Alfred Hitchcock's Creation of Tension and Suspense in Psycho
'Nasty, skilful and clever'. This is how one critic described Psycho
at the time of its release. He/She recognised the film's obvious power
over the audience, and its ability to manipulate emotions and
responses. 'Psycho' is an excellent example of how tension and
suspense can be created, and how they can improve a film tremendously.
Hitchcock uses all the classics horror codes (old houses, weather,
dark, etc.) together with several tricks of his own, camera shots and
angles, and twists the plot structure to create a very effective
atmosphere an to produce a classic film. The mise-en-scene, the
low/high angles, the clever lighting, the close-ups and the general
style have been reproduced in many later films.
Three sequences that demonstrate the techniques Hitchcock uses to
create tension and suspense are Marion's drive up to the motel, the
'Peeping Tom' scene, and Lila's walk down to the cellar.
The scene in which Marion drives up to the motel comes quite early on
in the film. At this point the audience are expecting a crime film, as
Marion has stolen $ 40,000, has been stopped once by a policeman,
changed cars, and is in the process of making her getaway. All these
things suggest a crime film. The scene consists of two shots, the road
and Marion's face; and alternates between the two.
The scene starts in daylight with a shot of Marion's face. The road at
this point is fairly busy and is in a seemingly quiet and civilised
neighbourhood; it does not arouse fear and tension, on the contrary,
in fact, it is almost a little too relaxing. The voices of various
people w...
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...urns again. The wing is now in line
with his line of vision. He rushes out the door. AS he does so the
light from the window throws half of his face into shadow, while the
other half is lit up. This reflects his mental position, half dark and
sinister, half light and innocent. He goes out of the office, and
pauses, looking towards the house. Then we see his facial expression.
It is determined, as if he has made his mind up about something. We
then see his dark figure going up the hill back towards the house that
looms above him like the owl, back to the mother who looms above his
life.
I believe the film 'Psycho' is a brilliantly masterminded piece of
cinematography. It works well to produce a tense and clever atmosphere
that is very effective and produces perfect results with a variety of
interesting techniques.
kicked off the car, he was left a far distance from everything. He reached a
Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho"-the movie the world recognised-was first premiered in the home town of New York on the 16th June 1960.The film follows the life and strife of a young beautiful woman Marion Crane, played by the Janet Leigh, who is on the run from the police after stealing $40.000, she manages to find refuge at the Bates motel where she makes her worst mistake possible. During and after the film production of "Psycho" Alfred Hitchcock had his aids buy as many copies as possible of the novel "Psycho"-written by Robert Bloch. Why? To conceal the ending form the public's eye so when the film was shown in cinemas the audience would'nt know the ending. When people found out the title of the movie Hitchcock said it was based on a greek love story "Psyche".
‘Psycho’ is a 1960’s thriller that has been voted as one of the top 15
Hitchcock employs the notion of the capability of isolation to create conflict and fear. Isolation is apparent in the crop dusting scene due to the lack of people and buildings which juxtaposes to the busy streets of New York City earlier in the film. An establishing shot of the empty desert and Thornhill standing on the road alone, implies that Thornhill is insignificant and isolated as the scene is predominantly the landscape. A long shot of Thornhill and an unknown character in a “typical standoff” scene creates tension and fear for the audience. As the two men speak, non-diegetic sounds of a plane becomes prevalent. When the man says “I’ve seen worse” in response to Rodgers question, this is a foreshadowing of the crop dusting plane attack
Development of Suspense by Hitchcock in Psycho 'Psycho,' the somewhat infamous film by Alfred Hitchcock was produced in 1961, a time when the American censors, The Hays Office, still dominated the film industry with their strict rules and principles. It earned its notoriety by defying the traditional cinematic convections of that time and pushing the boundaries of what could be shown in mainstream cinema. The rules implemented by The Hays Office were far stricter than they are today, and Hitchcock uses all available means to reach and go slightly beyond the set limit. Using clever and different camera angles, he implies things that are not shown. He proves that innuendoes can portray the same image and retract the same audience responses as blatant actions and pictures.
