Psycho essay

Psycho essay

 The opening scene of psycho has slow panned shot of city, which then appears to tell us it is Phoenix, Arizona; this is to give the audience a better understanding of the set of the scene. The date and the time is then shown up on the screen, and gives us the interest of why they chose this and decided to tell the audience. The camera then enters through a window, which we then sees Marian and Sam. The way the camera enters the window, it gives the sense that they are hiding something and we are spying on them. We hear Marion and Sam talking about wanting to marry each other but can’t because Sam has to pay off his dead father’s debts and pay for his wife’s divorce. This is what is getting in the way of them being together because in the 50’s America it was wrong to be with someone if you weren't married. We instantly connect with the two and want them to be together and get married. Later on in the scene we see Marion arrive at work, further on followed in by her boss and a client. The client starts to flirt with Marion and starts to blag about how much money he owns, he lays out $40,000 in front of her and her boss asks her if she can take it to the bank. Marion agrees to take it to the bank but asks her boss if she can go straight home, complaining of a headache.

In the next scene we see Marion in her room, we see her looking at something, the camera the pans down on the bed and we see the money lying on the bed. The cameras then pans left, which we then see a suitcase full of clothes. The audience then gets the idea that she is going to run away with the money, so she can finally be with Sam. The camera keeps looking back at the money and then back at Marion, giving us the feeling that she is having second thoughts. We don’t mind Marion stealing the money from the client because he is arrogant and we want Marion and Sam to be together. We can tell that Marion is trusted by her boss as she is in charge of a lot of money, as she is leaving town her boss sees her, we see by her expressions that she is afraid in case her boss figures out what she is up too.

Throughout Marion’s scenes Hitchcock uses point of views put us in her eyes, also the camera uses a lot of close ups on Marion, with her eyes in the centre forcing us to identify with her. Also the camera manipulates the audience by making Marion in almost every scene, and we go were ever she goes. We spend a lot of time looking straight at Marion, through the windshield of her car. I would say that it is restricted as it builds tension and we don’t know all the information, for example we do not know what is going to happen and only find out new things when Marian does. Alfred Hitchcock uses the POV shots when Marion is sleeping in the car and gets woken up by a police officer, the camera looks straight at the police officer making it Marion’s POV shot.

Albert Hitchcock uses enigma codes to drive the plot forward and make the audience ask questions and wanting to watch and know more. For example, most of the audience is going to ask the question ‘Who is it?’ asking about who killed Marion, it doesn't show their face or any other features. It reveals who was the killer at the end of the film making the audience watch the whole of the film. Throughout the film there are 2 murders including Marion and the detective Arbogast, not showing any sign who it is. I think the most shocking part of the film was when Marion died; it was unexpected as they had just killed off the main character. The audience might have been thinking ‘She can’t be dead’ as she is the main character and we have just spent 47 minutes of the film identifying, following her wherever she goes and she is killed off. The audience could be asking questions like ‘what is going to happen next’ wondering is the film going to be over now that the main character is dead.

Hitchcock use action codes to change the scene or the narrative to move the plot forward, he uses this when Marion had to take the money and put it in the bank, then we next see her packing her suitcase ready to leave town. Alfred used the money to get Marion to run away, which her running away leads her to her death; this moved the plot forward all of a sudden. Another way Alfred Hitchcock used action codes was Marion’s death, this leads to the detective looking to find her, and ends up at the Motel that Marion was at, this then leads to his death and leaving the case unsolved.

In my opinion I think that Hitchcock used Todorov’s theory but when it came to ‘attempt to repair’ it went back a few steps to ‘a disruption’. For example the ‘equilibrium’ is at the very start when Sam and Marion are together; they look happy and want to be together. The ‘disruption’ would be when Marion stops off at the motel which later leads to her death. The ‘recognition’ would be when Marion’s sister hasn't heard from her in a few days and starts to get worried. The ‘attempt to repair’ would be when the detective gets sent out to find her, but later dies moving it back to ‘disruption’.

Throughout the film Alfred Hitchcock challenge and surprises the audience with props and character types. Hitchcock surprises us with Marion’s death not meeting our expectations because we want Marion and Sam to be together, this is why Marion ran away with the money in the first place, making it have a happy ending. Instead Alfred twisted the plot and shocked us, challenging the audience. Hitchcock also surprises us as the end, revealing who was the killer; making it a bit confusing saying it was Norman’s mother that was the murder but It was Norman dressed up as his mother. The prop that is used to kill the characters was a kitchen knife, making it a horrible death for them. This shocked the audience as it is very violent and the knife gives it that horror feeling.

A binary opposition that Alfred Hitchcock uses is the view of the money by the different characters. As we see the rich father trying to buy her daughter’s happiness and puts his money in the hands of stranger, this shows he takes his money for granted. We see the man flirting with Marion acting out he can get anyone because of his wealth in spite of his age. The other view of the money is Marion’s, although she steals the money she does not take it for granted and does what is best to stay with the money and runs out of town. Marion also wants but happiness for her Sam, which we can see a similarity, she takes the money so Sam can pay off his debts and his wife’s divorce so they can be together.

Overall I think that this is very good film and has been edited to build tension. The editing when Marion is being murdered is very quick editing, leaving about 52 shots in that one scene, with about 1 second or 2 seconds for each shot. This give tension and has the audience gripping their chairs, the music also sounds very screechy and very high pitched. I think that Alfred Hitchcock decided to make this film in black and white because it showed out the shadows better on Normans face showing he has a good and a bad side. Also it gives it a more of a dramatic effect making it build more tension.