Psycho Shower Scene Response

There are many conventions of a traditional thriller in the movie Psycho, as I shall go on to speak about. In this shower scene the female character is writing figures on paper on her desk, she then goes on to rip the paper up, searching for a bin that she couldn't find she flushes it down the toilet. She then goes on to undress and get into the shower, washing her, purifying when she is brutally murdered, being stabbed over 5 times. She then has to watch the killer walk out the room, knowing there is nothing she could, although she tries to haul herself out of the bath to get help, she is utterly drained and dies leant over the bath.

Mise-en-scene plays a big part in this scene as it is all the props, setting and costume that confuse us and make the scene as magnificent as it is.

In my opinion I feel that the setting being in a hotel is very traditional of a thriller. It is set in what we believe to be Los Angeles due to the newspaper when the camera moves out of the bathroom. The hotel is in the middle of nowhere, not where a normal hotel would sit, in the middle of a busy area, this automatically gives us the idea that something is bound to happen. The killing takes place in a very confined room, one way into the bathroom and considering she doesn't seem to put up much of a fight, this could be due to shock but there is very little chance of escape. Making us feel it is inevitable that she will die in the bathroom. She does however scream as loud as possible, but due to the location of the hotel no help comes and the killer simply walks out and escapes.  At the start of the scene when the victim is on the way to bathroom, she goes across the room and into the bathroom, making us think that she is going from being safe in the hotel room, to danger in the bathroom, this could be classed as a signifier but we only realise this after the scene.

The props used in this scene are also very significant; they are significant of their representation in other movies of this genre. The most significant in this scene and most used in this genre is the knife; the knife represents death in horror movies and does in this scene, following the conventions of a thriller.  As soon as the knife is held up and shown, we know what is going to happen. The authority of the knife is reinforced by its positioning in most shots, it is in the centre of the shot automatically making us realise its authority.  I also feel that the way they have used blood and water is mixed together is a fantastic effect. Considering water is related with cleanliness and purity, which is why she is taking a shower in the first place, when she gets stabbed the water and blood is mixed together and slowly drains down the plughole so does her life. This could represent a dramatic change in the movie, as her life is slowly draining away and is soon to be dead. The plughole also relates to the women’s life because of the transition between that and the eye dilating, this also shows her life coming to an end. When the camera cuts to storm outside it represents violence, the storm is violent as in weather and the killing is a violent act in life.

The female victim is getting in the shower so is only originally wearing a gown which is removed to get in the shower. The killer is dressed as a female, we think this because of the long blonde hair, this could be a wig but in this scene we cannot tell. The unknown character also has his or her sleeves rolled up, this could show they do not want to get blood on their clothing, stereotypically it is normally women that care more about their appearance and clothing, this could be another reason to suggest the attacker is female.

In this scene there have been a lot of cuts, around 15 different camera shots from different angles. In these shots we see three different perspectives; we see the perspectives of the killer, the victim and a third person view. There are mainly mid shots, close ups and extreme close ups used in this scene to show the reactions and emotions of the victim through this horrific scene. They also show the surroundings of the character, for example there are cameras in the shower with her, this gives us a sense of claustrophobia and during the murder how she is confined.  The shot types also gives us a sense of tension and when the editing speeds up  we get a sense of pace as it become more and more obvious that she is going to die. In this scene there are many different cuts, they are mostly straight cuts to keep the tempo of the scene. There are also a few jump cuts.

Most of the shots that we see are mostly eye level, ensuring that the audience are engaged and ready for what is about to happen. The extreme close ups in the scene are used to show one specific feature such as the knife, the pupil dilating and the plug hole. The framing of the shots are also very tight, creating tension.

This is an extreme close up of the knife, the room is lit and the light is shining of the knife, making our attention be automatically drawn to the knife, this is reinforced by the knife being in the centre of the shot.  Using the gold mean we know what the knife is the main subject. In this shot, to the left we can see the hair of the killer, as it long we presume it is a woman.

In this shot the camera slowly pans to the left, to show the victim innocently purifying herself (washing) to the killer through the shower curtain, who is about to end her life.

Another type of shot that is used in this scene are high or low angle shots, they are used to show authority and give us a sense of power, high angle shots are normally used on the victim to make us feel like they are inferior and helpless. Low angle shots are used when viewing the murder, it makes us feel like the killer is powerful and the fate of the victim is in their hands, and in this case the killer goes ahead to brutally murder her.

This is an example of a high angle shot and is used to make us feel like the victim is inferior and the killer has power. It is a third persons view which means we get to see the whole scene.

The lighting in the hotel room is very bright, in the genre of horror this makes us feel like she is safe as the dark is normally the scary killing scenes, but this is unconventional and happens in the light.  The light exposes everything in the room, including the killer’s knife. The light could make her venerable but I feel that it makes her feel safe as there are no dark areas or corners for anybody to hide.

There are also good use of both diegetic and non-diegetic sound in this scene, the diegetic sounds consist of the water in the shower. Another diegetic sound in this scene is the women screaming, these are the two most significant in the movie. The non-diegetic sounds consist of the stabbing between the killer and victim; this has been put in so that we do not have to see the knife physically go into the body but we assume it is due to her screams and the sounds of the stabbing. Another non-diegetic sound that is added in is the sound of the water and blood mixed together going down the plughole, it almost sounds as if we can hear it getting further away as it goes down the plughole, this is relevant as it shows her life slowly slipping away.

The victim fits into the typical conventions of a thriller movie; she is an inferior character that is going to be killed off as part of the killing spree. Another reason that she seems inferior could be that she is female, stereotypically not as strong as males which could be the reason that she seems so defenceless. She is attacked, and dies, a common scene used in thrillers. In many thrillers the killer is male, but the director has typically made her women, well what appears to be women to avoid following the genre down to a tee. To make the movie unique.

I think that this shower scene has many conventions of a thriller. They have been used in a typical but slightly different but unique way. All of the different aspects have been used in ways that complement the typical genre, but have been used so that we do not know what’s going to happen and is unpredictable. The scene being set in the bathroom, in the shower, is all white and clean, the contrast between clean and cleanliness with death and blood is magnificent. In conclusion the scene follows the conventions but with a unique twist from the director.