The 1960 film, Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock was revolutionary for its ideas, sounds, and shots. Classified by many to be a "scary movie," I found this film to tilt more in the direction of a murder mystery. There were many musical melodies and sound effects that increased the intensity of the film, but after that, the scenes themselves were not too bad. I wanted to focus on a couple of particular scenes that I thought were very impressive.
The first is the scene where Norman was having a conversation with Marion, and his face was in the foreground on the right side of the screen, while there was a scary creature (some bird) in the background in a stance as if it was going to attack its prey. This creature has a lot of symbolic significance in the film, as Norman was in many ways invading in Marion's privacy.
Another scene that I liked was the shower scene, when there was a shot of the shower falling from above. One may ask, well how did the camera not get wet? The genius planning that Hitchcock had made it possible for this to happen because he used a huge faucet so that the camera could sneak inside and capture the water streams going around the perimeter of the lens.
Overall, I enjoyed the plot of the film, and applaud Hitchcock for a number of the scenes where he used symbolic and filmic genius to communicate his message.
Nick, I agree with your analysis of the Norman and Marion scene with the bird seemingly about to attack. I think that this is one of the most overlooked scenes of the film. Although the viewer might not knowingly realize the significance of the bird, this scene gives a subliminal message that includes many of the key symbols of the movie, including the soon-to-be invasion of Marion's privacy by Norman. I think that this type of message that hints at an upcoming horror but that the viewer might not consciously notice is definitely a new technique used by Hitchcock that makes Psycho such a notable and revolutionary horror film.
Nick,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis of the Norman and Marion scene with the bird seemingly about to attack. I think that this is one of the most overlooked scenes of the film. Although the viewer might not knowingly realize the significance of the bird, this scene gives a subliminal message that includes many of the key symbols of the movie, including the soon-to-be invasion of Marion's privacy by Norman. I think that this type of message that hints at an upcoming horror but that the viewer might not consciously notice is definitely a new technique used by Hitchcock that makes Psycho such a notable and revolutionary horror film.