Psycho (1960)

The film was directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1960.Staring Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh.
The opening credits have dramatic music, sharp visual imagery and they are long.
A caption is the first thing we see in the actual film. 'Phoenix, Arizona' then 'Friday December eleventh' and finally 'Two forty three PM'. These captions create an equilibrium. A setting and a time for the audience to identify with. Behind the captions there is a seemingly ordinary town/city in daylight with tall buildings. This immediately gives the film a sense of realism and familiarity to the audience.

The camera begins to focus on one block/building in particular and begins to move in closer until the camera  enters through a window. This gives the film a sense of voyeurism and that we are peeking on the characters.The first time we identify with any character is in a hotel room. Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) and Sam Loomis (John Gavin) who are a couple. We learn that Sam and Marion wish to get married however Sam is struggling financially due to debt with his current divorce. Hitchcock wants us to want them to get married.This creates a red herring,will they get married? or will something different happen?

Marion returns to work this identifies with everday life of the audience.A client asks that she deposite $40,000 in cash to pay for a house for his daughter.The client is sleezy and  flirts with Marion and 'doesnt carry money he cant afford to lose'.He gives the impression that he can buy his happiness.this makes the audience instantly dislike him.Marion takes the oppurtunity to steal the money and run away with Sam.She has been in every scene until now and a lot of close ups of just her.Even though she is stealing the audience dont care as we have been forced to identify with just her as she is in every scene,even if her morals are questionable.


The director uses restricted narration as Marion is leaving Phoenix.This means the audience knows as much as she does at this point.This means we see things from her point of view.If we see things from her point of view or close ups of her we are forced to identify with her and put ourselfs in her place.Using empathy will make it more shocking when she dies.

As Hitchcock has so many close ups of Marion we a forced to sympathise with the emotion in her facial expressions.She has wide eyes which have made her appear innocent and child like from the start.So when we start to see nerves and terror in her eyes,particulary when she is in the car and she starts to become anxious and imagine what people are saying about her.This adds to her anxeity.We begin to learn about her past as she has worked there for ten years she was trusted.

When Marion is driving in the rain the only bright light comes from other cars headlights,everything else is dark and dull.The heavy rain and the run in with the police officer are signs she should return. She pulls into Bates Motel and we see the Bates house. The house is dark and the angle is tilted. The disorientation suggests that there is something off or not right with the house itself or its residents.

We learn that Norman's hobby is taxidermy "My hobby is stuffing things. You know - taxidermy" he says her likes to 'stuff things' this may be foreshowing the future some how.