Alfred Hitchcock
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Alfred Hitchcock was a film director who was steeped in the two major traditions of the motion picture, the fluid camera of F.W. Murnau and the editing techniques of the Russians like Eisenstein and Pudovkin. In Psycho, both traditions are evident and are used masterfully by the director to create suspense, to convey information without words, to illuminate character, and to develop the pace of the film. Hitchcock uses the fluid camera in different ways depending on the context. Camera movement during the first portion of the film creates an ambience around the main character, Marion Crane, as she travels away from the city. Much of this journey is shown with the camera looking at her through the front window of her car, and the movement is implied by the roadway disappearing behind the car. The music in this section is also fluid, ominous yet flowing as the character moves away from the scene of her crime. Once the fluid camera is established, it is used in conjunction with tight editing in sequences such as the one in which the detective hired by Marion's sister searches the Bates house, leading to the second murder. A close analysis of this scene shows how the two traditions--a fluid camera and montage--are melded by Hitchcock for the best effect. Hitchcock uses the fluid camera as a suspense device, for it glides through rooms slowly, showing every detail while always implying that something is about to happen. The film as a whole moves from the beginning, using
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otel with the house behind it. We see Norman Bates leave the office and go to the far end of the motel. In the larger context of the film, this is a moment of misdirection--we see Norman go to the far end of the motel, far from the house, so we assume that lets him out of all that follows. If we watch the film knowing how it ends, though, we can see that halfway down the row of rooms, Norman stops and listens--does he hear the car approaching? Is that why he moves to the far end, leaving the route free for the detective as he makes his way secretly back to the house?
Suspense is created as the detective goes into the office and searches, and the sequence of shots as he enters the motel is important in the total sequence because the cross-cutting between the detective and what he sees in the office is repeated when he reaches the house--again Hitchcock will cross-cut between the detective and a series of images the detective is taking in as he looks around the room. The search of the office is languid, with the detective moving slowly through the scene, stopping as he is confronted by one stuffed bird or another and by the empty safe. Hitchcock has the detective here doing what a detective does--he detects by observing, exami
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Approximate Word count = 1681
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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