Psycho Analysis

Analysis of Psycho shower scene, exploring how film techniques are used to create effects

Overview

Throughout this scene, various editing and camera techniques are utilised, including close up shots in order to intensify facial expressions and a rapid increase in shots edited in certain stages to signify action sequences occurring. Whilst diegetic sounds such as the sound of water from the shower falling are present, they are often muffled or quietened to infer to the viewer that these sounds are relatively insignificant and not crucial to understanding the sequence. However, non-diegetic sounds are implemented, such as the exaggerated sounds of the knife entering the victim’s body as the killer attacks, which increases the sense of brutality of the attack. The room in which the attack itself takes place is heavily lighted, whereas the surrounding rooms and areas outside the house are darkened, inferring isolation and an inability for the victim or the viewer to escape the antagonist, creating fear and intimidation. Mise-en-scene is used to effectively depict the power and status of each individual in the scene without any dialogue being used. By obstructing the antagonist’s face through the use of the shower curtain and long hair, the identity of the killer remains concealed, shrouding the murder in mystery, leaving the viewer fearful of whom the killer might be. Making the victim naked and giving them no costume infers vulnerability, exposure and weakness, which effectively forebodes the coming attack.

Points of interest throughout the scene can be identified through the use of the golden mean, as often the focal images and characters are displayed in the centre of the screen to denote importance, meaning we can use the golden mean to effectively pinpoint the most important images that fall on a diagonal line across the shot. An example of the golden mean in use is the brief image where the killer is fully visible, with not only the head falling along the diagonal line, but the hand clasping the knife also. This intentional positioning of key elements effectively allows the viewer to understand which objects or people are the most significant in a shot, and which objects are the most apparent to them.

 

 

In this scene, an over the shoulder low angle shot is used to denote the positional strength the killer possesses over the victim. Framing is used in order to keep both character positions visible in the shot, however the camera is slowly panning towards the left, even cutting out the victim’s head slightly, immediately inferring to the viewer that the key focus of the shot is to establish the presence of the killer, which the viewer would have been oblivious to had these camera angles not been intentionally utilised.

A low angle shot allows the killer to be seen as a taller, more menacing figure, which effectively impacts the audience’s emotions, as it becomes clearer that the victim is in a perilous position. The shot is also over the shoulder, which is not used in order to establish character position, but to clearly show the victims facial expression, which is one of relaxation and calmness, thus portraying to the viewer that the victim is not in a position to defend themselves and is completely unaware of the coming threat. This shot is an extended shot lasting about 5 seconds, giving the viewer time to notice both the victim’s unawareness and the presence of the killer. Immediately following this shot, the speed in which shots are edited together increases dramatically, suggesting that the peace and tranquillity of the scene initially has abruptly ended. Little sound is used in these few seconds to increase tension, with the only sound implemented being the diegetic sounds of water falling, serving the purpose of distancing the victim and the viewer from the killer’s advances.


This shot depicts the killer stabbing the victim, and the complete vulnerability of the victim. It is a high angle shot, further depicting the victim’s weakness and disadvantageous position in comparison to the killer. Similar to many shots before and after this one, it only lasts about a second, not only to portray action but also to keep in time with the quick stabbing motion, and the severity of the attack of which the victim is being subjected to. Non-diegetic sound is implemented here, including the screaming of the victim, the exaggerated impact sounds of the knife and high-pitched vibrant music.

This successfully portrays to the viewer the intense action occurring, and the dangerous, potentially deadly act being carried out. A typical convention of this shot that relates to the thriller genre is the screaming of the victim, denoting pain, vulnerability and weakness, whereas we cannot highlight or depict the emotions of the killer at all, as their face is concealed and they do not make any sounds. This serves the purpose of informing the viewer the wickedness of the killer, as it appears despite the horrific the nature of their actions, they seem undeterred and incapable of producing emotion, creating further suspense and surrounding the scene in tension. Once again intense lighting is present in order to completely expose the victim, inferring there is no place in which they can hide from their impending death. The blade of the knife is not visible, denoting its position inside the victim, further relinquishing any hope that the victim could potentially escape.
 

In this shot, a close up shot of the victim’s hand, the audience is informed of the weakness and the hopeless position the victim is now in, as suggested by the hand placement on the wall, as the victim is no longer strong enough to grip onto an object to pull themselves up off the floor. It is a shot that lasts a number of seconds, to depict the life of the victim slowly ebbing away, as well as to denote the ending of the action sequence, as the killer has left the room by this point.

As the facial expression is not visible to the viewer, the strength and condition of the victim is effectively portrayed through the slowness of the shot, which is in time with the slow movement of the hand down the tiles, inferring the victim has given up hope of standing or advancing from their position on the ground. The viewer is also notified of the hopeless position of the victim through the implementation of non-diegetic sound, a deep, low pitched piece of music implying the victim’s demise.

 

 

One of the final shots of the scene, this shot is an extreme close up shot of the plughole of the shower, surrounded by red liquid, that of the victim’s blood. This clearly denotes to the viewer the victim’s condition, because of the clear loss of blood, and connotes the viewer’s life draining away, impossible to reclaim (denoting the physical impossibility of placing your hand down the plughole in order to try and grab something that may have fallen through it.) Matching the slow nature of the water swirling down the plughole, the shot itself lasts a number of seconds, allowing the viewer to summarise the events that have just occurred before them. In this scene, the sound volume of the water draining down the plughole is increased in a non-diegetic fashion, sustaining tension and suspense despite the fact that the actual action sequence has already been completed.

Lighting is used heavily in this scene, with light clearly reflecting off the water and the metal surrounding the plughole, further inferring that a life is being consumed by this plughole, and all the happiness this person may have brought to people along with it, creating a sombre and mournful atmosphere. Focusing on props, the plughole itself resembles a blackened eye, trapping all light literally and figuratively as previously mentioned. This shot is immediately followed by a close up of the victim’s eye, allowing the viewer to notice the similarity between the lifeless, eye-resembling plughole and the lifeless eye of the victim.

This final shot immediately follows on from the extended shot of the plughole, and similarly is a close up shot. The camera itself is circling round the eye in a swirling fashion, similar to that of the physical movement of the water into the plughole, perhaps denoting the blood seeping out of the victim in a similar manner. The viewer is intentionally meant to notice the similarity of this shot to the previous shot of the plughole, as the non-diegetic amplified sound of water draining down the plughole has been edited on top of this shot also, with no other sound being heard. This comparison is continued due to both shots being of similar length, much slower than those seen throughout the entire action seen earlier. As we can’t actually tell through imagery that the victim is dead, the audience is intentionally forced to rely on the foreboding sounds being used, with the purpose of concealing the victim’s true condition for as long as possible being to create further suspense and mystery similar to that of the killer’s identity. This is a common convention in many thriller movies, as this is only relatively close to the beginning of the film, and the purpose of the film is to sustain suspense and the audience’s attention throughout the entirety of it.