'Psycho' Parlour Scene Analysis

The lighting used by Hitchcock also serves to portray Madeleine as a fantasy woman, using the lighting to highlight her face. As Madeleine passes by Scottie in the restaurant she is bathed in a soft light which makes her all the more noticeable against the backdrop of a dimly-lit restaurant. Furthermore, as she passes by him, she is shown in a full body shot in the center of the frame, which Hitchcock uses to create an overwhelming sense of romance. Here, Madeleine is the desired object clearly separated from her mundane surroundings. The viewer is aggressively confronted with Madeleine’s image and this allows us to be swept up in the romantic fantasy along with Scottie. The lighting used in this scene actively draws the viewer to her features and ensures that all attention is on her. The audience are enticed and seduced by her and this stretches to Scottie as well as we can see that he is drawn to her and has to make an effort to be covert.

In the scene when the killer enters the showers while Marion is taking a bath, the shower curtains acted as a screen to the audience’s sight and later in the film, the shower curtain was used to wrap up the Marion’s body. Another example would be the parlor scene where Marion was sited on a comfortable coach while Norman sat on an upright and formal wooden chair. The usage of furniture suggested character’s attributes, as Marion has a rather relax and open-minded personality while Norman being a tense and uptight

Lewis uses lighting to dramatize the opening scene of the film and characterize the protagonist of the story. The most noticeable utilization of film noir lighting is in the beginning

• What are the ways in which each major character experiences conflict (either with self, with other characters, or with the social and/or physical environment)?

Lighting is important to tell the mood of a film. Burton depicts sinister and scary images with low-key lighting. Tim Burton’s lighting techniques are completely unique. In “Edward Scissorhands“he contrasts lighting. Peg lives in a town that is bright and cheerful looking. Edward’s castle is depressing and gloomy. Tim Burton again shows off his

Normans mother is dead, but is alive in the mind of Norman. She is therefore dominating Normans mind. Alfred Hitchcock makes us infer that the mother was alive throughout the film. This manipulates the audience throughout the film. The audience thinks that the mother is alive, and therefore, she can potentially be the killer in the film.

In the ‘Parlor scene’ Marion and Norman are seen in contrasting lights. The bright light on Marion symbolizes warmth, innocence and naivety. The half lit, half shadowed face of Norman alludes to his dark side and split personality. Furthermore, the crosscutting between the two has been manipulated as so the two are never seen in the same shot, reinstating the separateness of the two. The monotone delivery of Norman’s line “I like to stuff things” not only foreshadows later events, but elucidates his twisted, sick mind. The symbolism of Marion’s name itself also re-establishes the polarization and predator-prey relationship between the two, creating feelings of dread and revulsion inside of the

Lighting and filming through the movie is applied creatively causing people to be interested in not only the plot but the aesthetic . Lighting gave the movie a mysterious ambiance. They also use the lighting to create a contrast of characters, they manipulate the lighting in a scene with Harvey Dent to show the dark side Of himself. Doing these

Hitchcock seats the Charlies across from one another and the action plays out in accordance with the classic 180-degree rule for conversation. The 180-degree rule is the most basic way to film two people having a conversation while sitting opposite from one another. This series of shots usually consists of: establishing shots, two shots, close-ups of each actor, insert shots, and then possibly a re-establishing shot. Hitchcock manages to bring a lot of tension out of this fairly conventional set-up by the way he constructs his scene. The two characters sit down across from one another and are positioned on the far edges of the frame, which emphasizes the emotional and psychological distance between the two. In the same shot Hitchcock sets up for the “shot, reverse shot” conversation, by having Uncle Charlie lean in towards his niece. His leaning serves as a lead in to the conversation about to take place. It is important to note that during this same shot, Uncle Charlie lays out a napkin on the table and smoothes it with his hand. The napkin exists to provide a parallel to the way the scene will play out. The hands of Uncle Charlie can be seen as those of the director, and the napkin as the fabric of the scene. The napkin is laid before us smooth as the scene begins, and becomes increasingly tight and twisted by the hands of Hitchcock as he slowly tightens his hold on the audience. It also has the importance of revealing something about Uncle Charlie’s character. It

