life is the story of the film and providing an easy beginning to the film. There
is a panning shot so that the audience is able to settle and relax into the film.
Text then appears at the bottom of the screen telling the audience the time
and place; "Phoenix, Arizona / Friday December 12 / Two Forty-Three PM"
- this style has a crime-scene aspect to it suggesting trouble. Already
Hitchcock has been able to manipulate the audience into thinking something
sinister has happened. The music follows the action on screen by also fading
out and later the diegetic sound of Marion and Sam can be heard. The
camera then zooms into an open window with half-drawn blinds, possibly
making the audience feel like they themselves are actually trespassing on
someone's property - spying without permission; creating a worrying
atmosphere. Hitchcock's use of the camera has involved the audience into the
plot, they now feel as if they are part of the film.
The driving scene begins after Marion has just run away from her home town
with $40,000 stolen from a property buyer, a Mr Cassidy. She bought a new
car and raised suspicion amongst the car dealer and a concerned policeman.
At first, we see a mid shot of Marion inside the car, showing her face, the car
steering wheel and parts of the rear window. Exposing the rear window and
enabling the audience to see moving cars behind creates the sense of motion
and activity, making the journey more realistic. It is daytime and there is an
impression of a peaceful, clear, blue sky: the car is steadily moving.
Throughout almost the whole scene Marion's head is held erect, almost
motionless; monitoring the road infront, there is no hint of danger or risk.
The steering wheel constantly moved side to side additionally represents the
movement of the scene and could be linked to the calm rocking of a baby;
however it could also be used to reflect Marion's nerves and her anxiety
about seeing Sam Loomis (her lover).
Music is played from the opening credits and is faded up and down for
separate passages of dialogue. This dialogue begins with a conversation
involving the policeman and the car dealer, the two most impersonal people
she had spoken to of that day. The dialogue is portrayed to the audience as
being Marion's thoughts and surmise as to what the people she had left
behind were going to say about her disappearance. Although she doesn't
know for sure that they are saying what she thinks they are, as she continues
to think of what more people will say, the distress can be seen building up.
As she progresses through the people she knows, such as the property buyer
she stole the money from and her employer, she starts to bite her lip and
become more anxious. However when the property buyer talking in her head
implies that she had flirted with him, a small grin on her face appears, perhaps
introducing a 'darker' side of Marion. She proceeds to her sister talking about
her disappearance and as the camera takes the shot closer to her face you
can almost see the guilt escalate in her eyes.
The music begins to fade back up, the camera shot is now a close-up and the
sky appears to be getting darker and darker, suggesting a considerable
amount of change in the weather. Headlights of following cars show in the
rear window, introducing the progression of night. Rain starts to fall and the
shot dissolves on to the road giving us the view that Marion has in front of
her. The music has now picked up a fast pace and the road is pitch black.
The shot is taken back to Marion and her face portrays the poor vision she
has of the road - her eyes are squinting and the rain becomes harder.
When going back to the shot of the road, the windscreen wipers in Marion's
direct view seem to be in time with the thudding music; back and forth they
go contributing to the speed of the car and the adrenaline going inside
Marion. Reflecting the windscreen wipers, the camera dodges from one shot
to the other showing both Marion's anxious face, biting her lip,
and the dark desolate road in front, with blurred images. The audience's
natural reaction to all this chaos is that it will result in a terrible tragedy; but
how can Marion who was built up to be the lead role die so early in the film?
The audience is now manipulated into thinking that what was once a calm ride
now has an atmosphere of chase and danger. The rain is hard, the road a blur
and Marion is feeling the guilt pile on top of her, all combined;
and what else can the audience think, but that she is about to crash.
Hitchcock's sharp choreography of the music and camera influences the
audience into thinking whatever he wants. In this case, Hitchcock wants the
audience to believe that Marion will crash, he wants them to feel for her as
she's driving down the cold, lonely road and expect to see a dead body at the
end. So then, once they are settled with this idea, he can shock them and
add a twist to the end of the scene; something that he loves to do.
The fast music, dark lighting, and camera close ups have now combined to
create a peak of tension; the audience is gripping the edge of their seats
expecting the worst.
However the driving scene is one that ends very surprisingly, and is a prime
example of Hitchcock's power over the audience and what they foresee
whilst watching his films. To the audience's amazing disbelief the camera
shots gradually withdraw from Marion's face back to a mid shot, the music
stops and the digetic sound of the rain is all that can be heard, the rain eases
off and the tension is instantly dropped. Marion smoothly turns right arriving
at the Bates motel safely. However the irony, as you learn later on in the film,
is that she would have done best to carry on down the road and have not
seen the motel at all. Hitchcock set up the scene to make out that the motel
was her escape, her safe haven, but instead Marion encounters Norman Bates
and is soon after savagely killed.
