Fear in Psycho

Fear in Psycho

            When watching a horror/thriller film such as Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, the use of techniques including the score and camera angles play a key role in developing suspense and generating fear amongst the audience. One scene that exemplifies the importance of these techniques is the portion when Private Detective Milton Arbogast is in the telephone booth at the Bates Motel. Initially, the scene does seem to be neither scary nor suspenseful, but as Arbogast begins to talk about sneaking into the private house, music picks up in the background and ignites the feeling of suspense. The music used in this particular portion of the film has been somewhat consistent with the rest of the score for the film. Another factor that plays into the suspense is the use of rain in the film.  The rain is foreshadowing of the trouble to come, especially what will happen in the shower. By showing Marion’s reflection in windows and mirrors, Hitchcock uses voyeurism to instill fear in the audience. To enhance the voyeuristic effect, he uses high camera angles so it is like the audience is constantly watching Marion and is in the scene with her. Through the score, motifs, and camera angles, Hitchcock is able to convey a sense of fear among the audience.

The Shining: Ending Scene

The ending scene of The Shining was extremely scary and entertaining at the same time. At this point Jack has completely lost his mind and it is evident through many ways. Before the ending part where Wendy finds Jack's writing of "hard work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" typed over and over again across the page it is un clear whether Jack has gone completely insane. After this scene it is very clear. I thought the huffing and puffing scene where Jack is saying he is going to knock the door down if Wendy doesn't let him in is one if not the best scene in the movie. My eyes were glued to the screen. The suspense of Wendy not being able to squeeze through the window was unbearable. The best shot of the whole movie was Jack's face in the door when he says "hear comes Johnny". I can definietly see why that scene has become so famous with the movie critics. The close- up shot of his face is the true face of a maniac. It also added some comic relief to an otherwise extremely suspenseful crazy scene. At that moment I totally thought he was going to get to Wendy, I was shocked when they both Wendy and Danny ended up ok. Usually scary movies end in a bad way that has the viewer scared all night but with The Shining you got a sense of happiness knowing the good guys made it out ok. I liked that part of it a lot. Overall, I loved the movie and totally see why it is one of the best horror movies ever.

The Shining

The compositions of shot and the set design in The Shining harmonize on screen. Every shot you cant help but notice the complimenting colors, and detail, and the astounding symmetry. One example of the complimenting colors is when Wendy and Danny are seen in their room watching television; every color around them was nearly the same shade of brown. This goes for Wendy’s overalls, to Danny’s sweater, and for the chocolate milk. For some reason this delivers a weird feeling that I cannot describe. Almost every scene had incredible symmetry. When the actors were directly in the middle of the frame the furniture was in locations that complimented the position of the actor. An example of this is when Wendy and Danny were watching television. Kubrick pulled the camera back so the actors were at the bottom of the frame evenly distanced apart on the same furniture, while a cordless TV was directly in the middle of them, with great big windows also evenly dispersed. This happens several times in the film most notably in the larger areas where there is more furniture only making their placement that much more impressive. Kubrick also liked having singles shots last for long durations while the camera was moving with the actor, which made me feel like I was in the hotel as well. I believe this helped create atmosphere and subliminally convinced the viewer that this was a real living and breathing hotel, and worked much better than a fixed shot of the actors. The composition of scenes and the Kubrick’s incredible attention to detail was just stupendous, and helped make this film one of the greats.

The Shining- Dissolve Use

Stanley Kubrick is a great director. A Clockwork Orange and The Shining are two of the more notable works of film in the past 45 years. However, Kubrick uses the dissolve effect too much in The Shining. Although the dissolve effect can be a good, sometimes perfectly fitting, transition between scenes, Kubrick uses this effect to the point where the transition between almost every scene in the beginning of the film is a dissolve. When I am watching a film, I try not to be critical of how it is put together, shot and edited. However, I could not help but notice how much Kubrick used this effect. When a viewer is watching a film, they should not notice small things like a repetition of an effect or small issues with the film. The effect fit well in the film during most transitions, but while watching I felt as if Kubrick wanted to use the dissolve effect for every scene. I think the reason for his overuse of this effect is because it is a good way to tell a story or the beginning of a story very quickly. The director can dissolve transition quickly between scenes in order to get on to the real plot of the film, and then they will stop using it. The Shining did exactly that. The Shining rushed into Jack's downfall, and I felt that there was not enough time in the film before Jack begins to go crazy. This may have been how Kubrick intended it to be, and if it was, then the dissolve effect was the right way to go.

The Shining: All work and no play

Completing The Shining, the film did an amazing job portraying the viewer as one of the characters in the movie not only by fearing for the characters being harmed, but also by the shots being taken to make the viewer feel as if a part in the movie. As Wendy approaches the typewriter, the camera is what seems to be placed on the ground and behind the typewriter to capture Wendy's reaction when she sees Jack's story and helping the viewer feel like they are sitting in the room and are not able to help her. In many films, when the camera is placed below a character it shows the audience of the power the character holds although in this scene the only power that can be figured is the power of discovery as Wendy completely realizes that Jack has gone mad.

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As Wendy continues to look through the box of hundreds of already typed pages and realizes it is the same sentence written repetitively, "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", I thought the camera shot amplified the feeling of being in the movie or maybe even the feeling of being Wendy herself, sending chills down my back. This increases the fear the viewer has as Wendy scrambles through the papers and the music gets louder. The camera seams to be above her and just a little behind her as you see the shadow of her head along the bottom of the shot but has a nice effort of capturing the shot as if the camera was exactly the angle Wendy was viewing the papers.

