Genre Research

The concept for my short film, still untitled, will be a mystery with a focus on horror. I’m mainly influenced by two films, The Crazies and Super 8.

The kind of narrative I want in my own film is one where you don’t truly understand everything in the end, and some things are left ambiguous, like in Super 8 with the “antagonist”. The acting would be centered around trying to understand the conflict they are involved in, and fear of the unknown. The mood of the dialogue would be influenced by that as well. The characters would be normal, none of them particularly exceptional or special.

The settings would resemble a small town and its outskirts, with forests (mainly their edges or clearings) and the inside of houses, mainly in darkness. Interspersed at some point, perhaps the beginning or after the first rising action, there would be shots showcasing the wider setting. Lighting in buildings would be dark, with the lights offering little relief, to better highlight feelings of the unknown. Outside, the scenes would mostly be filmed at dawn (or during overcast) or at dusk, to give everything a forlorn/mysterious kind of look.

Sound effects wouldn’t be focused on, however the score would have much attention put to it. The music would exemplify moments of horror or realization, and would also be used during scenes of particular suspense.

I noticed that I haven’t even described the plot of my movie or even a synopsis. Well, here’s something: Facsimiles of the recently deceased are appearing out of forest and seeking the townsfolk, and several kids go on a quest to discover why, and perhaps stop it.

Oral Presentation

Alright then, it's time to move away from monotonous analysis posts and towards reviewing my own presentation. Yikes. Alright, so I decided I would put myself at a straight 16. I tried staying away from doing a shot by shot analysis of the entire extract, but I still started rambling on about certain points, and veering into new ones. I managed to stick to the general structure even though it wasn't required, and it helped in staying organized. I believe I had a clear reasoning for why the extract was chosen, although I could've made this clearer in the beginning. A major flaw in my presentation was my lack of film language. I was stuck between using film language gratuitously and not using it at all, and tried to put in the bare minimum. I wanted to avoid using film language in the wrong context. I think I had a good enough understanding of historical context and context in regards to Hitchcock. In summary, while I focused much on context, my actual analysis of the extract was lacking in detail.

Film Language and Representation

My chosen extract for my oral assessment is the parlor scene from Psycho, in which Norman Bates and Marion Crane discuss their lives and in particular Bates’s mother. Norman’s mental issues are represented by the shadows around him and the tone in his voice as he discusses his mother’s condition. It’s a conversational scene, so the two actors’ performances are very casual, and gradually getting more awkward as the conversation moves towards more sensitive subjects.

The way in which the camera is looking down on Marion at some points exemplifies the hostility evident in Norman Bates when his mother is mentioned. The camera doesn’t actually move during this scene because of its conversational nature. In addition to this, the camera is at an average distance from both actors, giving the audience the point of view of someone taking part in the conversation.

All in all, the scene doesn’t really stand out in terms of camera work, but it still has a noticeable impact on the mood.

By making the PoV of the camera like that of a person, the audience shares in the awkwardness and tension inherent in the conversation. The entire set is designed with this in mind, with everything seeming enclosed, with several stuffed birds looming over the two characters.

These birds, in fact, connect to a very common theme in Hitchcock’s films and in Psycho in particular. The birds symbolize danger and looming threats, in this case Norman’s unstable mind.

There isn’t much to be said about editing, since in a conversational scene like this there isn’t much need for any special kind of editing; it’s simply back and forth shots between Bates and Marion. However, lighting plays a much more important role, although its meaning could be disputed. For example, the singular lighting in the scene, a lamp, casts a sharp light on Norman Bates’s face. This could symbolize his two halves, one of which is a very dark individual; on the other hand, it could just be a coincidental effect of the lighting. 

In summary, the main perception you get from the parlor scene is one of tension, of hitting upon a critical secret that has only barely been illuminated. As we discover shortly after this scene, this is exactly the case.

Psycho: Narrative and the Film Extract

For this post I'll be briefly discussing the nature of the narrative in Psycho and the relationship between the audience and the characters.

The film moves along according to the Marion’s progress and later, after her death, the characters’ attempts to discover her fate and Norman Bates's efforts in concealing it. The plot moves according to the passage of time, and while events occurring in scenes with Bate’s may not be happening at the same time as other characters, it is reasonable to assume that they are around the same time.

