Psycho Film Analysis

Psycho

Psycho is an Alfred Hitchcock film that was made in 1960.

The film starts with Marion Crane, an office worker fromPhoenix, who is tired of her life. She wishes to get married to Sam, her lover, but she can't due to insufficient funds. Marion embezzles $40,000 from her boss, and runs away with it. She decides to go to California, but on her way, to see Sam, a storm hits, forcing her stop at a motel, The Bates Motel. The motel is run by Norman Bates, a quiet man, who appears to be controlled by his mother.

The audience, of Psycho, immediately think that the rest of the film will be fixated around the $40,000, and so when Marion gets murdered, it leaves the audience in awe, as they're lead firmly to believe that Marion was the main character, and typically a main character would never be killed a third of a way through the film. The rest of the film the audience are left feeling apprehensive, as they are aware now that anything could happen and anyone could be killed. Also, suspense is built up dramatically because, the audience know there is a murderer in The Bates Motel, however they don't know who it is, when, who or where they'll strike next. Thus causing the audience to be continually on the edge of their seats, and therefore creating a huge amount of tension.

Psycho uses music particularly effectively throughout. The film contains non-diagetic music throughout. The music becomes thrilling and exciting whenever something is going to, or might happen, this allows the audience to be alert and more suspenseful. Also the music creates tension throughout Pyscho. A particular scene when the music is used effectively is when, Marion stopped her car to let people cross the road, and her boss saw her, after telling him she was going home, as she felt unwell. The music added suspense, and made the audience wonder what was going to happen next; Was Marion the Psycho? Was she going to kill her boss?

Three particularly influential scenes in Psycho; The Shower Scene, The Car Scene, and The Staircase Scene.

The Shower Scene is one of the most iconic scenes in cinema history. Psycho has never been considered Hitchcock's best film, but it was the most memorable. Horrors nowadays owe a lot to Psycho, especially the Shower Scene. The Shower Scene is fast paced, with frequent action. In this scene Marion is in the shower, when suddenly the audience see a silhouette appear on the shower curtain, holding a knife. The audience are lead to believe that Marion is the main character, and because of this she will make it out of this situation. As an audience we assume that Marion will survive, but in fact she dies very early, which leaves a big impression on the audience, thus implying that nobody is safe. Then Marion gets stabbed several times. The non-diagetic music helps the audience identify that this scene is going to end badly.

The Car Scene is when Marion is driving, and leaving her old life behind her. Throughout her journey Marion is thinking about what she has left behind, and how her sister, boss and colleagues will react to the news of her departure. In this scene we hear non-diagetic music, which gets louder once we hear everyone talking. This creates a chilling and almost psychotic feeling to the scene, and makes its seem as if something is going to happen, and makes Marion seem much more sinister. This is a red-herring, as nothing comes of what we, as the audience, are thinking.

The Staircase Scene is when the Dectective, Arbogast, is trying to unsurface information on Norman's Mother, Mrs Bates. As Arbogast goes into the house and up the stairs, the camera angle changes, to one where you can see a door opening a someone's silhouette walks out. When Arbogats reaches the top of the staircase, a woman attacks him and stabs, who is presumably Mrs Bates. Arbogast then falls down the stairs, and again, this scene is fast paced. When Arbogast reaches the bottom of the stairs, he his stabbed by the female a numerous amount of times. In this scene the music is chilling and haunting, and sounds similar to the noise of someone dragging their nails down a chalkboard, adding to the build up of fear, and horror.