psycho 1960 - film study (英文影评).docx

Ying YeFilm Study April 1st , 2013Psycho Alfred Hitchcock had ever got movies or drama training; he went to the London County Council School of Engineering and Navigation in Poplar, London. When he was nineteen years old and finished the school, he worked to a cable company called Henleys as a draftsman and advertising designer; at the same time, he also studied at the university of London for art courses. Because he studied the art courses, it laid the important foundation for his achievement in the future. After the television and advertising developed, he began to come into contact with the film. When Hitchcock was 20 years old, he stepped into the film as a main title designer and editing worker. When he was 22 years old, he began to take charge of a writer and art director in “Woman to Woman” and other five films. Also, when he was 39 years old, he left London and came to the Hollywood. After one year, he became a director in “ Rebecca” and won the Oscar for a best cinematography award and best film award. He rose from a title designer to a film director took him for five years. Later, because he directed the film “Psycho” and other five films, he was nominated for the Oscar for a best director award in these films. In 1979s, he won the Lifetime Achievement Award from American Film Institute. Hitchcock made other films that were “Frenzy”, “Psycho”, “North by Northwest”, “Vertigo”, “The Trouble with Harry” and etc. During the sixty years of his film career, he had captured more than fifty of films, so he became a famous movie master of art in history.According to online sources “Hitchcocks Cinematic Style”, Hitchcock believes the screenplay takes precedence over the direction because it tells him what to do as a director. Also, according to Gottlieb: “Half the work of direction should be accomplished in the script.” Hitchcock showed what people are doing, thinking, and saying. In addition, he also used each shot to create a state of mind and emotion to audience; and he used the pictorial presentation to make a strong impact to the audience. Hitchcock was known for his style that included moving camera, dramatic lighting, dramatic music, a dark sense of humor, lots of suspense, POV shots, cameos and mise en scene (Everything in the frame is there by design and for a purpose.)In Psycho, Hitchcock created an outstanding and distinct cinematography. In the color, the color of Psycho are black and white color images, and the black represses the death or evil; the white represses purity and goodness. Also, the black and white image also tells us that people had two different personality with evil and goodness. For example, Marions suitcase and her clothes are gray, and he changes her white bar, dress, and handbag to black one that showed up her evil side and decides to steal the $40,000. Another example, the white letter with money and black or gray bedclothes show that she hesitate to steal the money. Using the camera distance, Hitchcock used camera moving to create a tense atmosphere. On the beginning of the film, camera started extreme long shots on phoenixs cityscape, long shots on buildings, medium shots on a buildings window, a close-up through the window to a room and two people who are in the room. This opening is telling that we are voyeurs, and we all have a bark or evil side. Beside, when Marion died, Hitchcock gave she an extreme close-up on one of her big frightened eye; this extreme close-up created a scared and tense atmosphere. Also, there are a scene that show Marion her irresolute emotion for stealing money. Hitchcock changed the camera distance from medium shots on her to close-up shots on the white letter with money for four times. As well, according to the textbook “Film”, the camera movement is used to prevent the audience from learning information when a camera move to overhead immediately before Norman Carries his mother down the stairs (Phillips, P.98). This camera movement creates a suspense to the audiences because it create a blurry impression on his mother. The audiences want to see his mother closely and pay attention on the film.Hitchcock used camera angles to create a splendid scenes in Psycho. He uses the point of view shot and camera angles to create images that the audience is the actor in the film who is doing action; the way of the using camera involves the audience in the film. One example is “ the shower scene” that is the most classic sense in Psycho. Hitchcock used the point of view shot on Marions legs and hands to create a scene that you are the actor in Psycho in that situation. Also, he used a high angle of the shot on Marion when she was killed by Norman; he used a low angle of the shot on Norman to make him powerful, strong, and big. The high angle of the shot shows that Marion is helpless, weak, and small, and she is unable to fight with Norman. There are some lighting that frequently show in Psycho; they are the backing lighting, the frontal lighting, the side lighting, and the bottom light. For example , the backing lighting shows on Marions sister; the backing lighting makes the audiences cannot interpret her mood. In the “ shower scene”, when Norman held a knife over his hand, the light also used the backing lighting to create a shadow to hide the identity of a subject. Undetermined shadow leaves a suspense to the audiences; for instance, Detective Conan which is Japanese popular detective mange series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoym, and it had developed to become a cartoon; in the scene of the cartoon, it often used the shadow to repress the attacker. The frontal lighting is to show the actors faces, details, and emotion. The side lighting often shots on Marions and Normans face, and it shows that the actor have a divided personality and contradictory emotions. The bottom light showed on Normans face from the bottom of his face; it repressed that Norman got an evil side and enhanced his frightening mood.The use of audio appeared in the film. The first traits of the music design is to use some specific sounds as a section and keep playing the section to a tortuous effect. The second traits of the music design is to make the section play quickly by the cello and violin. These two traits show the actors hesitation, the fighting of the psychology, and the effect of the tense emotion. The sound of the narration are in the movies that is when Marion was driving on the road; there is a person who spoke out the words to tell the story but not in the movie. The voice sound intensified a nervous mood to Marion. Besides, at the end of scene, Norman mother take a place in Norman to say her internal thoughts.Hitchcock used outstanding editing in Psycho. The first example are Normans last shot that superimposed three images together. The superimposed three image are Norman, his mother, and death that are a swamp; it also showed the significance of his personalities and his inside (dark side) ; Norman embodies the death and destruction. The second example are in the “shower scene”. Hitchcock created an image editing; he combined the different angle and the different distance of the shot together. Even though he did not show us the scene that a knife inserted into Marions body, the scene of using the great editing skills made shots meaningful and created a unusual scene. Hitchcock did an excellent job on mise en scene. Especially, the setting of the resting room of Normans office played important definition to Norman. When the specimen a little black bird and owls made points on him, these scenes showed that Norman had an evil side and also enhance his angry mood. The mirror in Normans office which showed that people had two personalities (evil and good); it also expressed that Marion and Norman two opposite sides. Another, Hitchcock named the main man actor “Norman”, it also means normal man. Hitchcock said that everyone just like Norman that had a dark or bad side. Hitchcock used the back lighting to create a mysterious and nervous sce