Alfred Hitchcock manipulates the camera to draw the attention of the audience, in the 1960’s thriller, Psycho. The credits abruptly appear on the screen, as though the lines are stabbing at something. The words are white text against a plain black background. This symbolises the dark being the dominant colour, but still creates a visual binary opposition. The word ‘Psycho’ is contorted and indecipherable, having been displayed over more than one of the horizontal lines foreshadowing the confusion later on in the film. They accentuate that something extreme will happen and sub-consciously raise the viewer’s awareness of events that could proceed to happen.
In the first scene the camera begins by panning the building tops, much like a bird. Birds are a significant theme in the film as Marion’s surname is ‘Crane’ and in the Motel, Norman’s hobby is to stuff birds. The camera finally pauses on a row of windows and zooms in until the audience are intruding into a hotel room, where we see Marion laying on a bed dressed only in white undergarments. Sam is stood over her as though of hig...
to the film. Psycho is a fifteen in England to buy on video these days
Alfred Hitchcock’s films not only permanently scar the brains of his viewers but also addict them to his suspense. Hitchcock’s films lure you in like a trap, he tells the audience what the characters don’t know and tortures them with the anticipation of what’s going to happen.
bank. Marion went home there was a close up shot on the money then on
He can only hear the sound of the cars, buses and plane noises. He can
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
Alfred Hitchcock has made numerous movies that have become classics and have a distinctive style that one would see and immediately know it could have only been Hitchcock that directed that film. This unique style is known as “hitchcockian” and many various elements are necessary to make up a truly Hitchcockian film. The icey cool blonde, use of stairs as suspense, and dark shadows to symbolize cruel intentions are just a few of the numerous elements Hitchcock incorporates into his films. Rear Window is one of the many films that embodies these elements making it a true Hitchcockian film. Rear Window was released in 1954 and not only is it one of Hitchcock’s greatest movies, but a true classic as it has an excellent plot, well developed characters,
One major attribute in Hitchcock films is how creatively Hitchcock tricks the audience about the fate of the characters and the sequence of events. Many people argue that it is a tactic by Hitchcock to surprise his audience in order to increase the suspense of the movie. For example, in Shadow of a Doubt, the audience assumes that young Charlie is an innocent young girl who loves her uncle dearly. However as the movie progresses, Young Charlie is not as innocent as the audience suspects. Young Charlie, once a guiltless child, ends up killing her evil uncle. In Vertigo, the same Hitchcock trickery takes place. In the beginning, the audience has the impression that the Blond women is possessed by another woman who is trying to kill her. The audience also has the notion that the detective is a happy man who will solve the murder case correctly. Just before the movie ends, the audience realizes that the detective was specifically hired by a man to kill his wife. The detective, in the end, seems to be the hopeless, sad victim.
minds of a new day, people waking up on a summer morning. We know it
so that he can peep into the room of Marion a guest at the Bates
What Hitchcock focused on the most is use of bright terrifying colors and scary music such as in his one of the famous movies Psycho to mislead the
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.
In the world of cinema, there’s almost always a discussion regarding what scenes would be suitable for the grasping imagination of any audience, young or old. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film, Psycho, sparked a plug for the movie industry as it was the first movie of its kind to display such graphic scenes of sex and violence to a worldwide audience.
The paintings in the background have uneven, angled frames which duly create a gloomy and of course concealing dark shadows. And also The low angle tilt camera angle shows to the audience the difference mindsets between the two characters. Marion sits nicely in her chair kind of leaning forward; as she enjoys her sandwich, she gives the audience a feeling of calm and normal. On the other side, Norman is viewed from an uneasy low shot, showing him sitting uncomfortably in the chair; he is unnaturally positioning his hand into his inner thigh, Hitchcock places the camera eye level, so the audience can see Marion as two people might see each other while sitting and talking, It is also noticed that, Marion's face is always shot as a full on facial camera close-up, although Norman is always shot with a side-on close up which doesn’t show his other side. Overlooking the symbolic stuffed birds that is in the corners of the room that gives a foreshadow to Norman's corrupted mind. As he quotes, "I like stuffing things", I believe it signifies a graphic image of death. This should tell the viewers that all of the tension will eventually end with a horrific event. The music that accompany the scene is also great as it is a repeating melody which changes tempo as the tension
Though complex and brilliantly written for its time, the plot of Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Vertigo, is only half of the genius behind it. Alfred Hitchcock’s unique presence as an auteur is truly what sets his films apart. There is symmetry to his shots that give the film an artistic feel, as if each frame were a painting. Many times, within this symmetry, Hitchcock places the characters in the center of the frame; or if not centered, then balanced by whatever else is adding density to the shot. For example, as Madeline sits and looks at the painting in the museum, there is a balance within the frame. To counter-act her position to the right of the painting, Hitchcock puts a chair and another painting on the left side, which is visually pleasing to the eye of the audience. The use of red and green not only adds a visual effect as well, but later serves as a clue that Madeline is not actually dead, when the women who looks like her is wearing a green dress.
Hitchcock employs plenty of unique visuals, including camera tricks that confuse depth perception, invasive close-ups, film noir lighting, and rapid cuts to show nudity with out showing nudity or extreme violence / killing without much blood. The movie “Psycho” was a first for several filmic elements making it sometimes more notable than effective. At its heart, however it’s a extreme thrilling murder/ mystery that boasts a climax unlike any other before its time. The suspense and anticipation are almost unbearable, keeping the ultimate, answers brilliantly stowed until the very