Psycho remake analysis

Psycho Remake Analysis

At the beginning of the scene where she is starting her shower, the shots are slow paced and drawn out which is used to settle us within the scene however it also has the opposite effect of unsettling us as the shots pace tells us that the scene can’t just be us watching the woman have a shower, therefore is used to build up tension. Also most of the cuts at the beginning are straight cuts, so again are used to settle us because the cuts are so normal. There is no music at the beginning, just diegetic sounds such as the shower curtain and shower, and the ambient sound of the shower which we become accustomed to even though its loud, but we still know its drowning out sounds of the potential killer which builds up tension as we are hearing it from her perspective and don’t know exactly when the killer will strike. All these techniques work well because they are used to settle us but us becoming accustomed to what’s going on builds up tension where we know something is supposed to happen, but we don’t know when.

As the scene goes on the shots start to become faster paced and more straight cuts are used, it also cross cuts a lot between her washing herself and low angle shots of the shower head which would be her perspective. This is used to build up more tension and suspense but happens gradually over the course of the scene so that we don’t notice it happening.  Because we don’t notice it happening, the murder comes upon us unexpectedly, which tries to make us jump.

To introduce the killer the is a close up of the woman with her back to the curtain, and it slowly pans towards a shape forming behind it, then the shot is held onto the figure for a few seconds, to build suspense before he dramatically draws back the curtain in a low angle mid shot, used to show how intimidating he’s supposed to be and emphasise the knife, making us feel small like the woman feels. They used a semi-translucent curtain so that the figure of the killer is not at all clear so we are left in mystery to what it is so that the surprise of the killer is even more surprising, when the scene reaches its climax.

As soon as the killer is introduced the pace of the shots and cuts are sped up dramatically, and cross cut between the low angled shots of the killer and high angled shots of the woman, in order for us to see things from her perspective and empathise, where we feel weak and defenceless against the silhouetted murderer, therefore we become more emotionally invested in the film later on and are likely to continue watching. The iconic non-diegetic theme music of the film begins just after the first stab which is supposed to set the audience on edge with the high pitched, sychronous violins, which are out of tune and overall reflect the sounds we hate to hear. They add to the violence of the murder with the musics volume. In the murder scene there is so much cross cutting that you never see much of one shot so it's still horrifying even tho you don't see much of the stabbing, it doesn't need to be that gory to thrill the audience. Also throughout that scene there are a few cut always of a storm which is pathetic fallacy of the murder, and shows the audience just how violent it is. 

When the killer leaves, there is a tracking shot of her sliding down the wall, then pulling the curtain down, then we are given a birds eye view of her falling forwards ours of the shower, which is very graphic. These are used in a slow fashion to reflect how slowly she is dying and how painful it must be, we are meant to emphathise with her. Then there is a tracking shot of the water going down the plug hole, which is used as a graphic match with the next shot, which is a shot that dissolves in of her eye. This is meant to symbolise as her blood goes down the drain, the life drains from her, and the extreme close up of her eye is meant to shock the audience. 

The mise-en-scene is quite important in this scene. The shower and bathroom are all white which is meant to contrast with all the blood and the killer, but also the violence in the scene since white is seen as quite pure and innocent. Also with how she is naked it shows how vulnerable she is, and we feel vulnerable as well seeing everything from her perspective. Also we see her nails as they are pressed against the wall, which are red; this is supposed to connote danger within the acne and reflect the blood. 

Overall all the techniques used are meant to make us see things from the woman's perspective and empathise with her, so that we feel weak and vulnerable like she does, it's also trying to make the murder as violent and shocking as possible in order to thrill us. I think they were reasonably successful in this.