Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho Essay Example

Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho Essay Example Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho Paper Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho Paper Essay Topic: Film Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho is one of the most notorious films and still is after all these years. The story is about a woman called Marion Crane who picks the wrong place to spend a night. The Bates Motel which is run by a young man called Norman Bates and his old mother. Hitchcocks murder set-pieces are so effective, that they can frighten a viewer whos seen them before. The film was first screened in New York on 16th June and was a success from the start. The film only cost $800,000 to make yet has earned more than $40,000,000. By the end of its first year, Psycho had earned $15 million-over fifteen times as much as it cost to make. Hitchcock also had ideas to save money as he used the crew from his TV series to film Psycho. Hitchcock got his inspiration of the film from the real story about Eddie Gein who was a serial killer and killed people at his farmhouse. He did things such as, used a human skull as a bowl, made lampshades and wastebasket out of skin and an armchair also made out of skin. The Law refused to pass the film because they claimed that the film contained nude in the shower scene. Hitchcock didnt edit that part out but he simply just sent it back assuming that they either wouldnt bother to watch it, or miss it the second time. Hitchcock insisted that audiences should only be allowed to see the film from the start so they can understand the film and they get to see the shock and suspense in the film. This was something viewers did in them days as people were used to just coming in and out at any point during a movie. In the shower scene the first three shots of Marion are Medium shot, Close Up and Extreme Close Up. This is because it shows the character in their immediate environment, concentration on the viewers attention and it makes the characters feeling intimate to the viewer. What we see in that frame is Marions initial scream. The effect of this is that it draws the audience in, to fell her shock and terror. The last three shots of Marion is when we see her hands, legs and herself struggling to stay alive after she had been stabbed several times. The effect this has is it builds up the tension in the film. Also in the Shower Scene there were censorship reasons which made the quick-fire editing of the shower scene necessary, but Hitchcocks principal concern was to disturb the audience and to suggest terrible violence and bloodshed without actually showing very much. In that scene there were 78 separate camera set-ups needed for the shower scene and it took seven days to film. The music in the film has a high pitched sound because every time something happens or is about to the sound gets louder they use this effect as it creates tension and suspense.