How Does Hitchcock Create Tension In Psycho

In one of Hitchcock's more famous movies Psycho, which depicts a man who is a serial killer, while pretending to be his dead mother. He, is a deeply disturbed individual, and in this scene there is voice over of his mom talking to him, which in reality is just him talking to himself. In the scene illustrated above is of Norman Bates, waiting on the stool in the police station after he finally got arrested, for his devious deeds. Yet, the scene is just a simple full front, but it is a wonderful use of this mise en scene position. Now in some movies a full front according to Giannetti is, “ when the characters are friendly and likable, as in this shot, the full-front position is the most seductive” (p. 76).

The birds compare and contrast essay While reading/watching both du Maurier's “ The Birds” and Hitchcock’s The Birds, they both used suspense to enhance the story/plot. However, Hitchcock’s does a better job at creating and utilizing the element of suspense using pace, timing, and continuity. Alfred Hitchcock uses suspense by slowing the movie down so it makes the audience wait and wait until the climax appears and gives a more dramatic feeling.

Using the ideas of the human nature to know, and how a lack of knowledge can lead to irrationality and imaginary threats, as well as fuelling our anxiety, and changing how we see and behave, he displays how the fear of the unknown is extremely powerful. Often, the things we cannot see can lead to worse threats than there are in reality. The film explores the themes of fear and irrationality, and the ideas of how people can turn on each other in an instant, perceiving once friends as foes. Through the film, Rod aims to tell us about the destructive power that fear and paranoia hold, and the dangers of letting fear cloud our thoughts and dictate our judgement. This can be applied to my own life, as I often let fear and anxiety take over my life, when I should take a step back and look at the situation logically, from a different

Through the film Psycho there were a variety of camera angles. Hitchcock frequently uses a “gods-eye” or “birds-eye” view to show the audience when each character is in a vulnerable position. This camera angle creates this effect because it makes the distance from viewer to character, making the audience helpless in the face of danger. This

going back to the other views to see where the policeman is and how is

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

The idea of fear of various characters is portrayed in the film using a variety of techniques.

Throughout cinema, there has always been space in our hearts for the gore and intrigue that come from horror films. Though they come with different plots, there remains “the monster”, the character that brings along disgust, horror, suspense, and even sympathy. In Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), our monster is Norman Bates, the boy next door. This was one of the first times in American cinema that the killer was brought home, paving the way for the future of horror movies. According to Robin Wood in “An Introduction to the America Horror Film” (183-208), Bates follows the formula of the Monster being a human psychotic. This is conveyed through his normal façade portrayed with his introduction, the audience’s ambivalence, the use of

In the movie Psycho there was a lot of scenes that showed Suspense but there was two scenes that really got my attention. The first one being the famous shower scene when Marion Crane hops into the shower and Norman Bate's mother (Norman) attacks her with a knife. Suspense can be an effect when the character Marion is trying to defend herself from her attacker but ends up dead but can be an effect toward the audience because its a scene that has sound that gives chills but also lets you know what is going to happen. The second scene being when Marion's sister goes to Bate's house to try to talk to Norman's mother but instead her dead but Norman Bates comes in and tries to attack her with a knife. This suspense is an effect toward Marion's sister

The first half of this course focused on Alfred Hitchcock and how his techniques are now recognized as iconic. From class discussions and film screenings, it is clear that Hitchcock pays every attention to detail when he crafts a scene. Many Hitchcock films we have seen this semester highlight how he builds suspense through cinematic elements such as shadow, dialogue, and composition. While many of his suspenseful scenes stir feelings of intensity and uncertainty, Alfred Hitchcock builds a more romantic suspense in his 1955 film To Catch a Thief in the fireworks scene (1:06:35-1:11:00).

Psycho, by Alfred Hitchcock is easily seen as one of his most famous films and also contains the majority of his most famous techniques and motifs throughout such as duality, birds and mirrors. Below will be discussed about how these motifs and techniques are used and how they position the viewer during the film. One of the primary motifs Hitchcock uses to represent the theme of duality is birds. One of the notorious scenes that heavily features this motif is the parlour scene in which Norman is placed so that he is above the camera but below the birds.

In the kidnapping scene from Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, the director is trying to convey a mood of suspense and unexpressed tension. He does this through the use of angles and shots that contradict the dialogue. At the beginning of the scene, the shots vary between extreme long shots of the car driving through the country, further away from Roger’s comfort area, and close ups of Roger in the car. This shows that Roger feels enclosed and trapped. These shots show that Roger is scared and trapped despite the dialogue that makes him seem confident and at ease.

Hitchcock uses the camera angle to express the narrative angle by putting the camera in front of the person speaking. When he does this it shows you that is the person talking. He also shows this by switching back and forth to other characters. A scene that proves this is the scene when Lila is the bates house and is walking down the hallway and the camera is in front of her the camera switches from Lila to Sam and Norman then back to Lila.

The opening scene of Hitchcock’s Psycho remains a typical example of a “horror” genre while contradicting this idea from the start, it begins with Hitchcock’s monologue offering the audience an insight into the film, while at the same time, not telling the audience of any events, constantly stopping before he explains any of the actual events, leaving this suspense within its audiences. This beginning greatly coheres to what the audience perceives to be a “horror” using story-telling techniques in order to capture its audiences into what “horror” is to them. Hitchcock’s slowed speech coupled with the eerie set creates an almost gothic-like atmosphere around this film. The music however is particularly contradictory during this scene, as Hitchcock

Mystery and suspense is conveyed by never giving the reader an entire answer, which causes the reader to read on.