Hitchcock’s manipulation of soundtrack constructs tension at many points.. Hitchcock has used this technique in the film in the shower scene. While Marion was in the shower there was no music except for the sound of the water and suddenly the music is loud, crashing and brings terror to the audience as the murder occurs. This use of soundtrack makes the audience comfortable at first and as soon as the loud music comes in, it makes the audience fell menacing which makes us jump but always acts as a contrast to the sharp music.
Hitchcock uses the costumes to be shocking and sometimes makes the characters scary. For example he has used this technique for the police man. The part of his costume which showed up the most was his large black sunglass which makes him look inhuman and also hides his eyes which means his reactions are slightly unknown. This makes the audience nervous because we don’t know his reactions to Marion’s expressions. So we think that the policeman is ready to catch Marion with the stolen money or he’s going to just leave without questioning her too much.
Hitchcock has used the technique of dark colours and lack of lighting to stop too much brightness. He chose to make the film monochrome even though colour was available so that it will make techniques such as weather duller and not too bight like it’s a happy day under the sun. Hitchcock has used this throughout the whole film to make shadows clear, such as those dead birds in Norman Bates’s office. This use of technique hints that the motel Marion has arrived at is not completely normal due to the weird hobbies Bates has and the strange kind of people who live in the house. This makes us wary that Marion is not in a safe place and doesn’t have a chance of leaving alive.
Hitchcock uses weather as a technique in a huge variety at the right place. For example he has brought in bad weather such as thunder, heavy rain and lightning at night time which means it is going to be difficult for Marion to know where she’s driving. This has the effect of making the audience think that Marion is finding it difficult to drive, which means this is going to make us feel that there might be an accident so we feel anxious.
Hitchcock has used Norman Bates’s behaviour to create tension also. For example, the things that Norman Bates does as a hobby, stuffing birds and hanging them on the wall and about his second father dieing in a shocking way. He also asks strange questions about Marion’s life, like where she’s going, how she’s going and tries to research on what Marion is up to. The audience believes him to be strange and feel a little bit scared. They think Norman Bates is up to something and are not comfortable with him. Fear builds as the conversation goes on and on. We do not feel happy about his hobbies which are very curious and when he describes his mother as his best friend it makes us more and more nervous.
Hitchcock used various different camera angles as a technique, for instance close shots, medium shots and long shots. For Example, Hitchcock has used close shots on the boss’s reaction to Marion in her car at the stop light. This use of close shot shows the audience clearly his facial expressions and his reactions. This makes us understand how the boss feel’s about Marion driving at the time. Due to his reactions the audience feel suspicious on what he is about to do. An example of a medium shot will be where the money was placed on the bed. This use of medium shot makes it clear that the money is not on a bank desk but is on Marion’s bed where it shouldn’t be. This makes us feel anxious, on what she’s going to do with the money. An example of a long shot will be Norman Bates’s house next to the motel, which showed a shadow of somebody walking past the window. This makes us enquiring such as who lives is in the house or is the house owned by ordinary people which has the effect of make the audience nervous. This use of shots combines with other techniques, which creates the overall effect of tension for the audience.
In conclusion, Alfred Hitchcock deserves his title of the ‘master of horror movies’ because of the way he builds up to tension to the main scene in the shower. He drags tension rapidly when the audience feels relaxed to make us jump. He tries to makes us suspicious at a maximum level, by combining different techniques in one scene. At his moment I thkn the best part of the film would be where Hitchcock has mislead the audience that it is a story of a stealng scene.