2. Conventions As the first clear cut thriller within film history, Psycho is in fact the film which set the classic conventions of the genre and so as expected has all of them. The action all takes place in a lonely out of the way location in the middle of nowhere. It’s far from the city in a quiet area where nobody would hear anything suspicious because you don’t have many neighbours and the ones there are live far off. The film begins starring a pretty blonde woman who is recognized now in horror/thriller films as most likely to become the first victim. The murders take place at night, when it’s dark and it’s raining – miserable weather. There is string music at the beginning, fast paced and jerky helping create the feeling of unease within the audience.
3. Use of Titles Establishing the setting is the place (Phoenix, Arizona). Then there is the date which has no year with the effect that the film feels still very relevant, as if the events within it could happen at any time and place, today, now, this year. The time is written in words, and makes it seem like a police file within the aftermath of a crime and contradictory to the effect of the date missing the year, marking when everything happened precisely – again an indicator of the split personality of the film. When the opening credits roll the screen and text are at random being split into bars, into two and then are moving around constantly. Even the bars are unstable, sometimes splitting sideways and other time vertically these too are changing all the time – everything is unstable. This reflects the dual nature of Norman Bates, hinting at the later revelation of his split personality.
4. Sound The music which plays in the beginning is very dramatic, the string instruments being played at a very fast pace. It is dark, discordant and full of suspense, giving the feeling that time is running out and you are being chased. Even the music seems to have no idea of where it’s going, sharply plucked high pitch strings one moment and then very low pitch the next, it is wild and unpredictable.
5. Camera Techniques The beginning is one long panning of the establishing shot with no cuts – then a very sudden cut, jerking. It lulls the reader into a false sense of security expecting further panning then ripping them away to a new sight, interrupting the fluidity and reflecting the state of Norman Bates mind. There is a close up high angle shot of the open window, zooming in – we are not going in through the door but unseen through the window, for a glimpse of someone’s private life. It gives a very voyeuristic feel to the viewing. The camera feels as if it is scanning across the city and the window it chooses quite random – choosing a victim, watching their behaviour through a window. It makes the audience feel uncomfortable as it is as if placing them within Bates’ mind, and the camera is shaking very slightly as it zooms in on that window, not entirely stable as neither is Norman. There is a medium opening shot of the characters, mid-level. The blonde woman Marion Crane is the primary person seen, and this tells us that she is our main character as all you can see of her lover Sam is his torso.
6. Mise en Scene Marion in the characters opening shot looks passive, she’s the one lying down on the bed and that is her fate as that is the way she shall die – lying face down on a bathroom floor barely dressed. At first when we see her she is dressed in white which has connotations of innocence. In a later scene this changes and we see that she is wearing black underwear when she gets dressed to leave with the money that she stole. Immediately the earlier white’s connotations of her innocence are sullied as has our perception of her character. Once again whilst Norman Bates is watching her change through the peephole, she is wearing black underwear – she is a doomed woman. In addition, his watching through the peephole reflects the beginning of the movie where the audience watched Marion secretly through a window in her underwear, hinting that Norman is the killer.
