Psycho Notes

Notes i made whilst watching Psycho;

Mise en scene

·         Credits come in  jolty, stabbing movement

·         Blinds closed  - secretive

·         First scene of Marion and Sam, very intimate

·         Location – Phoenix, Arizona

·         Window half open so can’t see clearly, Hitchcock likes to hide as much as he can from the audience

·         When the car salesmen says ‘trouble’ the light is on him and she is in the dark

·         Rain on the front window shows she’s not in control

·         Long shot of house-person walks across the light in the window, gives an horror effect

·         When Norman Bates the owner of the hotel goes to get the key for her room, he goes for 3,2, then 1 – like a count down ?

·         4^th time Hitchcock shows Marion’s in the mirror

·         She’s in the light whilst Norman is in the dark

·         Nude pictures on the wall

·         Norman seems insulted when Marianne speaks about his mother

·         He also compares his mother to a stuffed bird

·         Stuffed crow looks like it’s on her shoulder

·         The name she is using is Marion Crane, Crane is a bird, Norman seem to have a hobby of collecting stuffed birds.

·         The shower is lit up

·         Shower is a personal place, Hitchcock puts us in a place we shouldn’t be

·         Shadow of killer blinded by the shower curtain

·         His facial expressions are blurred out

·         Norman in all black when detective is within

·         Detective in light, Norman in dark

·         Constant battle between men and woman. Power struggle between Norman and the detective

·         Norman is always chewing gum (nervous)

·         Two scene Sam, Bates tapping finger, unrested

·         The dead body of his mother is a skeleton looking at Marion’s sister

·         Norman dressed up as his mother

·         When Norman is arrested we see him in a white room starring into the camera, and talking in his mother’s voice.

Camera Angles

·         Two shot – intimate

·          Over the shoulder shots

·         Aerial shot of wife open town, city scape, sunlight

·         Zooms into hotel window

·         Not there POV on intimate shot, giving the effect some ones watching

·         Long shot of police car – scenery in the back

·         Close up on a policeman with glasses , moves to extreme close up

·         Intimidating shot

·         Close up on the mirror to see police car

·         Series’ of POV shots of the money

·         When she’s speaks about his mother he leans forward. The angle is a low on him with the bird of prey in the background

·         When he spy’s on her it’s a POV, we are on the side of the killer

·         Close up of his eye  ‘voyeurism

·         Close up on her blood running to the drain

·         Close up on her eye

·         Camera follows Norman from a worm view making us feel uncomfortable

·         Bird’s eye view of the detective getting stabbed by what looks like Normans mother

Sound

·         Music is load, screeching like cars in the back ground

·         Music builds suspense

·         Opening non diegetic sound harsh/high pitched

·         Sam opening the blind – sharp dramatic diegetic sound

·         As soon as she starts driving again the music starts

·         Very high pitched screeching when she’s dead – non and diegetic in this scene

·         The music gets slower, like her heartbeat

·         Lake sounds like its swallowing the car

·         Non diegetic sound when detectives dies

·         Music gets high pitched when they find Normans mother

Editing

·         Long pauses between shots, creates tension

·         Shot reverse shot – cutting between characters are shorter –tense

·         Jump cut when Marion’s in the car from day to night

·         Strong cross cut scene from birds to her to him  - tense

·         Dissolves from drain to eye

·         Editing between shots with the detectives asking people

·         Normans faces dissolves into a skull