The Shining: Here's Johnny

The Shining had many scenes that helped to pave the way for future horror movies. It masters the concept of suspense perfectly. First, the camera tracks with Jack always in view as he moves toward the bathroom where Wendy and Danny are hiding. It follows Jack as he limps through the hotel with his fire axe, and occasionally switches to a view inside and outside the bathroom containing Wendy. Wendy is able to get Danny out the window, but while she struggles to get out of the window herself, the viewer is almost compelled to tell her what to do. This has become a staple of horror films, when a character in the movie does something different from the smartest thing to do, and the viewer wants to correct this decision. Before Jack breaks down the bathroom door, he pleads to Wendy to let him in, alluding to the children's story of the Big Bad Wolf, who "huffs and puffs" and blows down the pigs' house. This allusion by Jack shows that he has truly lost his mind. It makes it clear that his head is not in the right place, and that he is to be feared. Another interesting part of this scene is the camera while Jack is breaking down the door. There is a camera shot of Wendy cowering in the bathroom corner with the camera view parallel to the surface of the door (as shown below). A hard focus is used to show the terrified expression on Wendy's face, but also to include the axe breaking through the bathroom door. This gives the viewer a complete picture of the scene, and combined with loud, quick music, the scene is -- to good effect -- quite scary.

The Shining- Scene repitition

Camilla Broccolo

3-25-14

p.4

The Shining

In the movie The Shining, repetition is used a lot in the set up of the scenes and the architecture. In one of the first scenes which showed the family in the hotel, the repetition was evident.  The scene was of the family walking down the main hallway, the camera followed them on the side as they walked down the hall. As they walked, the scenery did not change much, but they passed many identical tall, towering windows, and desks with the same lamps with the same lamp shades.  It seemed as if this scene went on forever because of the little change in scenery.  Another scene where there was a lot of repetition was when Jack met Charles Grady in the bathroom, all the urinals, sinks and mirrors were all uniform and the same bright, unsettling, blood red.  The repetition and bright red colors were really just accentuated the intensity of the scene. Another thing I noticed was that much of the furniture used in the movie was very big in comparison to the actual character. For example, when Jack was sitting at his desk writing his “novel” we saw the low camera view of him at his desk and chair which made them look much bigger than a normal desk and chair look. Another thing was the huge windows which were as tall as the ceiling.  This was probably used to show the big, scary power that the hotel had over it’s caretakers, and how it would take over at some point.  

(intense colors and repetition)

Psycho

PSYCHO

Norman Bates’s ending monologue when he is in police custody is haunting. Instead of Norman’s voice, you hear his mother’s  when the police officer hands him the blanket. She then begins to start ranting on, and on about how much of a disappointment her son is and how she, his mother’s personality is innocent. You can tell how conflicted he is when you hear what is going on in his head. “He was always bad, and in the end he intended to tell them I killed those girls and that man.” Norman might seriously believe he had nothing to do with it because his mother’s personality is pulling all the strings. What is also scary is how devious this personality is, “They know I can't move a finger, and I won't. I'll just sit here and be quiet, just in case they do... suspect me. They're probably watching me. Well, let them. Let them see what kind of a person I am. I'm not even going to swat that fly. I hope they are watching... they'll see. They'll see and they'll know, and they'll say, "Why, she wouldn't even harm a fly..." It seems even after his mother’s death Norman still searches for her acceptances and the fact he can never achieve it, made him conjure her in his mind. At the end it almost seems like Norman is only a passenger along for the ride in his own body, while his mother is driving.

The Shining

The film The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrick, consists of many instances in which the camera angles and the color scheme are representative of both the characters, and the storyline. One scene in particular that shows a character's perspective through the use of camera-angles, is when Danny is biking through the hotel hallways. Kubrick's decision to place the camera at Danny's level was useful in showing the audience what a child living in those circumstances's perspective is. There are several instances in which Danny is shown biking through the halls as a means of building suspense for either who it is, or what it is that Danny sees in the hotel. Kubrick also utilizes the element of different camera angles to represent something more than what is shown, in the scene where Jack is locked inside of the freezer and is banging on the door to get out. By placing the camera below Jack, so that only his neck up is shown, it represents the disoriented and confused state of mine that he is in. At this point in the film, the audience has no doubts that Jack's intentions for both Wendy and Danny are not good ones. As he is begging Wendy to unlock the door and let him out, his true insanity is shown. Not only do the tactics he uses to convince Wendy to let him out show a drastic change in character growth, but the camera angle significantly helps indicate his frustration and insanity. The concept of representing a certain character and the storyline through color schemes is a very prominent element Kubrick also uses. For example, before the family moves into the Hotel, we see their home decorated with red, white, and blue decor. To me, the decision to do this helps show the idea of structure and uniform. This color scheme is very obvious, therefore it must represent something larger. Another scene in which there is a specific color scheme used is when Wendy is walking through one of the large rooms in the Hotel and her yellow coat matches the bright yellow curtains. I noticed this detail as it also makes me think that Kubrick intended to portray Wendy as a very uniform and well-put together woman who sees the Hotel how she want to see it, much different than Jack. Both Kubrick's use of unique camera angles and interesting color schemes help spark curiosity and discussion amongst audience members as to what elements were used to symbolize something larger than what is only shown on screen.

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.