The music in both films is used both in different ways for example there is hardly any music at all. In ‘The Birds’ there is no score music at all, there is music from the children singing but most of all the electronic sounds used for the birds. Alfred Hitchcock has used electronic sounds maybe because he tries to get across to the viewers that they are not birds but are infact something else. I think the absence of music gives a strangely muted atmosphere within the film but it does give an impact to certain scenes. I think especially within the scene where Mrs Brenner finds the dead farmer there is total silence and even when she sees him she does not scream but she is stunned and paralysed. I think where the children are singing and the bird’s noises are both present this makes the film stand out and kind of builds up the tension because it shows the viewers that the birds are getting ready to kill.
In the film ‘Psycho’ there is a lot more music used. In a horror film like ‘Psycho’ I think the music at the start of the film was very useful and sets the suspense and tension just right. The music was in your face, very sudden and jumpy. I think the part where Marion is in her car and the policeman starts to follow her is a good example of how the music is used. When Marion feels nervous the music cuts in and starts to create the tension and suspense, it relates to the characters and how they feel. I think the best part to describe the sound effects within ‘Psycho’ is within the shower scene. Just as the killer attacks Marion with his knife a violin cuts in and starts to play like a stabbing sound. It relates to that part of the scene very well and it helps to create the suspense and menace very effectively.
The plots and storylines in these two films are different but there is the same type of menace and tension in both. Both these were based on a mixture of fictional tales and life events. For example ‘The Birds’ was based on a story called ‘Daphne du Maurier’ and the story was about the strange behaviour of seagulls in a North Californian town and the film ‘Psycho’ was based on the story of Ed Gein. ‘The Birds’ was based on a story called ‘Daphne du Maurier’ and it was said that the seagulls acted in a strange behaviour. ‘Daphne’ saw a farmer busily ploughing a field whilst above him the seagulls were diving and wheeling. She developed the idea about the birds becoming hostile and attacking him. The nightmarish idea appealed to Hitchcock who turned it into the celebrated film. Of course this is just the kind of idea that helped Hitchcock create the menace and tension that could be used in the film. At the start of the film we notice a young lady named Melanie Daniels who is shopping in a San Francisco pet store when she meets Mitch Brenner. Mitch is looking to buy a pair of lovebirds for his young sister's birthday; he recognises Melanie but pretends to mistake her for an assistant. She decides to get her own back by buying the birds and driving up to the quiet coastal town of Bodega Bay, where Mitch spends his weekends with his sister and mother. Shortly after, a gull attacks Melanie, but this is just the start of a series of attacks by an increasing number of birds. Throughout the film there are a number of incidents that create this tension and menace for example the climbing frame scene. The film ‘psycho’ was based on Ed Gein, he was an unusual character born on a farm and raised by a domineering mother. In the space of a few years he became a grave robber, a necrophiliac, a cannibal and also took up arts and crafts in body parts. He is seen as one of the most weird and bizarre serial killers of the twentieth century and he is the man who inspired Alfred Hitchcock to make the film called ‘Psycho’. Many ideas motivated Hitchcock to make the film worthwhile so he planned on bringing in this sense of fear and menace. The plot to the film ‘Psycho’ is very interesting and even has a twist at the end. Phoenix office worker Marion Crane wants more out of life. She wants to marry Sam, but he has very little money and cannot afford a wedding. She feels herself stuck in a no-win situation, until one Friday her boss asks her to deposit a large sum of money. One Friday Marion is trusted to bank $40,000 by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam's California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into The Bates Motel. A quiet young man called Norman who seems to be dominated by his mother manages the motel. Both these plots to ‘Psycho’ and ‘The Birds’ start in a peaceful area where they move to an isolated place away from society, this is what creates the menace and insanity.
The settings of these two films do affect the way both films are seen and there are many different ideas to why Hitchcock chose them. ‘The Birds’ is set in an isolated place in Bodega bay, a small town in San Francisco. When the birds start to attack the town near the end of the film, the whole town is taken over by birds. If this was set in a city or a more open public place with lots of people it would be easier to stop the birds but as they attack a small town it is much harder to call for help. Hitchcock chose a small town because this helped created the menace and fear involved in the film. It made the audience feel as if there was no way to stop the birds because of a small town miles away from the city. I think the Brenner house is quite a scary place to be in at night because it seemed to be isolated from the town itself. This also helped create the suspense and tension. In ‘Psycho’ Hitchcock also chose to set it in an isolated place, which was a good idea as it did help to make the film scary and frightful in the same way as ‘The Birds’. ‘Psycho’ is also set away from the city in a house where Norman Bates lives in the Bates hotel. The Bates hotel was a very isolated place from the general public and was almost hidden from people. In the film we notice that there are not many customers because of the new highway being built, this shows that the house was near the highway and away from any other buildings. There is a road as well that Marion drives on to escape from Arizona but it is a wide-open road with no one around her and it seems very empty. This creates the assumption that the area in which she is in is deserted. So the setting of ‘Psycho’ was very carefully chosen as it played a massive part in creating the menace and tension within the film. In both films as well there is dialogue to draw the audience’s attention to the remoteness of the settings. This was a good idea used by Hitchcock to help create lots of tension.
