Essay on Psycho (1960) is published for informational purposes only. The free papers are not written by our writers, they are contributed by users, so we are not responsible for the content of this free sample paper. If you want to buy a quality Essay on Essay on Psycho (1960) at affordable prices please use our essay writing services offered by EssayEmpire.

Psycho (1960) was presented as more of a theme park attraction than a film. Making people queue and only letting them enter at certain times made the people appreciate the film more. Also projecting screams from the loudspeakers outside built tension in the audience even before they had entered the cinema.

Alfred Hitchcock gave instructions to the cinemas about how the film should be shown; this gave him the power to dictate procedures which would create fear and tension in the audience.

It could be said that Alfred Hitchcock misled the audience, the poster that was released to advertise the film gave the impression that the character Marion Crane was featured throughout the film, when she died halfway through the film it would create immediate tension, as she would be the last person the audience would expect to die. This event showed the audience how the film was going to be; if the main character can die part way in then anything can happen.

Hitchcock created fear and tension through the film trailer that he created. When describing the film he created enigmas for the audience to think about, he didn't finish his sentence when describing key moments in the film.

In the traditional Hollywood films the storyline is structured in a set form known as 'cause and effect'. Alfred Hitchcock created fear and tension in the film by not following the same storyline structure as other film directors had chosen to follow.

An example of how Psycho differed from the structure other films employed is the death of Marion Crane. Marion had stolen money and decided to return it to its rightful owner. Upon making the decision to return the money she is brutally killed. If Psycho were a traditional Hollywood film then it is likely that Marion would not have been killed, as characters are not traditionally punished for making a decision that is associated with being good. By not having an apparent cause to build up to the event, Hitchcock created fear and tension, as the audience didn't know what was going to happen next, with no pattern of events being followed, a murder or shocking event could occur at any time. By choosing to kill off his main character so early he was also differing from the traditional star system employed by Hollywood film makers, which seek to promote their most famous actor as the main character throughout the film. Yet with Psycho, after Marion's killing, all attention is on the other actors.

Hitchcock wanted to have all of the events that occur in the film to surprise the audience, to keep it a surprise he doesn't give away what is going to happen in the film. He asked the audience to follow his lead and not give away any details of the film. This made sure that the system could be employed for all audiences. The system usually used to keep a film feeling fluid throughout is that after each disruption (such as a killing), the tension would return to equilibrium, this system was undermined in Psycho as Hitchcock decided to go in a different direction.

In the shower murder scene Hitchcock creates fear and tension by using varied lengths of shots. At the beginning of the scene the time between cuts is long, averaging about 8 seconds. At the end of the scene the cuts are much faster and give the impression that the cuts represent stabs of the knife. Hitchcock creates fear and tension by cutting to Marion's face when you would see the knife entering her body. This creates fear as the audience are made to imagine what is happening in what they are watching. They are made to fill the gaps. The technique Hitchcock used to arrange the shots to form an 'attack' from different stabs is called juxtaposition.

Most of the diegetic sound in the scene comes from the shower. The reason this noise is so loud is because Hitchcock wanted to show that Marion was not aware that the killer was approaching. The non-diegetic sound added was the music which creates fear and tension. Also the stabbing sounds were created by stabbing melons, this means that they are exaggerated and add to the effect of the fear and tension. . .

Free essays are not written to satisfy your specific instructions. You can order a term paper, research paper or custom TOPIC at our site which offers professional essay writing services. Get your high quality custom paper at relatively cheap prices. EssayEmpire is the best solution for those who seek help in essay writing related to TOPIC and other relevant topics.