Psycho Essay

Psycho Essay

 When analysing the Hitchcock thriller 'Psycho', it's clear to see that is begins with what seems normal but draws us an audience deeper and deeper into the abnormal. The film begins with a high angled establishing shot of a city where we then see the captions of the name of the city which we learn is 'Pheonix' and a precise date and time. This makes an audience question  whether this is of any importance as it could of been anywhere. Also at the end of the film, time has ceased to exist. The camera then takes us through a window which appears to be open slightly where we then see a couple, Marion and Sam. The camera entering through the open window positions the audience so we feel like we're watching in on something they want to keep private as we soon learn they are not married. In the 60s, having a sexual relationship and not being married would be seen as wrong so we know that they're keeping this relationship secret and are meeting surreptitiously.

 From the beginning, we're forced to identify with the character of Marion, even between the dispute between the two lovers we naturally side with her. We are restricted to this character as we see her feature in every scene up to her death. Sam doesn't appear to us as a romantic hero character due to him worrying about paying his father's debts and his ex-wife's divorce which we would expect him to sweep aside for the love of Marion. However we side with Marion as we see her willingness and determination to accept the situation they're in for the sake of their relationship together. The technical code of the close ups and medium close ups indicate the lover's intimate relationship and again makes us feel as if we're watching in on them throughout this. Furthermore, due to Marion's dream of getting married to Sam, we see her steal the $40,000. During the scene of her packing her bag up, we see the camera switching from her face to the money on the bed making us aware that she will steal the money however we accept that she steals the money for a good reason. We see her hesitate suggesting that she isn't fully committed however here we see her inability to control her actions and takes the money anyway. It's this scene which gets the story going and we still continue to identify with Marion despite her perhaps being better off without the $40,000. 

Later on in the film, we see Marion get stopped by a policeman which raises tension for an audience as we see her in a state of panic even though she has not yet done anything wrong. She makes herself seem suspicious when he asks her for her license as she starts of by refusing,  making matters worse for herself. The extreme close up of the police man staring directly into the camera positions us as an audience as if we were in Marion's position ourselves and is quite intimidating therefore we can identify with how Marion is feeling. We then see this police man watch her change cars and he now knows what this new car looks like yet we see her go through with the exchange anyway. 

Throughout this journey Hitchcock positions the camera so we're focused on Marion's wide eyes which show the most emotion. The voice overs are part of her imagination as we see her paranoia and her fear of violent repercussions. As well as this, the non diegetic orchestral music also increases tension as it reinforces her feeling of hopelessness and her weariness. This music is a conventional element for any thriller movie because it prepares us for something that about to happen next. The film conveys a sense of an endless journey leading to nowhere as we see shots of the road ahead of her. The heavy rain then makes matters worse before we see her pull up at the Bates Motel which seems to just appear out of the darkness. 

The confrontation between Marion and Norman Bates is what ultimately makes her decide to return the money that she had stolen the next morning. Throughout their discussion we learn that Norman enjoys to stuff birds raising the binary opposition of normal vs. abnormal between Marion and Norman's psychotic behavior. The birds could be considered as a metaphor for Holden due to them being predatory. During their conversation using shot/reverse shot, Norman says 'we all go a little mad sometimes. Haven't you?' to which Marion replies with, 'Sometimes just one time can be enough. Thank you.' Norman refers to his personal situation, of him acting as his mother, however him saying this is what gives Marion her chance of salvation which she takes by deciding to return home. Here we see the differences between the two meet as both cases are 'secrets' of theirs. 

When Marion returns to her room we see her under the shower where we see her movements start slow and ritualistic. Her facial expression implies that she's finally washing the guilt that we carried with her away and suggests that everything is back to normal. However her murder is then much more shocking as we have been forced to identify with her throughout the whole of the film so far and we're left with nothing to cling to. This would leave the audience confused as the murder of Marion is irrational to the theft of money and we want to know why. As soon as the shower curtain is pulled back, the editing of the murder is very fast paced and is full of jumps cuts which increasing the dramatic tension and disorientates the audience. After we see her fall to her death, Hitchcock uses a graphic match when focusing on drain then transitioning to an extreme close-up of her eye which metaphorically indicates how her life has been drained from her. Also, the extreme close-up of her eye gradually zooms outwards as if we're drawing apart from Marion after being restricted to her until this point. After this, Norman Bates is the only character available to attach ourselves to and at this point, we see the character as quite sensitive and vulnerable towards his mother. The shot of money which was initially set the story off, is now just a reminder of Marion's life and her desires to get married to Sam. 

Throughout the rest of the film, the character of Norman behavior becomes more suspicious as we see the murder of private investigator, Arbogast. Before his murder, we see their conversation begin with a medium close-up where we could see both characters in the same shot. However as tensions are raised, the two then begin to be shot with individual close-ups signifying the change in relationship as we see Norman now appearing quite agitated and pressured. Towards the end of the film, it's revealed that Norman's mother is in fact dead and he has been the killer all along. 

The use of black and white throughout the film creates a chilling atmosphere as it's darker and the use of shadow is pronounced. It allows us to pay more attention to the scenes before us as well as focus on the emotions of the characters. The black and white could also symbolise the two personalities of Norman Bates for example his sensitive side and his psychotic side which Hitchcock challenges and surprises us with. As well as this the use of black and white makes the film seem more like a classic and could of perhaps been used to make the film seem more iconic. For example, many well known films made in the 30s and 40s used black and white including "The Wizard o Oz" which used both black and white and colour.