Psycho

·         Directed by Sir Alfred Hitchcock

·         Made in 1960 in America

·         Based on the novel ‘Psycho’ written by Robert Bloch

·         Originally received mixed reviews

·         Re-reviewed with great outcomes which led to four academy award nominations

·         Considered as one of Hitchcock’s greatest films and internationally appraised

·         From the films there has been two remakes, a prequel, a remake and a television movie spin off

Plot summary- taken from http://www.course1.com/

Hitchcock’s twisted tale of psychological terror begins in medias res with the introduction of Marion Crane, a secretary in a real estate office currently dating a divorcee named Sam.  In the opening scene, Hitchcock uses symbolism through color to portray Marion’s persona.  She is wearing a white slip and white bra, white being a common symbol for good or an indicator of the hero(ine).

One day, Marion is asked by her boss to make a $40,000 cash deposit at the bank before she leaves for the day.  The next scene takes us to Marion’s home where she is packing quickly for a trip, and obviously has neglected to deposit the money.  She is again characterized through color in her now black bra and black slip, placing her in the bad guy role.  As she packs, Hitchcock resorts to several looks of outward regard.  These looks are followed up by an eye-line shot of the $40,000 in a white envelope on Marion’s bed.  Apparently she is contemplating taking the money, fleeing town, and starting a life with Sam, which is exactly what she begins to do.  As she is leaving Phoenix, Marion hears an inner monologue of voices, voices of those she is running from.  These voices reveal speculations on her whereabouts, and also aid as Marion’s feeling of guilt setting in. 

After an exhausting trip, Marion decides to get off the main road and rest for the night.  She stops at the Bates Motel, a run down little place with a huge creepy home casting shadows over it.  Here she meets an odd passive aggressive man named Norman Bates, the main round character.  He seems harmless enough, but is clearly affected by his loneliness despite the company of his sick old mother.

After a chilling conversation with Norman about his mother’s mental condition, Marion decides to take a shower and turn in for the evening.  As she is showering Norman enters dressed as his mother and stabs Marion to death.  Hitchcock uses several different techniques to inte nsify the dramatic aspects of the shower scene.  He uses several close-up shots on Marion’s face and the showerhead bringing the viewer right into the action.  Using the rule of thirds, the camera then focuses on a shot of Marion in the first third of the frame, and a shadow beyond the curtain approaching her in the last third.  The shower curtain is whipped back and our villain is seen in the shadows to conceal “her” identity.  We watch as the focus is directed to the knife being thrusted downward into Marion.  As it does so piercing violin noises accompany each stab, intensifying the situation.  Norman later reappears as himself and cleans up the evidence.  Hitchcock films the clean up scenes from an objective point of view while using no dialogue and several ambient sounds.  Also the normal intense and suspense building score is spared during this time.

At home everyone is concerned about Marion.  A private detective sent to look for her traces her steps to the Bates Motel.  He is also murdered by “Norman’s mother.”  Feeling uneasy about the entire situation, Marion’s sister, Lila, and Sam decide to go out to the motel and speak with Norman so they might find Marion.  When they arrive we reach the climax as they uncover Norman’s dirty little secret, the body of his mother hiding in the fruit cellar.  A psychologist at the police station later finishes the story by explaining how Norman came to develop this internal conflict and how it affected him.  Norman killed his mother and then developed a split personality of her to compensate.  The story ends with a shot of Norman who has now completely become the “mother” personality.  An inner monologue speaks and informs us of “her” intentions to prove to them all that she “wouldn’t even harm a fly.”

The film is rather interesting and dynamic in its’ use of psychology as the fear factor.  Hitchcock’s ideas are well communicated through his visual motifs and use of score to intensify the emotional characteristics.  Also, Hitchcock managed to color outside the lines once again and push the limits of filmmaking by filming the ever-famous shower scene.  Its’ graphic murder portrayal and use of risky body shots became the template of scary movies to come.

Alfred Hitchcock the “Master of Suspense”

 

·         Born in 1899 in London, England

·         Died in 1980 in Los Angeles, North America

·         In 1956 he became an American citizen but remaining a British subject

·         His techniques pioneered those to come in future generations of the thriller genre

·         When he moved to Hollywood he already had made very successful films in the  United Kingdom

·         His career lasted over 50 years, making many films which gave him a name of a very successful director who had his own distinctive style of directing

·         He directed over 50 feature length films which were made over the space of 6 different decades

·         He created the style of filming, where it puts the audience in the position of the killer, as an act of voyeurism to make them feel uncomfortable.

Preliminary Task

For the preliminary task we were given the task of:

Subject A entering a room from a corridor and opening the door. Inside the room Subject B is sitting down without saying anything, A gives a pieces of paper to B. B reads it and reacts. A displays some kind of emotion and leaves.

I was in a group of four with Elle Fletcher, George Jackson and Amber Holt.

Genre

For our pre-liminary piece we decided to do our piece as a comedy, as we would be doing horror as the final piece so we could get an understanding in the differences when filming acting and directing. Also it meant that we could use a good mix of digetic and non digetic sound, camera shots and mise en scene to create an effective piece.

