“PSYCHO” (1960)This thriller includes suspense, tension and excitement.

PSYCHO (1960)

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Joseph Stefano (screenplay), Robert Bloch (novel)

Stars:

Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh and Vera Miles

HITCHCOCK THOUGHTS

The audience know there is a murderer in the house. They don’t know when s/he will strike again but to be suspenseful they must know it could happen any minute. However the audience think that it’s the mother who has been committing the mother, but it actually wasn’t, it was the man who owned the hotel who was committing it.

Hitchcock stressed that as the apprehension increases there is less and less violence on screen.

HITCHCOCK THOUGHTS

In “Psycho” the audience initially think the film is about $40,000 and the murder becomes a shock. This shock makes the audience apprehensive for the rest of the film – anything could happen / anyone could be killed.

This shocks the audience and makes them feel apprehensive for the rest of the film, because now anything may possibly happen, or anybody could be killed but the audience doesn’t know who.

“PSYCHO” (1960)

“Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action,”

This was especially applied when the young blonde was taking a shower, unexpectedly you see a shadow behind the curtain with a knife. Then all of a sudden the you lady is being stabbed, this creates a sense of suspense because everything is happening in the heat of the moment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WtDmbr9xyY

Also the audience were in belief that this young women was going to be the main character, but all of a sudden her life was taken which left the audience wondering who will be the new main character.

“PSYCHO” (1960)

“Resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains.”

In this movie you could say that Sam and Lila are the heros, as they were the ones who found out that something wasn’t right about her sister going missing. So they hired out an investigator to help find her sister, but then he also went missing so they took it amongst themselves to go and find them. Then they found out that Norman was behind this, and they called the police and got justice for what happened to Marlon and the inspector.

NORMAN BATES

Hitchcock said it is important to avoid cliché and repetition – particularly with regard to character – egmurderers can be charming and the heroes flawed.

Norman Bates was based on two characters. It was based on Ed Gein

“DEVICES SUCH AS SUSPENSE, RED HERRINGS AND CLIFFHANGERS ARE USED EXTENSIVELY.”

Story-wise, Psycho is not extraordinary; its true brilliance lies in its construction.

Hitchcock has developed the film in such a way that it consistently flouts audience expectations.

There are two major surprises:

1. the shower scene murder

2. the final revelation about Mother.

“DEVICES SUCH AS SUSPENSE, RED HERRINGS AND CLIFFHANGERS ARE USED EXTENSIVELY.”

A viewer who sees the film for the first time without knowing about either will experience the full impact of what Hitchcock intended.

The greatest shock for the uninitiated is the early exit of Janet Leigh.

This is doubly unexpected because, to this point, the screenplay had tricked us into accepting Marion as the main character.

“DEVICES SUCH AS SUSPENSE, RED HERRINGSAND CLIFFHANGERS ARE USED EXTENSIVELY.”

When she dies and the point-of-view shifts to Norman Bates', the audience is puzzled.

In order to keep this crucial aspect of the film secret when Psycho opened in 1960, there were no advance screenings and no one was admitted to a showing after the feature had started.

“PSYCHO” (1960) AND THRILLER CONVENTIONS.

“Devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliffhangersare used extensively.”

Find examples of this in “Psycho” Be specific!

Suspense – how built up?

What part does the music play in building the suspense?

“PSYCHO” (1960) AND THRILLER CONVENTIONS.

“A thriller is a villain driven plot, whereby he presents obstacles the hero must overcome.”

Is this true of “Psycho” ?

Who is the villain?

“”THE MCGUFFIN”

Hitchcock said the McGuffin is the plot device that causes the action to happen.

The McGuffin usually comes in the first part of the film and sometimes returns at the end.

In his thrillers the audience don’t really care about the McGuffin.

In this film the McGuffin is Marion stealing the money.

“PSYCHO”

Hitchcock said thrillers allow the audience, "to put their toe in the cold water of fear to see what it's like”

Has he succeeded in this film?

