psycho
... aid him on the monetary front, but he felt the studio and the audience would be able to handle the graphic nature of the film with this technique. I’ve interpreted the use of black and white as a tool as to not draw attention away from the focal point of the scenes. Without visual distraction, the viewer becomes more attached to each character. Another visual technique is the continuing motif of taxidermy. The characters discuss it briefly, there are some cutaway shots of the animals, but it is mostly left up to the viewer to infer the purpose of the visuals. The taxidermy is used to both foreshadow and symbol towards “mother”, and also a metaphor for Norman’s life. The blatant foreshadow is almost excused in the film because we are so infatuated with the dialogue in the parlour scene, which adds to its effectiveness. Meanwhile Norman is discussing in detail with Marion the tediousness of his life; he describes his daily routines about the bed sheets, and even admits to her that it is a routine that is hard to shake. He is empty inside as Norman Bates, much like the lifeless birds hanging on his wall. In comparison when he is “mother”, he isn’t lifeless but rather an overabundance of jealousy greed and dependence. A symbol that I think is extremely overlooked is the money wrapped in the newspaper. Clearly symbolizing an escape for the Marion Crane character, it is brilliant the way that Norman overlooks it. He is so driven by his mother that he discards his way out to please the other half of his personality. All stories are developed first based on the point of view it is told from. Hitchcock has managed to tell the story from no less than three points of view. He first hired an established movie star to play the lead role. Janet Leigh captured the sly innocence of the Marion Crane character. The movie begins with her view of the predicament she is in and her opportunity to change that predicament. Hitchcock and Stephano purposely created the Crane character to lead the audience down a false path to enhance the shock value for the upcoming events. By dutifully grinding a slow moving story around the character, by the time Norman Bates comes along, the audience is so caught up in Marion’s dilemma; the Bates character seems dull and uninspired. I felt that the Bates character was uninteresting, just as Hitchcock wanted the audience to believe. Once the infamous shower scene took place, the films point of view changed forcing the audience to realize that the story they are watching is actually about the Bates character. It was a shocking and imaginative way to begin the first act of the film. The last two thirds of the film are dominated by Norman’s point of view but underneath that obvious layout was again the re-occurring taxidermy theme. An interpreted viewing of the film will suggest that present within the film is a real “bird’s eye view”; the third point of view being discussed. Although acting more as a symbolic point of view rather than a storytelling tool, this essentially narrates the theme of the entire film. The taxidermy within the film has already been defined as a symbol of mother, therefore shots involving the birds, or scenes in the film such as Norman taking his mother down the stairs in his arms, or the death of Arbigast on the stairs, can be concluded as mother is always watching. The main star of the film is the camera angles. It is widely known that Hitchcock doesn’t get involved with character development. He believed that the hiring of a good screenwriter would compensate for this and that responsibility would lie with them. Hitchcock would storyboard his films and detail the shots ...