After surprisingly surviving the drive to the motel the audience is now under
the control of the film and Hitchcock expecting anything to follow. However
the audience can't believe that much will happen to Marion so early in the
film, as she was advertised on posters and the television as the leading lady in
the film.
The next scene begins with Marion on her own settling into her new motel
room. She suspects nothing; however the audience knows different, as we
are shown a small part beforehand where Norman the motel owner removes a
painting and spies on Marion getting changed. Hitchcock has allowed the
audience to see Norman's perverse eye and now feel a slight responsibility as
they are shown his secret. Due to Hitchcock's manipulation - letting us see
Norman secretly - the audience is already concerned for Marion's safety. She
decides to take a shower, and walks into the bathroom. The lighting is
adequate for a bathroom and there is no music to imply danger; the audience
believes that Marion is naturally taking a shower; perhaps even linking the
cleansing of her body to a cleansing of her mind and spirit, getting rid of all
the bad thoughts, ready for a fresh start. She turns the shower head on and
gets into the bath, sliding the curtain behind her. Marion seems to be relaxing
under the spray of water, so the audience too becomes relaxed. However the
camera moves from a close up of Marion's face to a mid shot and Marion's
face is now in the bottom right hand corner of the screen; she is no longer
central and all the attention is now drawn to the large blank piece of shower
curtain. The audience begins to wonder why such a space is needed:
Hitchcock has purposely created this space for the audience to notice and
focus on, as they watch and concentrate to then see a silhouette creeping
closer. Hitchcock has shown the audience what Marion can't see behind her,
they are now in on the secret and feel guilty and helpless; knowing she's in
trouble and having no way of stopping the intruder. Suspense holds the
audience and the curtain abruptly slashes open almost like a slash of a knife.
Marion is in great shock: a close up of her face shows her screaming. The
audience is also just as surprised, although they have
already seen the dark figure they had no idea that this was going to happen
because there were no major warnings.
"Psycho" is famed for its shower murder sequence and this is where it starts.
After we see Marion's face the shot returns to the intruding figure and a knife
starts to attack Marion. At this point in the scene the violins are added; they
emphasise the pain that Marion is going through and also the volume of her
screaming making it more distressing to watch. Marion's hands fly
everywhere reaching for help but the audience can't do a thing and that is
when we feel helpless and drawn into the scene. The intense water is now still
beating down, perhaps reflecting the knife dashing in and out of the camera
shot aggressively stabbing the victim. Both the effect of the music and the
number of edits that Hitchcock used combines to deceive the audience into
thinking that Marion is stabbed much more than is actually true; which makes
it even more unforgettable and stressful.
The attacker then leaves the room, the camera is held looking at Marion,
lifeless against the bathroom wall. As the shot stays stationary Marion slowly
slides down the wall, draining out of the shot as if her life was draining out of
her body. The audience watched it all happen so quickly and now Hitchcock
makes them watch her slowly die as if punishing them for not doing anything.
She falls to the floor and the camera tracks the blood to the plug hole, again
draining it from her body. She is left empty and dead on the floor. The
audience now feels betrayed by Hitchcock after having full trust that Marion
the protagonist would stay in the film right to the end. The scene ends with
an extreme close up of Marion's eye looking almost as if it is crying
emphasising the sadness of this scene and perhaps the whole film.
The scene involving the murder of Arbogast creates a lot of alarm, but unlike
the shower scene an uneasy atmosphere is set before the death. It begins
with Milton Arbogast, a private detective, hired by Sam Loomis to search for
the missing Marion. He has seen the motel house and tries to investigate:
some lights are on suggesting someone is at home. Because the audience has
seen the story right from the beginning they too feel that they want some
answers so they desperately watch to find out. The lighting at this stage
outside the house is poor; it is dark, possibly having an evil edge to it. This
darkness of the scene might also have an effect on the audience; they already
know that something is wrong about that house, however there is so much
anticipation of danger they perhaps might even want something to happen to
Arbogast just to find out what all the mystery is about. Hitchcock has
created so much interest the audience wants something to happen to an
innocent character.
A long shot looking up to the silhouetted house makes it seem very
dominant, taking up a third of the screen; this makes the house much more
scary and superior to Arbogast. He then makes his way into the house with
the front door already unlocked; he looks furtively around the house and
again, like the shower scene, the audience is made to feel in on the secret.
Music is also being played adding to the anticipation of the audience. The
stringed instruments play a mixture of chords both low and high, preventing
the audience from either knowing that it should be a striking high danger
moment or a subtle low chord impyling cautiousness and safety from now
on; making the next step of the film unpredictable. Arbogast makes his way
gingerly up the stairs. The camera cuts to a shot from a door on the next
floor at the top of the stairs. In this shot the audience sees a shaft of light
appear from a door gradually opening. We know Arbogast has no idea this
is happening and we want to tell him but of course can't. Hitchcock has
succcessfully involved us with the story and we feel powerless.
