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Cinemaic Techniques In Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

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Alfred Hitchcock’s complexly powerful psychological slasher thriller, Psycho (1960) became the pioneer for Hitchcock’s successful directing career and also for a new genre of film. Psycho started a new era of 'slashers' with never before seen blood-letting and graphic, shocking killings. With his meticulous directing style, being well known as an Auteur, paying attention to every inch of detail in each frame of his films that no only create filmic masterpieces but also slyly manipulates and guides the audiences to identify the hidden message of duality in human nature and the struggle between right and wrong. This will be explored by focusing on Norman Bates the antagonist of the film and how his two sides are exposed through the filmic techniques …show more content…

In the opening credits, which are simply black, white and grey, already starts to set up the idea of duality and emphasises Hitchcock’s meticulous attention to detail. As violins play in time with the slashing action of grey lines on screen that reveal the names of the actors and practitioners a part of the film, the audience already starts to feel uncomfortable and anticipation. As the music rises and descends, almost jumpy, used along with black and white and mirror images, resembling the duality within the film with the contrasting sounds, colours and shapes. This could perhaps symbolise the splits and two sides of the personalities of character as when Anthony Perkins’ (Norman Bates) name appears it is slashed into two which does not happen to any other name, this foreshadows his dual personality. The busy and frantic credit animations set the audience up to already feel uncomfortable and overwhelmed, which is perhaps the way Hitchcock wanted the audience to feel before the film started as well as to set up the idea of duality within the coming characters. Further, the opening credits are alike to the title, Psychotic and don't fit normal film conventions, intentionally done to hint at the duality and the conflicting good and bad sides within the characters soon to be seen in the

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