Camera Angless In Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

Music and angles are a very key point in films of all kinds. This particular film Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock is a prime example of the importance of camera angles and movies. Director Hitchcock himself said that “33% of the effect of Psycho was due to the music.” That is just the music alone, add in the camera angles and it makes up the majority of the movies suspense! Psycho, is a horror film in which a man named Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) runs a motel, but suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder. He was sometimes his Mother and other times partially his mother and partially himself. Bate’s father was dead and eventually his mother found another man. This made Bate 's jealous. He ended up killing both his mother and the …show more content…
One angle that hitchcock used multiple times was the high angle. This angle caused what it was looking down on to appear small and vulnerable. An example of this was when detective Arbogast (Martin Balsam) entered into the house. “We see Arbogast coming up the stairs. And now we see, too, the door of the mother 's room, opening, carefully and slowly.As Arbogast reaches the landing, the door opens and the mother steps out, her hand raises high, the blade of an enormous knife flashing”(Citation/script). This causes Arbogast to look like prey. This foreshadows that he will be killed soon because the angle gives the impression of prey, then soon he becomes prey. Another angle used in this film was when it was zoomed in and focused on one person, mainly there face. An example of this was when Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) was driving. This was right after she had stolen the money and was driving away. The camera angle as she was driving focused on her face and her facial expressions.. You can see the guilt on her face so it helps you to understand how she feels, but this angle also adds tension. You cannot see what is going on around her all you can see is her. This causes you to wonder whats going to happen, but you can 't look around her because the view won’t let you. These angles were very key in making you feel uneasy and …show more content…
This factor was music. Just the music itself takes responsibility for 33% of the movies effects.In this film Hitcock used violin and other stringed instruments to create high pitched intense music. While watching the film you can feel the tension building up throughout the music. At the intense moments if you turn the volume down or off, then it takes off a large portion of the suspense out. The music Hitchcock chose causes your heart to beat fast and putting you on the edge of your seat. The music caused theses scenes to have a more eerie tone to them and adding uneasiness for the viewer. The music is like nails on a chalk board, making you feel uncomfortable. Throughout the whole entire movie they had music that had these effects, but there were two scenes in particular that had the most intense music. This was during the murders.During the murders then the music became much higher pitched and intense. The music didn’t start slow and build up but would come in very quickly and loud, startling you. It was similar to someone screaming. In the first murder, while Crane was in the shower, all you could hear was the water running, then all of a sudden the curtain flys open and the loud music comes in, overflowing the relaxing sound of the shower. The second murder scene was when Arbogast was walking up the stairs. From the camera angle and the creak of