The shower scene in Psycho uses various camera techniques and angles to create tension. It includes many mid-shots and close-ups of the character's facial expressions to emphasize her frantic emotions. Point-of-view shots allow the audience to experience the scene from the victim and killer's perspectives. Non-diegetic sounds like music and attack noises heighten the intensity. The character's nakedness makes her vulnerable, while quick edits between close-ups add to the ferocity of the violent attack.

1. Psycho shower scene analysis
The shower scene in psycho consists of a variety of camera angles and shots which creates a
visual whirlpool of tension for the viewers. The short scene includes numerous mid-shots the
characters facial expression. Furthermore, there are many close-ups and extreme close-ups to
add emphasis to the women's frantic facial expressions. The director also decided to use point
of view shots to allow the audience to relate to the victim's position and the killer's position. In
the shower scene sound is a significant factor that creates suspense and heightens the intensity
of the scene. The director decided to use non-diegetic sounds, for example, the intense musical
soundtrack and the sounds of objects used in the brutal attack. The nakedness of the character
creates vulnerability and seems like a calculated move from the director which supports that
idea the audience's reaction was specifically focused on when creating this legendary scene.
The water pouring down her body represents her washing her old life away and cleansing
herself from her sins. The scenes close-up shots are mainly used to emphasize facial expression
and body language, within this scene close-up shots were combined with quick edits to add
ferocity to the scene and represents how chaotic the attack was.
The initial shot in the shower scene is a mid-shot that zooms into the shower curtain this makes
the audience insinuate that the killer is coming into the room from behind. then the camera is
slowly adjusted around the curtain showing the women peacefully showering. The camera then
pans to left and we acknowledge that someone has entered the room. The director used
dramatic irony, in this case, to create suspension as the audience knows that someone has
entered however the women has no clue. The lighting within the bathroom is still fairly bright
at that point of the which is impactful as it gives the impression that all is calm. Immediately
after this, a knife emerges from the killer's waist and the music starts to penetrate with loud
viscous strings instrumentation which activates the audience and raises the feel of a horrific
atmosphere. Some may argue that the violent high-pitched string sounds represent the
women's pain and agony as she repeatedly gets stabbed, this is an unorthodox method which
was used to increase the intensity of the scene. The glistening light beams of the so perfectly
that the silhouette of the killers is seen through the reflection, however, the audience still have
no idea who the killer is leaving them just as discombobulated as the victim. After the murder
there was a slow zoom focusing on the victims eyeball this shot is significant as earlier there
was the exact same shot was used on the plug hole of the bathtub. This perhaps portrays the
fate of the character as the plug hole represents her life draining away as the blood pours away.
In terms of the composition, the scene was kept fairly simple with a small number of props
used, this is because the director wanted to focus all the attention specifically on the characters
in the scene.