Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho - Movie Review Example

Alfred Hitchcock is considered a good film director of thriller movies like "Psycho," aired in 1960, which is considered one of the most famous films ever made.3 Hitchcock has been engaged in filming and directing suspense-thriller films, even before the filming of Psycho. He was so remarkable and an almost authority in these films that his approach is called "Hitchcockian" by contemporary film students. 4 In Psycho, just like in his other films, Hitchcock explored themes trailing from the confines of the conventions of the melodrama, the popular entertainment during his time.

Through an elaborate approach to images and cinematic devices, he explored his so-called 'obsessions' on exploring loneliness, sexual ambiguity, voyeurism, oppressive load of the past, and triumph of evil over goodness.5 He had been making films for thirty years when he came across filming Psycho, making him no longer new and whimpering about the techniques he was going to use in the different scenes of the movie. A box-office hit, the movie depicts of a mysterious murder of a woman - who was guilty of stealing a huge amount of money in order to live a new life -by an old woman called Mother whose identity is revealed only in the last part of the movie.

It made the viewers wonder who the murderer was all along , and allows them to be surprised beyond expectations after finding her real identity. This paper describes the different techniques employed by Hitchcock in creating and maintaining suspense in Psycho as a film director. It also aims to answer the question, "Does Hitchcock deserve the title of Master of Suspense" Only after thoroughly dissecting and examining Psycho and the approaches and techniques Hitchcock used on it, will this question be finally answered.

The Film Techniques Hitchcock Used in Psycho Film techniques are important parts of a movie, and its usage is indicative of how the movie will be presented vis--vis its scenes, movements of characters, and meaning. Film directors usually have a certain style and prosodic approach, which identify them from the rest, and Hitchcock is no exemption to this. Techniques allow for diversification of plots into one that heightens or captures a thing from the ordinary. The use of objects coupled with emotions, colors, and distance all contribute to the tone of a particular scene.

Their usage makes the film employ the kind of emotion or air that a director wants to convey to his audience. In Hitchcock's Psycho, it is as important to use these varying techniques, and Hitchcock himself is able to successfully convey the meaning and suggestiveness in sequences through their usage. In this paper, these techniques are content technique, theory of proximity, random camera movements, silent scenes, suggestive gestures, color, usage of material configuration, and mystery. Content Technique One technique used by Hitchcock is ensuring that each scene is going to affect the viewer to the point that the content engages them.

The characters are used to tease the viewers in many different ways. Hitchcock is fond of employing indirect movements and dialogues to signify the intention of a film, such as guilt, ill motive, and murder. He sees this as a necessary tool to capture the breath of the audience and make them think and analyse a certain situation. Hitchcock brings the audience