This document provides guidance for analyzing the film Psycho through close examination of its visual and technical elements. It instructs the reader to chart positive, negative and interesting aspects of the film and then analyze specific scenes focusing on mise-en-scene, locations, costumes, lighting, camera angles, editing, sound and performance. It then analyzes Hitchcock's famous shower scene, noting the extensive camera setups, illusion and montage used to depict violence without graphic imagery. Specific technical elements of the shower scene like camerawork, editing, mise-en-scene and sound are examined in detail to understand how they build tension and suggest the murder without showing it directly.

1. Lesson Objects
• Find out you initial reaction to
the film
• See how well you can ‘micro’ read
a film

2. Draw up the following chart on
your a sheet of paper
 Positive Negative Interesting

3. On your second sheet of paper
write down everything you noticed
about:
 Mise en Scene
 Locations and Setting
 Costume and Props
 Use of Lighting/Colour
 Try to explain what you think it means

4. Camera Angles

5. Camera Angles

6. Lighting

7. The Setting
 The Spider and The Fly – Mary Howitt
 “Will you walk into may parlour?” said the spider to
the fly,
“Tis the prettiest little parlour that you ever did spy,
The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,
And I’ve got many curious things to show when you
are there.”
“Oh, no, no,” said the little fly, “to ask me is in vain,
For whoever goes up your winding stair can ne’er
come down again.”

8. Mise en Scene
MES

9. Psycho
 “ It took seven days to shoot the shower scene, seventy
camera setups for the forty- five seconds of the now
famous footage – and not an actual bare breast or
plunging knife to be found in the final cut, just illusion
and montage.

10. In groups
 On the paper write the use of micro elements you spot

11. Some that I spotted!

12. Camerawork
 Close up of legs to build tension can not see what is going
on around
 Close up of shower head to build tension and running
water – feels like life running out
 Close ups of happy face – juxtaposition – creating contrast
with murder
 Mid shot of the murder – gives the audience more clues –
allows suggestion of violence
 Extreme close up of eye – to avoid giving graphic detail of
violence and to show the soul/life slipping from the eye
 High angle shots – to show her a weak

13. Camerawork Cont
 Mainly tracking was used – to follow the actions of the
victim and build tension.
 Scene does end in a pan – could represent life moving
from the victim, demonstrates that the scene has come
to an end
 Close up of water going down the plug hole – life going
down

14. Editing
 Large number of cuts – crosscutting between the
shower head and her showering – creates a spooky
effect foreshadowing that she wont be there.
 Cuts between the murderer and victim
 Montage during the killing scene with cuts to feet and
stomach – means that we could avoid seeing the knife
enter the skin
 Graphic match – eye and plug hole

15. MES
 White and clinical – this created a contrast with the
gruesome murder
 Shadow of murder – creates lack of audience
conection
 Made the blood more apparent
 Isolated – help not near by
 Knife – could show the blood repeated action

16. Sound
 Running water heightened tension – created cover for
the murder and footsteps
 Sound as the curtain being pulled back was diegetic so
we knew the victim was aware somebody was there.
 Music added tension when the murder was taking
place – clearly identified this as the climax as the
action . Matched the beat of the stabbing so we could
imagine the knife going in at the second

17. Performance
 Facial expressions were focused on – happy and scared
 Posture faded as life went from her body
 You could see the arms wrestling and struggling
 Eyes open at end to show suddenness of the murder
and confirm lifelessness.
 Calm movements prior to attack showed she was
confident and content
 Showed shadow of killing moving with purpose

18. Your Turn!
 Scream!