Pscyho Essay- The representation of the villain or victim in Psycho.

        The representation of the villain or victim in Psycho.

We are first introduced to the representation of the villain or victim in the credits. As soon as they start the loud daunting non digetic music it creates a mood of danger with the loud and fast effect of the music. The editing in the credits goes nicely with the effect of the music because its sharp moving lines that come together then separate. This represents the victim’s death of the action of knives, and also portrays the villain’s split personality of how he is acting as him and then his mother.

In the beginning of the opening there is a panning aerial view shot of the town in black and white setting the era, the camera angle looks like it is searching for someone in the way that it moves. We are first introduced to the characters when the camera intrudes on a man and woman in a hotel room. It establishes where the film is set .Which could contrast later on in the film when Marianne goes missing. From the audiences point of view we get a sense that neither of them are married as they aren’t wearing rings and that the relationship between the two might be a fling, as their in a hotel room which could represent the sense of security of the two. The camera shot is another bird’s eye view, high angle shot above the couple which shows them close together showing the audience that they have a bond, so we know that there is a connection between these two characters. The girl is vulnerable as she is in her underwear with the man, and when the film was set this would normally never happen and would appear to people as a shock. Especially because she is with a man, who has more power than women in the terms of being in control.

When Marianne arrives at the hotel the hotel it’s raining heavily which could represent the blood that’s later to come in the film and the shower. The Bates motel sign is viewed from Marianne’s view point and isn’t in the middle of the screen which has an odd focus to it. There is then dialogue between her and Norman bates when she is greeted by him, he then takes her to the reception. This is tense and awkward, because he seems like he is too happy to see her. Whilst the dialogue happened the camera was cross cutting between person to person changing who the most focus was on in this scene which created a sense of disorientation as the viewer. He picks the key up with suspicion as he goes through from 5-1, like he is counting down the hours to when he is going to kill her and is emphasising the fact that she is alone, and goes down to room number 1 which is the closest room to him. As the audience we feel as if she again in a very vulnerable position as she’s all by herself with a strange, lonely man and this is when we feel like she’s represented as victim and he’s the villain. She signs the guest book with a sharp pen given by Norman bates which contrasts with the knife that is later on shown in the shower scene where Marianne dies. Hitchcock places us in the killers view point looking down on Marianne which shows the power between the relationships of these two strangers. In her room there are loads of dead stuffed birds, they are high up and look down on her as if she was prey which is what Hitchcock is trying to represent. The two birds also portray as if they are representing Marianne and Norman, when they exchange awkward dialogue the birds are in the middle of the two like that are trying to separate them it is also a mid shot of the two and you can’t see below the waist which represents being cut in half. Norman then proceeds to show her the room quite happily however until he shows her the bathroom and doesn’t switch on the light, this is juxtaposed by the light in the other room and darkness in the bathroom with his evilness and good side.

He then leaves her but not quite as he removes a painting from the wall connecting his room and hers together and watches her get undressed which is quite disturbing and perverted. This is when his weird personality starts showing and she is very vulnerable at this point as she’s being watched, also the birds are watching her too in the same way.

Murder scene

Whilst the murder scene starts off Marianne is getting undressed ready to take a shower, during this time the camera follows Norman going into his house he goes to go upstairs but then suddenly decided to stay downside. This is mysterious and strange as we don’t know why he has stayed downstairs. As she gets undressed the mood is very tense. When she’s getting into the shower the sound effects are very harsh of the sound of the pulling the curtain, this could link to her getting murdered and the hurt she will be in. The vulnerable feeling towards her is felt because she is naked in the shower alone, when the water falls on her the mis en scene creates the comfort of the warm shower so we forget whats going to happen to her. However we are now in the view point of the killer, suddenly there is movement coming from in front of her which is where the door is and then we see someone is coming in with a black like hooded figure comes in. The harsh sounds return with the loud dagger sounding digetic music which then flows with the knife coming into action. Then all of a sudden the loud sound of the curtain being pulled back happens this is when we feel like she is in very big danger, and then the villain stabs her continuously as she puts her hands out to try and protect herself with. After several stabs she falls forward grabbing onto the curtain until it rips off the rail, this could represent the steps up towards her life which suddenly gets taken away from her bit by bit.