Friday, 11 January 2013

Psycho (1960) Screenshot Analysis



This scene from PSYCHO is when we get a first look into Norman Bates’ parlour. The room is very low lit, with motivated lighting coming from a lamp causing many shadows giving the room a dark and menacing feel. The room is made even creepier by the fact that there are stuffed birds on the wall, which all seem to be ‘staring’ at Marion. This just makes the scene seem scarier as the birds look surprisingly lifelike.

The scene is set at night which adds to the darkness and connotes misery and sadness, which just adds to the eerie atmosphere. The scene is uncomfortable because of the setting and the furniture in the room, especially because the room is fairly small which gives a feeling of entrapment. Low-key lighting is created by a night time diegesis which just adds to the eerie atmosphere.

Hitchcock has managed to create an eerie and uncomfortable atmosphere through the use of mise-en-scene and cinematography in PSYCHO. The scene is a classic example of Hitchcocks ‘style’ and fits the horror genre very well, which is important for horror fans and also the importance of genre relates to ‘The Importance Of Hollywood Genres’ as written by Thomas Schatz.  

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