The characters in both films do create tension and menace but some of them are used for all different purposes. First ‘The Birds’, Most of the characters in the film do not create the scariness of the film but help to keep it going. I think there is one scene in ‘The Birds’ where some of the characters have a certain impact on the film. I think it’s the scene in the bar near the ending of the film and the birds have started to attack. In the bar are the main character Melanie and Mitch but the people there in the bar with them do create suspense and horror in the film. For example there is an old guy there who starts to talk about the birds and how they might of started to attack humans, because of ‘revenge’ he says. This would of created tension and suspense as it suggests that they might kill every one because they blame all the humans for what they may have caused. Also there is a quote mentioned by Melanie “It’s the end of the world” and then Mitch’s mother blames Melanie. This shows Hitchcock planned this to make the characters rebel against each other to create fear between each other. This makes the audience aware of what is happening and creates a sense of fear between the characters.
In the film ‘Psycho’ there is one character who stands out a lot, he is not a main character but plays a good role in the film by creating fear and tension. It is the policeman who does this and it starts when he arrives at Marion’s car in the morning. We see Marion waking up in the car then we see the policeman in the window. He is wearing dark glasses at that moment and we are unable to see his eyes. Also the camera is from Marion’s view so it’s as if we are looking up at him, to show his authority over her and how she has to look up at him. Tension and suspense begins to rise and even more as the policeman questions her and she starts to lie to him. This shows that she is cutting herself off from help. I think when the policeman starts to follow her also shows signs of tension as well because there is no reason for the policeman to do this. The music plays here as well when he is following her, which shows that it is a tense scene.
I think a major part of the points to consider when looking at both these films are the editing. In both films there are at least one major scene that creates a lot of menace and tension. First I will look at ‘The Birds’, and one of the most famous scenes in this film, the climbing frame scene where Melanie is sitting by the bench and each time the camera shot changes more birds land on the climbing frame. In the climbing frame scene there are roughly 20 shots made in this scene, some are short and some are long. The general overview of this scene shows that we can see what is behind Melanie when she is on the bench but she cannot what is happening behind her. What we see as the audience is that there are a growing number of birds landing on the climbing frame. This is something that makes the audience aware of what is happening but know that Melanie is unaware of the birds, this creates an increase in tension. This method of editing is very useful for this film as it creates a lot of tension and suspense in the scene. In ‘Psycho’ I think the major scene in this film is the shower scene. It shows a lot of menace and fear in this scene. This particular scene took 45 shots to complete but the majority of them were very short. This scene has many different angles and shots, some are very strange but still have a good reason for shooting them. Shots numbers 10-30 are all about 1 second long and move very fast. As I explained earlier on in the essay there is jump cut of Melanie’s mouth screaming and as the shots are taken they go further into her face each time. This was a good idea to use as it could show Marion getting more and more louder as she screams or as if she was getting more afraid.
I think in ‘The Birds’ the birds themselves are a major symbol that maybe symbolise death because their purpose in this film is only to attack humans. I think they share a massive role in the film and symbolise death and evil a lot, you could say the birds play the part as the evil and bad. While Melanie and Mitch for example play their role as the heroes. I think the film has that type of style, good versus evil. The birds though what motivates them into the killing people? I think it is some sort of revenge they are after against the humans. Maybe it is a war they are after, something that we have done to them that have caused them to act that way. Maybe that’s what Hitchcock was implying but there are many different theories. I think there is another symbol that represents something in ‘The Birds’ as well. The caged lovebirds at the start of the film, I think they symbolise a sign of peace and tranquillity because they are lovebirds. They bring calmness to the film because they are harmless and cause no problems. I think Hitchcock used the lovebirds to create the start of the film, this is because he wanted the film to lead into the menace and havoc caused by the birds that attack later. In the film ‘Psycho’ there is also use of imagery and symbols. While in the scene where Marion is killed I notice the plughole and the water running down it. The shot of the plughole is a medium close and I think the plughole is used to represent the ending of a life, meaning Marion’s life. This image creates a feeling of despair and sadness because it seen as a life wasted away. There is also another image shown as well just before this scene. It is of the stolen money and the shot of the money is again about a medium close up. I think the stolen money represents many things but I think it mainly shows Marion’s greediness for the money and that how she would have done anything to get it. I think the shot of Marion looking at the money and her hiding it shows that she is nervous and that she is afraid of herself being caught but she knows that she cannot turn back. This a build of suspense and tension as it leads into the shower scene.
My final point that I am going to talk about is the themes that link these films together. I think a main theme that links these films together is the decision of where both places (bodega bay and Bates hotel) should be set. The link is that they are both isolated places away from society. As these films are both horror films it was a good technique used to create the menace and worrying feeling of being far away from any major cities and big public places where there are lots of people. This creates the sense of being alienated from other places and the rest of society. This was a good technique used and still is today in many other films where the setting of the film is isolated. Another link I notice in both these films is that there are two domineering mothers that dominate some of the characters in the films. In ‘Psycho’ the mother dominates Norman’s mind and takes over his mind, where in ‘The Birds’ Lydia Brenner control’s her son Mitch and her daughter Cathy. Here is a quote from the film that shows how dominating she is “No! But Mom, they’re in a cage. They’re birds, aren’t they?” I think Hitchcock decided to use domineering mothers because they were made to be the person in charge who carried the frightening and worrying sense with them. There are not many links in these films but these are the ones I managed to find that show why they were used in both the films.
Finally, by my conclusion I would say all these points are considered when making a horror film such as ‘The Birds’ or ‘Psycho’. Settings, images editing and lighting these are only some of the things used to create the tension and menace in a horror film but they all need it. Every point I have made from the cinematographic features to the themes was all included in these two films and they were used very successfully. Alfred Hitchcock had many ideas into producing these two films, he adapted to his ideas very well and produced two of the most greatest horror films made in the 1960’s.