Location

When deciding upon the location, we had to choose a place which was easily accessible, would not change that much in the time we were filing, and that fit into our genre’s specification. For example we would not film our comedy in a graveyard.  Some of our ideas where:
A school classroom

Farm yard/drying sheds

A cinema

Bowling Alley

Restaurant                 

Props

When deciding on props we needed, as it was such a short piece, each prop would have to be used effectively, for example with the piece of paper, there would be shots showing the significance of it, highlighting how it relates to the storyline. The other props would be ones to show the personalities of the characters, for example Amber doing work reading from a book and writing showing her intelligence.

Camera Angles/Shots

When deciding on our shots for the scene, we thought that we would most likely begin with quite concealing shots, only showing part of the picture, leaving the audience wondering what’s going to happen but as the scene moves forward it will show more clear shots, revealing the full story.

Our Idea

Our basic idea was to start with an establishing shot of the school, which would pan across to a shot of the corridor which we would be filming in, this would all be quite slow. It would then cut to three quick close ups, of a hand flushing the toilet, which would move to hands washing, and then to the hands being dried, all three would only have the diegetic sound of the activities, these would all be very fast paced shots.  The next shot would be of George (subject A) walking out of the toilet and as he did a upbeat song would start. The camera would then cut to in the corridor where it would watch George walk away until he came to a door. It would then cut to a P.O.V of Amber (subject B) who would be sitting in the room doing work, she would look up and see George standing in the doorway. The camera would then move to a two shot where both characters are clear and you see George sit down and give Amber a piece of paper. It moves to an over the shoulder shot of Amber unravelling the paper with George looking excited in the background. She opens it up and it says ‘I Love You’ or ‘Hey’, either way the reaction of Amber is the same, it cuts to a P.O.V of George who is looking up at Amber who looks disgusted, and then to a P.O.V of amber who is looking at George and he looks anticipant. It moves back to the two shot and you see Amber throw the paper at George and walk out the room, although the camera does not move so leaves George alone in the shot. George then exits and it moves back to a shot at the opposite end of the corridor and you watch George walk away, and see that he has toilet paper stuck to his shoe.

Here is the link to our preliminary task.

My group was George, Amber, Ellie and myself. In this task we were told to have an A character and an B character. 'A' was to walk into a room where 'B' was seated and give them a piece of paper. 'B' is to then show some sort of emotion and that is all that is required. It was a very basic description and we decided to elaborate from it quite a bit; we opened with an establishing shot and then did a short opening involving A(George) to show his character to the audience previous to the main section. We also put in the extra part at the end which is the exit of A. Throughout, the camera always follows A, and when B(Amber) gets up and leaves it still focuses on A, which shows his significance as the lead character and how the audience are supposed to sympathize towards him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsRI215dH7c

Here are the Story Board for the preliminary task:

Camera shots

Long Shot- The object of the shot (in this circumstance the tractor and hay bails) are fully in shot, or as much as is comfortably so.

Extreme Long Shot- The focus of the shot is in the distance, and this can often be used as an establishing shot.

P.O.V(Point of View) A shot which is from the characters perspective, it helps the audience to sympathise with the character, or in some circumstances, like John Hitchcock’s Psycho, you are put into the position of the murderer, which makes the audience feel uncomfortable. So basically it can get things across to the audience without them realising.

Mid Shot- The mid-shot is from about the waist to above the head, enough to get close enough detail on the face, but without being too close and giving across things to the audience which you don’t intend.

Medium-Close Up-The shot in between a close up and a medium shot, often used as a gradual change from medium shot to close up.

Close Up A certain feature or part of the subject takes up the whole frame. Often used in climatic scenes or when an emotion needs to be shown clearly.

Extreme Close Up  A shot used to show a certain section of the face. For example in a horror it could use a extreme close up shot on a someone’s mouth to show her screaming.

Over the Shoulder shot-Looking from behind a person at the subject, used in dialogue scenes, often swapping between the peoples shoulders as they speak.

Two-shot- A shot of two people, framed similarly to a mid shot. Often used to show intimate scenes, fight scenes or simply just people talking.

In groups of four, we were told to choose a horror film and to watch the opening and make notes on the following: Mise en scene, Camera Angles, Sounds and editing. But first we had to get some background information on the film:

Silence of the Lambs

·        The silence of the lambs was the first horror movie to win an academy award for the best picture.

·        Also has the distinction of being only the third movie in history to win the five major Oscars.

·        It is an adaptation of Thomas Harris’s bestselling novel.

·        The film was a deserved winner featuring superb performances from Jodie Foster who played the main role of Claurice Staling a young FBI agent, and Anthony Hopkins who plays the role of Hannibal Lector.

·        It was directed by Jonathan Demme, previously best known for comedy but also had directed a few gore films.

Plot Summary

·        Claurice Staling is asked by her commander at the FBI, Jack Crawford, to visit the notorious serial killer Hannibal ‘the cannibal’ Lector a former psychiatrist held in a high security asylum/prison, who may have an insight into the case of a murderer named Buffalo Bill. 

