Psycho

The shower scene is by far one of the most famous scenes in all films. This scene begins with Marion close the shower curtain and then we view a close-up of her face as she turns the shower on. As it’s a close-up, it’s easy to see the facial expressions of Marion. We quickly see a change in her emotion as it goes from plain to excited after entering the shower. This scene has all of the makings for a murder. The entire scene leaves the viewer uneasy, even before the murder occurs. In the first shot, I believe her nudeness symbolizes her vulnerability. Another example of symbolism in this scene is the show of the showerhead, both looking up and it looking down on her. The showerhead seems to represent a eye, like she is constantly being watched from a birds eye-view. Hitchcock was very well known for his infatuation with birds. The scene then goes from complete silence to the now famous sound effects and sounds of her screaming as well. From then on the shot speed escalates into a stabbing montages showing as all of the chaos and confusion that Marion feels. This high cut from camera view to camera view has the intention of making the view flinch. The speed of the camera change and the sudden sound effects instill the horror that makes the shower scene. There were 70 different camera set-ups in this 45 second scene alone. The multi-angled shots were used to create a feeling of disorientation. This scene was very well concocted considering the time period it was made as well as the budget Hitchcock was working with.