Analysis of Hitchcock’s techniques and three scenes of psycho

Hitchcock uses many interesting and effective techniques in his work. A lot of the techniques he does are fairly original making his work really stand out in comparison to other film producers of his time and to this day. With a balance of laughs and tension, Hitchcock was able to strike the perfect chord of suspense in his feature films. Also Hitchcock would play around with the different types of shot to set a scene. Using close ups, Medium shots, long shots and others he would think long and hard about which kind of shot worked best for each particular scene. An example of this would be when he used a bird’s eye view on the corridor in the house; he only used this shot in two places of the film adding huge dramatic tension. Camera angles were also important to Hitchcock as this said a lot about each camera. At one point in the office scene Hitchcock gave Norman a very low angled shot, this made the viewer feel differently towards him. Whereas before where he was portrayed as kind and sweet this angled showed a controlling side to him. Hitchcock used many other techniques which I will expand on in my analysis of three individual scenes. The techniques in which he used is what made Hitch such a success and so popular.

The first scene I decided to analyse from psycho was the office scene. This is the scene which really got me thinking about everything in which was going on in the film. This is the point I started questioning characters and what Hitchcock was trying to do with the frames of his scenes and camera angels etc. The scene begins in a fairly romantic way, with the gesture of Norman bringing her the food specially even though the viewer and she has heard the way his ‘mother’ had just been speaking to him. It’s as if he was desperate to see her? This left me thinking he had a large interest in this girl who he had only met about ten minutes ago. This thought then continued as he mention going into the back room rather than sitting in the office. This wouldn’t be the usual thing to do just to help out someone; this was Norman inviting her into his own personal space.

Then something caught my eye, as he was stood up whist she was sat down you can clearly see the reflection of him in the mirror, this was foreshadowing the fact he had two sides to him. Then shortly after his mother is mentioned and he chocks on his own words, insinuating there was something more going on rather than what he was saying about his mother. There is then a shot of Norman at a very low angle which was demonstrating one of Hitchcock’s techniques. In this shot there were also the birds of prey in the background which are on the wall of this room. The way the scene had been arranged the birds were looking don upon both characters especially Norman in this individual scene. This is when I realised something wasn’t quite right and that maybe Norman wasn’t as innocent as he had been making out to be. This scene was one of the scenes which had the most work on, trying out many different angles and lighting to create the right feel that he wanted to set for the viewer. I also picked up on the fact that Hitchcock had positioned her in the light yet Norman was in the shaded part of the room, therefore it left the feeling like she was the innocent one and he was now the one with the dark secret. As up to this point beforehand she was the ‘bad guy’ with the secret yet now the tables have turned. This scene also contained many shot reverse shot sequences. Ever since they entered the back room of the office there had been no more two shots, creating a sense of this being two very different people with very different stories to tell. In the shot reverse shots she was made to look fragile, small and sweet whereas Norman seemed to come across as powerful, tough and controlling. Norman says ‘We are all in our private traps’ this is a huge part of the scene the one part I remember most as it links in so much with the ending, it was a great way of foreshadowing as it got the viewer thinking about what it could have meant and what was to come next. Followed once again by a low angled shot after his mother is mentioned when she asks about the tone of voice and the way she spoke to him in the house. He followed this low angled shot by talking about the death of his mother’s husbands this led to him saying ‘A son is a poor substitute for a lover’ which was foreshadowing once again.

When she mentions that his mother should be ‘in a special place’ he snaps, and the character of Norman we had been watching changed dramatically, to be as if she told him he should be the one going to what she was insinuating to be a mental home. His voice changes and he appears to have an aggressive tone of voice, where before he seemed harmless this was now being questioned. Hitchcock adds to this effect greatly by adding non-diegetic sound on top of the scene to increase tension. This effect worked fantastically and really changed the whole mood of the scene. Then as she makes a fast exit you gain the feeling Norman was going to follow her, instead he actually looks through the wall where a picture before hung from the wall, he watched her undress and walk into the bathroom. Using an extreme close up of his eye tension rises again as if to make you question what he’s looking for. Music then changes again leaving Norman looking confused and paranoid.