Tim Burton uses lighting to make characters look evil. In the movie Edward Scissorhands Tim Burton uses dark and low key lighting to make Edward look evil. When Edward is first seen he was in low key lighting, and he looked evil with his big scars and his scissorhands showing. Once you

“I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy. I think my mask of sanity is about to slip" (Harron) thought Patrick Bateman as he contemplated his growing feelings of emptiness and need for bloodlust. American psycho is the story of a greedy, materialistic, self obsessed businessman who transforms into an unstable and violent sociopath. Abnormal behavior can be defined by four patterns deviance, distress, dysfunction, and danger (Comer 2). Deviance is exhibited as unusual, or extreme behavior. Throughout the movie, Bateman was very blunt and would casually say violent, graphic comments. The only time Bateman experienced distress was towards the end of the movie when he couldn’t stop killing. He began to panic, called his lawyer to confess, and didn’t go into work. However, most of the time Bateman said he enjoyed the rush of a kill. Typically, abnormal behavior interferes with the person's ability to conduct daily activities (Comer 2). As a result of Bateman’s abnormalities he could not sustain a healthy relationship. The most extreme characteristic of Batemans abnormal behavior was that it caused him to put others in danger.

Most of the actors are wearing darker clothing as well which makes their faces stand out even more. This lighting style also adds to the tension and the mystery of the scene. It makes the audience on edge. The contrast filled lighting of film noir is also effective at bringing out the extremes of emotions and thought. The darkness of the genre makes anything that goes wrong seem less taboo, because the lighting of the genre sets up the norms for the world that the film lives in—and in that world, bad things happen. The lighting of the film helps the audience understand the world that the characters are in.

Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller ‘Rear Window’ (Hitchcock, 1954) begins with the immediate use of mise-en-scène in order to establish a sense of atmosphere, equilibrium and the mundane, soon to be disrupted as the events of the film unfold and are observed through the eyes of the voyeuristic protagonist, Jeff. Setting, cinematography and various other expressive mise-en-scène techniques work together to influence the overall appearance of the film. Though, by taking a closer look, these techniques reveal the significance of the narrative and characters. In the opening sequence, Hitchcock’s original visual style provides signposts for the audience to recognize what will be significant in the future: instead of establishing what is only happening in the moment in time; mise-en-scène is used to suggest what is to come. This arrangement of the “Classical Hollywood” narrative - starting with the setting and characters in a state equilibrium - acts as a seemingly all-purpose, archetypal opening by establishing location and introducing character. Simultaneously we can see that this sequence is vastly different from the rest of the film: it is leading the viewer into a false sense of security – the calm before the storm – as Jeff soon happens to piece together information leading to the possibility that one of his neighbors murdered their wife. This sequence is one of the only moments in the film we see things the protagonist does not, thus this carefully constructed opening is preparing

All three of these conflicts help explain why certain characters in this novel act the way they do around others. The conflict provided by Stevenson is also used to assist with setting up the theme of the book.

Alfred Hitchcock’s attention to detail in his films is one of the many things that makes him one of the most recognized film auteurs of all time. He was very particular what about he wanted seen on screen and how he wanted to get those shots. From camera movements to the things found in the mise-en-scène, Hitchcock was very precise about every little thing that is seen in his on screen worlds. He would strategically place objects throughout the mise-en-scène and have characters wear certain clothing. By doing this, Hitchcock is able to let the audience know things about the characters and the plot without it having to be said on camera. Hitchcock once said that “If it's a good movie, the sound could go off and the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what was going on” (Tiffin). That’s why there’s no surprise that when Hitchcock finally made his first color film, he began to use color as another way of communicating with his audience.