is being drained into black and white as the film becomes more and more sinister. The last scene in the film is literally black and white with dark colours which contrast with the start of the film which was light and fluffy.
In ‘Psycho’ Hitchcock used a lot of suspense and only three shocks. This kept the audience is suspense all through the film which usually led to nothing. But in ‘The Birds’ there are lots of shocks. The shocks earlier on in the film are completely unexpected. For example the bird attacking Melany while she was in the boat was unexpected. It is easy to imagine people in cinemas spilling their popcorn. Once the audience realizes that the birds are attacking people and get used to the sudden shocks Hitchcock then starts to use suspense like he did in ‘Psycho’.
Hitchcock uses his experience of making silent films to make brilliant films using limited amounts of dialogue. In ‘Psycho’ and ‘The Birds’ Hitchcock uses a limited amount of dialogue and lots of action.
In both ‘Psycho’ and ‘The Birds’ Hitchcock uses techniques inspired by his favourite writers. Hitchcock traps both of his main characters in ‘Psycho’ and ‘The Birds’ in different situations. In ‘Psycho’ Marion is trapped in the bath and when Norman Bates starts stabbing her there is nowhere for her to escape. Similarly in ‘The Birds’, Melany is trapped in the phone booth. Flocks of birds are attacking the phone booth which creates the feeling of claustrophobia. The idea of trapping people came from Dickens who traps Pip in the graveyard when Magwich threatens him.
At the ‘Petrol Station Phone Booth Scene’ in ‘The Birds’, Melany finds herself trapped in a phone booth.
The scene starts after the petrol station opposite the cafe bursts into flames. The petrol station ignited when a man lit a cigarette when petrol was leaking out into the street.
There scene starts with a long shot of Melany making her way to the phone booth to call for the emergency services. The audience is behind her and the blaze from the petrol station can be seen in the background. The vibrant orange of the flames stands out from everything else. The fire looks very scary. It would have not looked at all scary if the film was made in black and white. This is one of the reasons why Hitchcock chose to have ‘The Birds’ in colour. There are occasional squawks from the birds. The sound of the birds adds tension because their squawks are a warning that they are about to attack.
When Melany gets into the phone booth the birds start swooping down on her which causes her to crouch down. The audience can see her in a medium shot. She is trapped in the phone booth with fire on one side and the birds on the other. There is a huge contrast of colours with the orange and redness of the flames in the background and the green of Melany’s clothes. The audience are tense at this moment because they know that Melany is trapped no matter what she does. If she stays in the phone booth she might get burned by the growing flames but if she goes out the birds will attempt to kill her.
The next shot is a POV medium close up. In this shot the audience find themselves in the phone booth with Melany. Melany is crouching down which adds to the feeling of claustrophobia. Birds are hitching the glass panes of the phone booth which has been made to look like the birds are hitting the cinema screen and not the phone booth. This makes the audience feel that they are in danger as well as Melany.
The audience is then shown an extreme high angle medium shot of Melany in the phone booth. The audience is looking at her directly from the top of the phone booth. Melany has both arms touching either side of the phone booth which gives the feeling of claustrophobia. It is easy to see just how confines a space she is in.
The next shot is a close up of Melany’s face. The audience can see the distress in her face which makes them sympathize with her. Her hand is flailing about helplessly. She is helpless in the situation she is in. Behind her the blazing fire can be seen continuing to rage closer to her.
For the first time since all the chaos started the audience is shown a long shot of the chaos from outside the phone booth. Most of the screen has been covered by the fire which can be seen fiercely moving along destroying anything in its way. Birds can be seen coming down which adds the tension because not only is there a raging fire but there are also birds that are still coming down to attack.
Next the audience is shown Melany’s hand against the glass pane of the phone booth in a close up. Her hands are bare and look vulnerable. The red nail polish on her nails stand out from everything else in the screen.
The audience then see Melany in a high angle close up. The shot creates an extremely claustrophobic feeling. Her facial expression is very immediate; she seems to be in extreme pain as she holds her helpless hand up against the pane of the telephone booth as though she is trying to stop it from caving in on her.
In the next shot Melany’s face fills half of the screen. She is in distress and looks very distraught. In the background the surrounding buildings around her can be seen. The city looks very peaceful in this shot and is a very big contrast to the disturbed Melany.
The audience is then shown a medium long shot of the chaos outside the phone booth. The birds are causing absolute chaos and terror. They have taken over and have caused other grown animals like horses to run away from them. This shot shows how powerful nature can become and that humans are only a very small part of nature.
The audience is then put into shock as a bird comes flying right into the screen and cracks the glass of the phone booth in a close up. This POV shot makes the audience feel as though they are there in the phone booth with Melany and are experiencing the impact of the bird hitting the glass pane.
Finally Mitch comes to save Melany. He helps her out of the phone booth as the audience sees a very similar medium long shot to the one that was shown at the start of the scene. Everything looks calm as if nothing has happened.
‘Psycho’ and ‘The Birds’ were very successful films made by Hitchcock. Hitchcock has used different techniques in both films to create tension and suspense and both have been very successful.
In ‘Psycho’ Hitchcock uses false suspense all through the film which has usually led to nothing. He has only used three shocks which were Marion’s stabbing, Arbogast’s stabbing and the revelation of Norman Bates mother.
In ‘The Birds’ Hitchcock uses shocks all through the film after thirty minutes of light romance at the start. He increases the level of shock as the film progresses. The first shock he uses is Melany being bitten by a bird and the last shock in the film is the mass attack from the birds.
Out of ‘Psycho’ and ‘The Birds’ I have enjoyed ‘The Birds’ the most. I think that ‘The Birds’ was better than ‘Psycho’ because it has a very misleading storyline. The audience is made to feel very bored of the film at the start of the film but as the story progresses and the birds start attacking the audience is hooked to the film and is on the edge of their seats the whole time.
The final scene where the birds are massed is a brilliant use of anti-climax as against the audience’s expectations the birds do not attack. However they ominously dominate the screen as the car edges away. The audience senses it is only a matter of time before they attack again.