Film Analysis Of Alfred Hitchcock's Film Psycho

Parlor Scene Shot-by-Shot Analysis
Throughout the film industry, Alfred Hitchcock’s film Psycho has revolutionized the horror genre with his ways of merging the obvious with the mysterious. Alfred Hitchcock, ‘Master of Suspense,’ is known for his filming techniques which made his film stand out compared to other horror films during his period. Hitchcock used these techniques throughout the film Psycho to allow the viewers to get an insight of what is happening in the film. One of the most important scenes, where Hitchcock used several of techniques to reveal the film, is the parlor scene. The shot-by-shot analysis of the parlor scene is characterized by dialogue, lighting, symbols, and the four-quadrant rule. These techniques give us insights

While Marion is eating in the parlor, we can see small birds placed next to her near the lamp. The bird can be translated to a powerless and weak figure that can be related to Marion since she is the weak and helpless character in this film being preyed upon by Norman. The idea of Marion being a powerless figure is supported in the next shot where we see bigger birds like an owl hanging from the ceiling. The owl can be translated to a powerful figure that can be related to Norman, who is the predator foreshadowing a misfortunate event is going to occur to Marion. The idea does an effective job of letting the viewers relate the bird to Marion by foreshadowing her death since Norman is placed in scenes with bigger birds like owls. In the next show, we see Norman is looking at a painting known as Susannah and The Elders. The painting portrays a story from the Bible in which two elder men are spying on a woman taking a bath and then attempt to rape her as shown in the painting. This painting reflects Norman’s suppressed sexuality due to his mother having control over his mind and foreshadows that something wrong was going to happen to Marion similar to the bird and owl symbols. Norman has the same mentality of his urge for Marion, but his mom prevents the lust. We later discover that Norman killed Marion in the shower scene showing that the idea was

Each quadrant in the four-quadrant rule tells an idea relating to the subject in it. In the top left quadrant, there is an owl that helps portray the character of Norman as being a predator. In the top right quadrant, we have Norman and another large bird behind him supporting the idea of the top left quadrant of the bird portraying the character of Norman. In the bottom left quadrant, we have a painting of Susannah and The Elders that shows his suppressed sexuality. He dresses up as his mother and spies on Marion through a hole that is behind the painting while she is changing in the room. In the bottom right quadrant, we have the rest of Norman’s body and a painting of a naked woman getting burned to death behind him showing that he gains sexual pleasure from looking at women when they are naked. The use of the four-quadrant rule gives the viewer knowledge of the ideas that Hitchcock implemented in the film since there are many ideas that the viewer can acquire from the parlor