The Law refused to pass the film because they claimed that the film contained nude in the shower scene. Hitchcock didn’t edit that part out but he simply just sent it back assuming that they either wouldn’t bother to watch it, or miss it the second time.
Hitchcock insisted that audiences should only be allowed to see the film from the start so they can understand the film and they get to see the shock and suspense in the film. This was something viewers did in them days as people were used to just coming in and out at any point during a movie.
In the shower scene the first three shots of Marion are Medium shot, Close Up and Extreme Close Up. This is because it shows the character in their immediate environment, concentration on the viewer’s attention and it makes the character’s feeling intimate to the viewer. What we see in that frame is Marion’s initial scream. The effect of this is that it draws the audience in, to fell her shock and terror.
The last three shots of Marion is when we see her hands, legs and herself struggling to stay alive after she had been stabbed several times. The effect this has is it builds up the tension in the film.
Also in the Shower Scene there were censorship reasons which made the quick-fire editing of the shower scene necessary, but Hitchcock’s principal concern was to disturb the audience and to suggest terrible violence and bloodshed without actually showing very much. In that scene there were 78 separate camera set-ups needed for the shower scene and it took seven days to film.
The music in the film has a high pitched sound because every time something happens or is about to the sound gets louder they use this effect as it creates tension and suspense.
A point of view shot is a short scene in a film that shows what a character is looking at. It is usually established by being positioned between a shot of a character looking at something, and a shot showing the character's reaction.
Point of view shots also create suspense in the audience. First they are looking at the actor and then you think what they are looking at, then it’s you that is seeing through there eyes.
It then makes the audience get into the action and make the audience have a feeling where you are at the point.
When we saw the emotions of the actors we experience the feeling with them and we experience the shots that contribute to our feelings.
Sometimes we experience things that implicate us and make’s us share the feeling of the characters.
During the film Hitchcock uses a range of different camera shots in order to create particular effects. Point of view shots are particularly effective at building suspense by drawing the viewer into the action.
There is no doubt that the shots contribute to our feelings for the character. Emotions we experience are being evoked by extreme close ups which are used to create tension and anxiety.
There are many interesting point of view shots being used but there are few which are significant for the plot of the film. The first one is Marion’s view of the stolen money on her bed. When we compare three individual shots we can easily notice that the picture of the woman in black lingerie is compared with a plain, white envelope full of money. What is being implied is that the black colour is in contrast to the white envelope. An evil Marion is wearing black which means that she has done something she shouldn’t have. By using extreme close up on money which is being compared with a wider angle of Marion’s shot, the director wants us to be aware of the characters mixed emotions. When we see the character looking at something we wonder what the character is looking at. That creates suspense. We then are given a chance to see what the character saw and then see the reaction of the character again.
There were three effects of repetition in Psycho:
- Develops Character
- Builds Suspense
- Links up the narrative{story}
Hitchcock planned every part of Psycho long before the filming began. To give a film a story shape a director may often include repetition, events, themes or even objects that keep turning up. Psycho is full of such repetitions which are often a helpful way of discovering the deeper meanings of a film and Psycho is no exception. An example of repetition in the film is when both Marion and Arbogast see the crow in Norman’s parlour they both feel scared.
