1. Analysis of Psycho
Psycho is a classic thriller released in the 1960’s. It is one of the first
and classed as best thrillers of all time (according to the Internet Movie
Database) and the 109 minute-long film is filmed entirely in black and
white.
The first five minutes of the film begins with continuous title sequences.
These are an editing technique and are separated from the actual
footage of the film. The colours used are simple blacks, whites and
greys, this is mainly due to the film being old but also makes the film
look more scary as the colour black is a connotation of horror – black
links to death. The text is accompanied by a sound motif of the famous
psycho music.
After roughly two minutes the film begins. We are shown an establishing
shot of a city (which is a subversion of the stereotypical horror setting),
with a pan movement showing more of the location. The high-pitched
music from the sound music is still playing but slowly fading out and
descending. The camera zooms in further to a specific building using
transitions and text edited on screen to inform the reader of the place,
date and time of the story. Again, the sound motif is still playing through
this.
The camera then shows inside the room through the window. We see a
basic hotel room, and a pan movement reveals a woman in bed with a
man stood up getting dressed. The woman is still half in her underwear
which tells a lot about her character and could suggest these two
characters are a couple. The sound motif finally fades out and is
replaced by diegetic dialect when he says “You never did eat your lunch
did you” (a cutaway to a plate of food on the side is used here).
Although this isn’t a normal starting to a horror film it shows how the
story develops and shows it isn’t a modern stereotypical horror film. A
two shot of the two characters kissing and talking reveals more of their
conversation. This is all filmed using a continuity edit as there are no
cuts.
A match on action edit is then used when the woman character gets up
quickly off of the bed. She starts to get ready and their conversation
continues into synchronously talking about when they will next see each
other. The woman puts on a smart blouse while the male character is
sat down in the background. The high pitched sound motif then kicks in
again when a part of their conversation focuses on…