Therefore this is a case of visual irony. Another case some people may class as visual irony is when Bates and Marion are in the bedroom and there is a vivid outline of Bates’ shadow. This could show that Bates has a split personality. Another thing that could show about Bates split personality is when Bates is standing under a tree that splits into two branches. A branch for each part of Bates personality.
The cases of verbal irony are as important as the cases of visual irony. They are more cases of verbal irony than that of visual. For Example when the traffic cop stops Marian and says, “There are plenty of motels in this area…I mean…just to be safe.” Well she gets to a motel to be safe yet she dies in this motel. A different case of verbal irony is when Marion is buying a new car and the car salesman says, “The first customer is always the most trouble”, and he is right. Marion dies in the car he has sold her so the police may question him. The final case of verbal irony that I will talk about is when Marion is talking to Sam in the hotel and says “Checking out time in these kinds of hotels is 3:30, and when your time is up…” when your time is up is a phrase talking about when your life ends, when your dead. The irony increases the suspense by giving lots of little clues about what is going to happen on latter in the film.
The most famous scene in “Psycho” is defiantly the “shower scene”. Here are some facts about the shower scene. The shower scene took seven days too record how they wanted it. It was filmed in a twelve-foot by twelve-foot room. Seventy-eight cameras were used in the shooting of the shower scene
(So that they did not get any shots of anything that would break the censorship rules). Too make the stabbing sounds sound real they stabbed melons, and the one that sounded most like stabbing was used. Chocolate source was used for the blood, and because it was a black and white film it looked quite realistic. A full string band did the music for the shower scene. This scene happened quite early on in the film, and this made the audience stay exited which added to the suspense.
The sounds and music in “Psycho” play another important role. For example the music and sounds before someone was about to die was really high pitched, a sort of screeching sound. The way this added to the suspense by letting people know when a murder is about to take place.
Repetition and motifs were used quite frequently in the film. One of the main ones was how mirrors were used. The mirrors were used a lot in the film. Some people may say that the mirrors were used to show deceit. The say they show deceit because the people could be doing stuff behind the other peoples back but they would not know but we would because we could see it in the mirror. Another motif that was used a lot was the one of the claw. The claws of the birds or the shot of Marion’s hand clawing down the wall could show us that because the film had a lot of killing in, it was a sign of the devil.
All in all the film was successful in obtaining and maintaining suspense because of all the previous points mentioned. The one thing that I believe created the most suspense and tension is the point of irony.