This scene is then followed by the very famous shower scene. This scene really made Hitchcock stand out, it was talked about by many other directors and people of his time. This would be one of his most famous scene he had ever created, people tried to redo and copy this scene none being as successful as Hitchcock himself. Hitchcock combined sex and danger in this scene using her naked body to set the scene, this was very rare at the point in time which this film was created. Tension builds up straight away after following from the tense scene before. Also this is the scene in which the point of view in the film quickly switches. The main focus had always been on her but now she was dead so where was the story line supposed to go? It makes you feel sorry for her and the shower scene at the beginning is showing her cleansing, as if it was washing away all the bad in her for taking the money and rewarding her for doing the right thing on making the decision to go back return the money.

The way in which all the shots where put together work really well in this particular scene. Hitchcock makes each individual shot work in its best way placing them all together like a piece of art. Starting with a shot of her body outline through the shower screen would have been a big deal in Hitchcock’s day and not many films got away with that kind of nudity, this is showing an young woman cleansing, washing regaining all the good in her. The next shot was of the bottom shot of the shower head, so the shot made it seem as if it was you looking up to this shower head, generic expectations, focus on the shower head from another angle.  Half the shot was still waiting to be filled as you could only see a vague outline of the bathroom door through the shower curtain. The set of the scene and shot stayed this way for just enough time for the audience to figure out that something was then going to happen. A dark figure then appears getting clearer and clearer finally enabling you to see this is a woman (the mother). A mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sound is put into place, this is lifting the dramatic feel and setting the scene even more, the sound of the screams in which the audience and the characters can hear was fearful to everyone hearing it. The montage then made up of many different shots of the stabbing became very realistic to the viewer. Once the stabbing is over there is then a shot where she is reaching out grasping the shower screen, this is showing how desperate and helpless she now is.  Then Hitchcock’s best shot of the whole scene is what completes, the bridging shot between the plug hole and the eye link perfectly really giving the ending to the scene a final finish leaving viewers confused and wondering what’s going to happen next as 40 minutes into the film who appeared to be the main character is now dead. Finally the pulling shot away from her eye whilst she lay dead on the floor.

The third scene I decided to discuss was the very last scene of the film, Norman/the mother in the prison. This is the scene which completes the film fully, after everything has been discovered and explained. Many different techniques were used by Hitchcock to close the film. By the way things are said and positioned in this scene concludes everything putting everything into perspective for the audience.

It begins with a slow dissolve into Norman sitting in this rather empty prison cell. All that seems to be there is himself on a chair with a glass of water on the floor next to him, the slow dissolve is a way to slowly letting you into his mind. The voice placed on top of the scene was his mother’s voice but in the sense that he was thinking it out loud without actually talking, the voice was even in a female voice insinuating he was his mother or she was trapped inside him. The setting of the scene is in fact representing his personal mind, it was blank, nothing there but emptiness, confusion on who he actually was as he also believed he himself was his mother just living in his body. The shot of his hands together in a zoomed focus is showing his insecurity almost wanting you to feel sorry for this character, and the fact he doesn't even touch the fly links to the phrase ‘he wouldn't even hurt a fly’, leaving the audience questioning whether or not he would really kill all those other people.

When Norman begins to properly react to the voice which starts talking again it’s as if that sympathy the n disappears. The movement of his eyes to what’s being said ‘they are probably watching me’ then places his mother back inside Normans body, it’s like Norman is constantly paranoid. Hitchcock’s next move is one of the cleverest moves he’s made so far, the  fade of the image with Norman sitting there into the image of his mother’s skeleton proving that his mother is practically inside him. Using fade again the shot moves into another of the car in which was being pulled out of the swamp this is showing the seriousness and consequences of his actions to conclude the film.

Watching Hitchcock’s films especially psycho has inspired me. The techniques and sequences he uses work so well leaving the final product as master piece. Hitchcock is one of the most famous producers ever as he has such original ways of piecing scenes and shots together to create just the right atmosphere and feel to each individual scene. Psycho worked so well due to this and would always leave in a wonderful suspense right up until the last scene in which you are told about what is really going on.