Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

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The movie Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock is a movie that has gone down as one of the greatest movies ever made. The movie is a household name, and in the Horror genre, the movie is a hallmark which redefined the genre for generations to come. It would be an overstatement to say that the techniques used in this movie were invented by Hitchcock. However, it was Hitchcock who explored these methods in the movie Psycho, setting the standards for horror movies for generations to come, with a lot of the practices still in use today. The movie Psycho was received nine nominations and won four awards. Some of these included four nominations including Best Director and Best Cinematography at the Academy Awards, winning Best Supporting Actress at the Golden…show more content…
Hitchcock chooses to begin the movie with an establishing shot panning a seemingly normal city. The scene itself is designed to give the audience the feeling that the events to come are possible anywhere, at any time. In the text describing the location and time, “PHEONIX ARIZONA. FRIDAY, DECEMBER THE ELEVENTH”, Hitchcock deliberately leaves out the year to emphasize this feeling that it could happen at any time. The camera is panning the like a predator in search of its prey, then zooming in on a location as though having found its victim, instantly setting up the main character and potential victim of the…show more content…
Hitchcock, typically, uses the camera to explain what is going on in the film. This is the most important scene in the movie, a turning point, and yet there is not a single word spoken in it. At the beginning of the scene the camera leads our attention to the money on the bed, and then pans away to the luggage and a few other items around the hotel room. Let alone the way the camera is moving is not left to chance. Hitchcock deliberately uses a lengthy take, without the changing of angles in order to give the impression of calm and serenity. The camera also pans very steadily, giving a feeling of comfort to the audience. This is in direct contrast to when Marion is being stabbed, where the camera angle is changing frequently in order to highlight the
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