Psycho Shower Scene

 

This infamous scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is one the biggest inspirations for actions and pieces of cinematography within our opening sequence.

 

Firstly the genre of Psycho is a thriller, which is the genre we have chosen to base our film opening on. However as we can only show around two minutes, the genre could easily be perceived as more of a crime/drama film, and this would still be fairly accurate as their are strong influences within the opening from television shows like Dexter and Hannibal.

 

The second link between this particular scene and our media piece is the event that occurs within both pieces: a murder. However there are differences that help to separate the two films and make ours more unique and not a direct copy of Psycho. For example in our two minutes we focus more on the aftermath of the murder, with our victim already dead on the floor with the blood splattered on the floor and the walls. Additionally there is a greater interest in the actions of the killer, who we use to tease the audience, by not wholly revealing his identity but also try and cause discomfort to the audience by the twisted acts he commits.

 

There are however some similarities between the two pieces. There are two obvious examples of things we have adopted and developed from the shower scene, the first being the close up on Marion's (played by Janet Leigh) hand as she drags it down the wall in her dying moments. In our opening the killer drags a bloodied have from left to right across a wall, scratching his nails for added intensity. The second example is a piece of editing and cinematography used within the shower scene. When Marion falls to the floor of the bathroom, the camera tracks the blood in the bath being washed into the sink. As it moves towards the drain, the water makes the swirling action as it falls. The film then dissolves to show an extreme close-up of Marion's eye, with the camera rotating to mimic the movement of the water going down the drain. This is a match on action edit and is also a technique we have tried to use, and we did this by pulling the camera back from what was initially an extreme close up, and then dissolving into the killer swirling a jar of blood, with the camera positioned underneath.

 

Above is the water and blood running into the drain.  Below is a visual example of the cinematography used on Marion's eye. The picture on the left is roughly where shot starts and then the end shot is shown on the right.