Throughout the film we are influenced to feel sympathy for most of the characters, especially Norman Bates, who we see as an awkward man, who is trapped at the Motel with his mother, having no freedom of his own. His dialogue and Marion’s reaction to him elicits these feelings of sympathy, even when it’s discovered that he is actually a psychopath. You get a feeling that what he’s doing isn’t being doing out of sadism or some sick desire but because he has no choice, that the mother side of his personality is oppressing him. On a lesser scale we have Marion Crane, who only commits thievery in order to purchase a better life for her and the man she's having an affair with.

Socio-Cultural Influences in Psycho

One of the things that makes Psycho such an important film is the effect it had on society and the effect that society had on it. The film comes from a culture that is obsessed by the idea of psychopaths and the mentally unbalanced. “In 1955, Newsweek declared that ‘The U.S. is without a doubt the most psychologically oriented, or psychiatrically oriented nation in the world.’” This fits perfectly, considering that the main protagonist of Psycho is a psychotic with multiple personalities. This film was made during the time of the Cold War, only a decade or so after World War 2.

As a film, Psycho really discusses a crucial question, how can you know if someone is a psychopath? He/she could be anywhere, at anytime, but they are able to hide themselves so well that you would not know until it was too late. Norman Bates, a supposedly normal, slightly awkward man with a confused past, is the epitome of such a hidden personality, which is why Hitchcock casted Anthony Perkins as Bates.

The film could either be considered a primitive or classic film, in relation to the genre it is. While it is considered to be the first slasher film, it also has several elements of a suspense thriller, something that was very much popular at the time of filming. Films like Dial M for Murder and The Wrong Man, also films by Hitchcock, were thriller/suspense films as well. So in the end, it may be appropriate to list Psycho as a Classic. It was the first movie of its time to do something unique, to go in new directions concerning the genre in general.

And to put this film in context, a much more specific context, we should start with Psycho in relation to the country in which it was made, the U.S.. As a country that focuses on the mentally unstable, it's the perfect choice, and the atmosphere of some areas of the country adds to this perception. As coming from American culture, the film of course plays off of those fears that a psycho could be anywhere, at any time, and be undetectable. The film focuses on those with a double life, with Norman Bates and his mother side, and Marion Crane suddenly becoming a thief, contrary to her nature.

Psycho's impact on American society was immense, since it was more violent, more revealing, and more daring than other films of its time. It's focus on the psychopath played on the fears of many at the time, the fear that someone could harbor such desires as murder without anyone knowing.

Historical and Institutional Influences in Psycho

The film Psycho took its influences from numerous sources, more so than most films at that time. Hitchcock himself gives his own personal touch to the film. As said by Michael J. Lewis in The Canonical Hitchcock, “the basic architecture of Hitchcock’s storytelling remained the same, turning on the motifs of guilt, suspicion, and fear”. And it’s true; his many films do share these themes, and Psycho is no different. His experience with policemen in his early life also has an impact in early scenes in Psycho, with the imposing police officers. But it goes deeper than that.

“His later films would often hinge on this precise scenario: a character who bears a crucial object or item whose meaning is withheld from him, but not the audience.” The money, left in Marion’s car when Norman erases the evidence of her murder, inevitably leads the private investigator and Marion’s sister to the scene of the crime, unknowing of what occurred. In addition to all of this, the way in which the film is cut is influenced by his own personal technique. As said in The Canonical Hitchcock, “his most radical contribution was in the depiction of thought...By showing us a sequence of images, he leads us through a careful sequence of thoughts so that we come to the same conclusion as the protagonist”. And this can be shown in one of the first scenes, when the camera pans slowly from Marion in her apartment, to the money she was assigned to keep, to the bags being packed on her bed. From this we can see exactly what is going on in the characters mind.
Moving on to another tack, why is this film so important? And not just as a hallmark of film history, but to the people of the 1960’s who saw the film for the first time? Well, for the time in which it was made, it was revolutionary. Its showing of violence, having the supposed main character killed off midway through the film, and a generally unique plot made quite a stir when it was first showed. And how about what it meant for the studio system? By making his own independent studio Hitchcock was able to work independently of the censors and work freely with Psycho, allowing him to add to it the things that made it such a blockbuster.