Then, just as Arbogast reaches the top of the stairs unaware, the shaft of light
increases, the audience can see this but Aborgast seems totally unaware. The
camera then cuts to a birds-eye view of the scene as if the audience was
looking down from the top of the stairs. Hitchcock has almost put us in the
scene making us feel as if we could help if we wanted - but of course we
can't - and instead we are made to just sit feeling guilty and watch as if
paralysed. The audience now has a clear view of Arbogast on the stairs to
the right and the rest of the camera shot is just taken up with a blank space of
the top of the stairs, implying that something is going to happen there, just
like the shower scene and the blank space of curtain. Then suddenly the
door with the shaft of light flings open and what looks like a woman rushes
out as predicted across the blank area of landing gripping a knife above her.
The eerie music instantly changes to the same striking, ear-piercing music
used in the shower scene and we can immediately relate it to the masses of
wounds Marion encountered. Arbogast is repeatedly stabbed by what looks
to be an old woman and then tumbles down the stairs. After seeing the
murderer's clothing in this scene and the shower's the audience identifies the
killer as Norman's mother, Hitchcock has given no hints of the real plot and
leaves the audience feeling satisfied that they now know.
Arbogast stubbles and falls down the stairs, the camera tracks his movement
as his arms reach out for help just like Marion in the shower scene.
Hitchcock again has triumphed in making the audience feel helpless as they
sit there watching his death they feel ashamed and responsible for not helping
him sometimes forgetting that it is just a film. Aborgast falls right to the
bottom where he crashes to the ground. Special effects and the camera-work
creates the feeling for the audience that they too have just fallen a flight of
steps with Arbogast. The last shot is of the knife centre screen. The
audience feels vulnerable against the power that the knife has over people.
Although the audience doesn't see Arbogast get stabbed again, it's easy to
leave it to their imagination.
In "Psycho" I too would agree with Hitchcock and his interviewer: I believe
the audience is being subtly directed by Hitchcock throughout the whole film.
Marion has problems and can't resist stealing $40,000. In the first 45 minutes
of the film the audience can identify with her and sympathise for her. We
start to ask questions like will she be caught? if not how does she get away
with it?, willl she come to her senses and return the money? However before
we get to know her decision she is killed off and we are left in shock.
Then also in the shower scen we are lead to believe that Marion is going to
wash away the dirt of her crime but instead gets brutally murdered. The
famous actress Janet Leigh is out of the film less than half way through.
Hitchcock gave information to the audience to keep up the suspense, but also
provided red herrings to keep them from the truth.
Hitchcock's technical equipment is very important in the way he manipulates
the audience. There are three main tools that Hitchcock uses throughout the
film to raise tension: lighting, camera, and sound.
Hitchcock uses lighting to create a sinister atmosphere in both the driving
scene and the murder of Arbogast where the lighting is used to corrupt our
minds; in the driving scene Marion does not die and in the scene of Arbogast
the murder does not take place in the dark room but instead on the full lit
stairs.
Camera shots are another of Hitchcock's useful devices. He uses "point of
view " shots in the film to make the audience feel like they themselves are
being stabbed, chased, or driving. This makes the audience nervous for their
own safety. When Marion is driving the audience is practically put in her
seat, they feel as if they themselves can drive the car and are stuck in the foul
weather ahead. Point of view shots also generate sympathy for characters,
for example in the shower scene we are put in Marion's shoes when she is
getting stabbed, and we feel sorry for her having to go through so much pain.
Another shot that is used to manipulate the audience's feelings is when it
seems as though we are just a fly on the wall; in the shower scene we can see
the silhouette creeping up on Marion yet she is totally unaware. Then also in
Aborgast's murder scene we have a bird's eye view and see the murder a split
second before Abogast himself. We want to help but can't, Hitchcock
successfully directs us to feel helpless and powerless and we obey.
Music has a key role in "Psycho"; because there is no colour in this film the
audience seems to have more attention for other things. The music in
Psycho is very sinister, high-pitched and has a high tempo; it adds a lot of
tension and suspense in the audience. When Hitchcock wants to make the
scene more dangerous the tempo will perhaps increase, along with the
volume. For example the driving scene; without the music wouldn't have
seemed half as dangerous; but with the lighting, camera shots and music
combined the atmosphere can be completely changed to suit Hitchcock's
need.
"Psycho" is a very strongly constructed film. It goes against the audience's
expectations and is created by a master craftsman who knows exactly what
he's doing and why.
