miss Essays (828 words) - English-language Films,

Norman bates invites marion crane to have her dinner in his parlour. They enter the room and sit opposite each other. The parlour itself is rather small with only one lamp in the corner of it. The first thing we notice when the camera enters the room is a collection of stuffed birds hanging from the wall and standing on the table.Hitchcock places norman bates in the right hand corner of the room, away from the light source and beneath a big bird, which hangs above him with wide spread wings. Marion is on the left of the camera, close to the lamp. Behind her is a picture in an oval frame. This setting already settles the character-question of both protagonists. Norman sits in the dark part of the room surrounded by the surreal and threatening creatures, dead birds with wide spread wings. Marion, however, is positioned in front of a round picture frame and next to a large milk jar both of which create a soft and feminine image. Hitchcock contrasts Norman bates strange somehow frightening appearance with Marion?s lady like. The shower scene is the key scene because this is the scene in which the psycho strikes first. It is also the end of what at first seems to be the main character, Marion Crane. Because this is the main scene and also the most controversial scene, Alfred Hitchcock filmed it over seven days for only two minutes forty seconds worth of film. There were about seventy different camera angles in the scene. Hitchcock had to consider the censors, which meant that he had to make sure that he kept the content of nudity and violence down to a minimum. This was because at the time the censors were very strict and would not allow the film if it contained too much explicit material. Hitchcock had used several scenes prior to the shower scene to build up the relationship between Marion and Norman Bates. When Marion first meets Norman you instantly feel that there is something that is going to happen in the scenes to follow. Marion's attractiveness makes her an obsessive target for Norman. Marion's l ast name of Crane refers to the graceful, long-limbed bird of the same name, which makes her seem innocent and vulnerable. From the outset of their meeting, she maintains the social control by her sexual effect on Norman. Even so she still gets drawn into his office, Marion has entered the world of Norman Bates, with no way out. From Norman's fascination with bird taxidermy you feel that there is another side to Norman and that all is not what it seems. The taxidermy is simply there to distract Norman away from his other personality. Though Norman may seem suspicious Marion still begins talking to him about her troubles. Marion implies to him how she has problems and that that she has to return home to deal responsibly with a serious mistake. Norman sternly expressed, "we're all in our private traps that never budge an inch." He should know, with the imprint of his long dead mother on the bed covers, though he's the only one living in the house. This indicates that Norman is farther down the road of helplessness than Marion, probably so far in fact that he is at the point of no return. Even though Marion is in a difficult situation she still has chance to pu An Analysis of the Opening Sequence from Alfred Hitchcock's Just like a building, a film needs a strong foundation in order to be successful, a foundation which is made up of the starting moments of the film. In Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock successfully uses the opening credit sequence to establish a foundation on which to build an interesting plot, including techniques to elicit involvement by the spectator, and the suggestion of a Psycho theme. A musical composition consisting of quick strokes on tightly wound violins, later used in the famous shower scene, starts to play at the beginning of the sequence. Names begin to slide on and off the screen in a series of horizontal and vertical lines. The top and bottom portions of the names slide onto the screen, followed by the middle