Psycho Film Review

The Shower Scene

Fig1

This famous scene of Hitchcock's psycho works so well, its montage of cuts, its metamorphosis with the plug and the eye, the close up of the mouth, the sway from side to side each time there is a slash of the knife and the minimal gore to what we are used to seeing. Also how the eye line in which she is dead is still looking towards the money. The linguistic of the knife itself goes well to create tension. Which was made up of 78/52. The Black and White allowed for some rather odd but believable uses when it came to things like blood in the scene for example "Hershey's chocolate syrup for the blood which swirled down the plughole, because it looked just right in black and white. He blocked the shower head's central holes so that the camera could point straight up at it without getting drenched." ( Economist.com,2018 )

Fig 2

The storyboard which shows very well the code of enigma of the killer by how anonymous the shadow is who we believe to be the mother. The choice of marks adds to the struggle and quickness and goes artistically with the slasher genre. This storyboard was drawn out by Saul Bass.

"To witness the sequence broken down in forensic detail is to appreciate its economy of storytelling anew, and to see its influence on subsequent popular culture." ( Hans,2018 ) You could argue that the reasons for its influence was from its shattering of 1950's conformity or because it was one of the earliest of graphic violence or at least the illusion of this...as the knife doesn't actually touch the flesh except for two split seconds and the cuts help show this in in the newly born slasher genre or you could argue that it made previous horror films obsolete for example the old British classics as this avant grade film maker has a commentary on how the modern world could be a place in which passions and these emotions are being ignored or in this case flushed down the drain.

Fig3

This seen is not quite an Auteur directive motive as there was lots of involvements in this scene.

For example Robert Blochs novel which was the basis and then theres Joseph Stephanos detailed screenplay, The storyboards by Saul Bass although there is camera angles that wasn't included and Bernard Hermanns Violin and of course the actors of Marli Renfro and Jamie Lee Curtis. 

It was the detail and collaboration that made this such a successful scene. "One of "78/52's most fascinating digressions is speculation about why, aside from personal psychology, Hitchcock indulged in what one observer calls"an act of aggression against fans, critics, actors." (Turan,2018) 

Bibliography

Hans, S. (2018). 78/52 review – misfiring documentary on Hitchcock’s Psycho. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/nov/05/78-52-misfiring-documentary-hitchcock-psycho-shower-scene [Accessed 28 Jan. 2018].

Economist.com. (2018). Cite a Website - Cite This For Me. [online] Available at: https://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2017/11/78-52 [Accessed 28 Jan. 2018]. 

Turan, K. (2018). '78/52' brilliantly, obsessively breaks down shower scene in 'Psycho'. [online] latimes.com. Available at: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-78-52-hitchcock-review-20171019-story.html [Accessed 28 Jan. 2018].

Figure List

 Divyasharma06.files.wordpress.com. (2018). Cite a Website - Cite This For Me. [online] Available at: https://divyasharma06.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/psycho_shower_scene_frames.jpg [Accessed 28 Jan. 2018].

Anon, (2018). [image] Available at: https://i1.wp.com/vashivisuals.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/WhoPsycho.jpg [Accessed 28 Jan. 2018].

Anon, (2018). [image] Available at: https://www.cctvcambridge.org/sites/default/files/styles/800x450/public/imagefield/editing%20concepts.jpg?itok=i4RxSWz5 [Accessed 28 Jan. 2018].