And last but not least is the villain in these movies. Most of the killers in these films are portrayed as mentally deranged and/or has some type of facial or bodily deformation and who have been traumatized at an early age. Even though these characters terrorized and murder people they have taken on the persona of anti-heroes in pop culture. Characters like Halloween’s Michael Myers, A Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger and Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees have become the reason to go see these movies. However, over time,”their familiarity and the audience’s ability to identify and sympathize with them over the protagonist made these villains less threatening (Slasher Film (5))”.
Hitchcock is a director who makes a movie suspenseful in his own way. He is know as “the master of suspense.” His movies have oftimes become classic of thriller and they are enjoyable to watch. One of the most enjoyable movie he has directed is North by Northwest. Hitchcock has directed movies like Strangers on the train, that have similar features as North By Northwest but the one that have more ratings and “has gone on to take its place as one of the best-loved films in motion picture history” (Ehrenstein par1) is North by Northwest. Most importantly, the setting, camera angle, sound, music is so powerful that it made the film stood out from other Hitchcock films. Even Robin Wood commends it for “its charms, its deftness, the constant flow
bank. Marion went home there was a close up shot on the money then on
out towards a green light. At the time it is not revealed to us that this
Psycho is an American horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1960 based on a 1959 novel with the same name. Alfred Hitchcock typically uses certain elements in almost all of his films. In Psycho the following elements appear; blonde woman, conversation that is not important to the story, alcohol, Hitchcock appearance, Mcguffin, pursuit, the camera looks around, a P.O.V., creating suspense by letting the audience in on a secret, mother figure, birds, stairs, and a narrow escape.
Everybody knows Alfred Hitchcock is the master of suspense and is known for inciting fear in the hearts of his audience. His multiple, fast cuts directs his audience to what he wants them to see and feel. Close-ups of the actors faces clearly shows what the characters are feeling and forces the audience to feel the same emotions. With all his expert directing skills, is there any meaning behind what he chooses to portray in his films or is it all for show? Could there be a deeper meaning to his films? The answer to these questions is a firm yes. Hitchcock’s past experiences guided him to be the director he was. The inadequateness of the police, control of all details in his films, and long stretches of no dialogue all portrayed in his films are all directly correlated to Hitchcock’s early life and early professional life.
Cinematography of Hitchcocks Psycho Alfred Hitchcock is renown as a master cinematographer (and editor), notwithstanding his overall brilliance in the craft of film. His choice of black and white film for 1960 was regarded within the film industry as unconventional since color was perhaps at least five years the new standard. But this worked tremendously well. After all, despite the typical filmgoer’s dislike for black and white film, Psycho is popularly heralded among film buffs as his finest cinematic achievement; so much so, that the man, a big
Psycho is a suspense-horror film written by Joseph Stefano and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This film was loosely adapted from Robert Bloch’s 1959 suspense novel, Psycho. A majority of the movie was filmed in 1960 at Universal Studios in Los Angeles. Psycho is about Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), a secretary from Arizona who steals $40,000 from her employer’s client. She takes that money and drives off to California to meet her lover Sam Loomis (John Gavin) in order to start a new life. After a long drive, she pulls off the main highway and ends up taking refuge at an isolated motel owned and managed by a deranged Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). In Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Psycho, symbols, character and point of view are three literary aspects used in the film to manipulate the audience’s emotions and to build suspense in the film.
from under his feet,he starts to think of alternative ways in which he can be saved from
In the film Rear Window that was released in 1954 Alfred Hitchcock the director uses suspense through out the film to create a mystery. Hitchcock uses several techniques like symbolism, narratives, and voyeurism. Hitchcock main focus in the film was to create the entire film from a one-point vantage spot. The film depicts a vision in the audience head that is produced by visuals. How do gender roles. Having the film shown by the eyes of the protagonist Jefferies eyes the audience have a connection to the film and have one specific vocal point to focus through out the film.