“Psycho is a brilliant excursion into fear that pushes many of our primal buttons”

DO THESE NARRATIVE THEORIES APPLY TO THIS FILM?WHERE? WHEN? BE SPECIFIC!

Explain why narrative is so important to this thriller – what conventions does it follow? Does it follow?:

1. Classic Hollywood narratives – linear (chronological), few, if any, sub-plots, tendency towards closure at end of film.

2. Vladimir Propp – character types – analysed traditional folk stories – 8 key character roles e.g. Hero/Villain/Helper/Donor(Provider)/Father/Dispatcher/Princess/False Hero - N.B. one character can perform more than one role –how many in your thriller?

3. Todorov – equilibrium – disruption – resolution – new equilibrium

DO THESE NARRATIVE THEORIES APPLY TO THIS FILM?WHERE? WHEN? BE SPECIFIC!

4. Roland Barthes: all texts are ‘complex’ bundles of meaning.

Enigma codes (problems introduced) – usually in ‘disruption’ stage.

Open – not resolved at end

Closed texts – resolved at end

Polysemic texts – lots of different meanings

5. Levi Strauss – Binary Opposition –

narratives can be organised through binary opposition - two things opposed – often dominant vs subordinate - e.g. male/female, hero/villain

6.Linear narrative – no sub plots

7. Three Act Structure = the typical Hollywood narrative = set up (25% time) /confrontation (50%) /climax (Final 25% of film time)

DID YOU KNOW?

When “Psycho” was initially released in

1960, it was a huge box office hit (there are

stories of 3-mile long lines at drive-in

entrances

THE SHOWER SCENE

.

Whenever anyone speaks about

Psycho, the first images that come

to mind are those of Janet Leigh

being hacked to death in the shower.

The scene is so famous that even

people who have not seen the film

are aware of it.

DO YOU AGREE?The shower scene alone stands as one of the

greatest single examples of execution and editing

in the history of cinema.

THE SHOWER SCENE

Bernard Herrmann's strident,

discordant music has been used in

countless other movies to denote the

appearance of a “Psycho."

GENIUS!

The brilliance of the scene lies in the editing.

A frame-by-frame analysis reveals that Hitchcock left a lot to the audience’s imagination.

THE SHOWER SCENE

We actually see:

• a knife

• blood (actually chocolate syrup),

• water,

• a woman's naked body (with certain parts

strategically concealed from the camera),

• Only a brief showing of the blade

penetrating the flesh.

THE SHOWER SCENE

The full horror of the murder is only hinted at on-screen.

It takes the power of the viewer's imagination to fill in the blanks

ANALYSE THE SHOWER SCENE IN TERMS OF MEDIA LANGUAGE.

Camera work: angle, shot, movement, position; high or low tilt; long, medium or close up; wide shot, over the shoulder, zoom, reverse shot, point of view, tracking, pan, steadycam, rolling, hand held, deep focus etc.

Editing: speed (long or short take); Style –straight cut, dissolve, fade, wipe, jump cut; shot/reverse shot, Eyeline match, Action match, Montage, Slow motion, Graphic match, Ellipsis (showing what happens before and after – audience fill in the middle).

ANALYSE A KEY SCENE IN TERMS OF MEDIA LANGUAGE (CONTINUED).

Sound: diegetic/non-diegetic, parallel/contrapuntal, on screen/off screen, sound effects, sound bridges, pace, dialogue and music.

Mise en Scene: setting/location, props; hair/make up/costume; positioning of characters in frame (deep focus); body language/facial expression; colour –denotation/connotation; lighting – high

key/low key; SFX.

REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN “PSYCHO”Consider apply Laura Mulvey’s theory of The Male Gaze.

Laura Mulvey – “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” (1975). She said:

THE REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN “PSYCHO”.

The male gaze =

women viewed as the objects of male erotic desire – in film and audience

men active / women passive.

Women do not have agency – they do not move the plot forward.

The audience is forced to identify with male gaze.

Cinema reflects patriarchal (male dominated) society