·        The witty cultured Hannibal is too clever to give up such valuable information easily.

·        He draws Claurice into an uneasy disturbing relationship in which he demands insight into her childhood in exchange for information on the case.

·        They move Hannibal to a better facility but once there he manages a thrilling and physiological escape which involves the death of policemen and medics.

·        Claurice eventually manages to discover the whereabouts of Buffalo Bill and resorts to killing him her and the lives of the girl and possible other girls. 

·        At the end Claurice is awarded with her full FBI status and gets a phone call from Hannibal telling her congratulations and that he won’t harm her but doesn’t plan to stop killing others.

·        It is left with the camera panning out on Hannibal in a foreign country following a man who has done him wrong.

Advert Analysis

This is my advert, it is called ‘Rubber Floors’ and is by Budweiser; http://www.tellyads.com/show_movie.php?filename=TA2571

Location/Setting

This advert is set in a relatively dark, what can be presumed as a flat. This shows straight away that you do not have to be rich to drink the beer. The two rooms that it is set in are the kitchen and the living room, both which can symbolize comfort and enjoyment.

Costumes/Make-Up

What all of the characters are wearing is pretty similar, quite casual clothes which don’t really stand out from the background. This shows once again that it is not just a drink which you have when your dressed up and going to events, but can have when your at home and just lounging around, shown by the casual clothes.

Props

Obviously, the main prop used in this advert is the bottle of Budweiser, which throughout the advert is followed by the camera which shows that it is that which is significant. Also the fridge is used, and is quite lit up and sticks out from the dull background, which links to the message of the advert which is ‘Budweiser Chilled’.  Also in the background you can see a TV playing football, a dartboard, and they are also eating pizza. All these things are quite stereotypically male, almost as though it is like a bachelor bad.

Lighting/Colour

The whole apartment is quite dark which once again shows how you don’t have to be that rich to drink it. Also there are beams of light coming from the windows, and whenever the beer is bounced off the floor, and when it lands it someone’s hand, there is always a beam of light highlighting the beer. This not only make it seem the key focus of the advert but also makes it seem almost heavenly.

Horror Film Conventions

Horror films are unsettling films designed to;

·         Frighten and Panic

·         Cause dread and alarm

·         Invoke our hidden worst films

·         Captivate and entertain us in a cathartic experience

·         Often conclude in a terrifying shocking finale

Fears created by horrors;

·         Nightmares- In some horrors, they can create fears which make people literally fear even when sleeping. For example, In Nightmare on Elm Street, people are attacked actually in their dreams, and for some people, they could actually start to fear sleeping itself.

·         Our Vulnerability- A lot of the time in Horrors it comes to the point where the victims become helpless, whether it being there not fast enough, strong enough, the murderer/monster being a step ahead every time etc. For example, In Friday the 13^th, the killer, Jason Voorhees, seems to be everywhere, and they increase the tension by never actually showing where he is, but him moving, then finally showing him

·         Revulsions- In some horror films there is a lot of gore/torture, in films such as Saw, the main plot revolves around the gore of the film, which can cause the audience to gain fears of such things.

·         Terror of the unknown- In most horror films there is points where the characters enter somewhere without knowing what’s going to happen, for the audience this can cause be scary as it makes them think when they don’t know fully about a place are fully aware of.

·         Fear of Death- In almost every horror film ever made there is at lest one death or close encounter, so it is natural for the audience to grow a general fear of death.

·         Fear of sleep/darkness etc. – This links to vulnerability once again, what scares the audience is being attacked when they either have no way of seeing what is coming or not being awake to defend themselves. In Nightmare on Elm Street, what the bad guy in the film “Freddy Krueger” does is haunts them in their dreams, and whatever he does to them there happens to them in real life, so would cause a fear in the audience of being hurt when actually in sleep.

The stereotypical horror contains;

·         A lead character that often results as the survivor/ hero of the film

·         The killer/monster often has a trademark characteristic in the way he kills, for example the type of people he kills/ where they are/ what he kills them with.

·         There is usually a character who you are drawn to dislike, who often dies very late in the film

·         The outcome is almost always that of the hero surviving and the bad person/monster is prevailed upon

·         It is often ended in a way which makes it seem like there is a chance of extra killing.

Analysing A Photograph

This photo is a two shot, where both of the people in the photograph are doing the same action although with slightly different emotions. The fact that they are both wearing the same smart suit, suggests that they are co-workers in business, but they are also both holding a gun, looking quite comfortable, which when you link the two would make you either think that they are some sort of partners in assasination, or partners in the police force.
They are both lit up by the light coming from the window, which you cannot actually see anything out of, which suggests it is some sort of heavanly light. This is contrasted by the expressions on their faces, which look, although comfortable like they have nothing to worry about they do look quite mad at whatever they are pointing there guns at.
I think that the fact that one is black with an afro, and the other is white with long hair, is showing how different they actually are, even though they are in the same profession and wearing the same clothes.
In the photo, the light is shining off of the gun, going down the barrel, which suggests that they could be religous, and believe what they are doing is right.;