Film is a distinct form of art composed of a level of complexity made of many separate and interrelated elements that are carefully stitched together to form a story. Motion pictures are uniquely planned and created by a single individual and or a group of collaborators. Even though each film is created by a different group of people, viewers tend to expect certain things from a movie based on trailers or previous films either created by the same director or a different director. Based on a previously watched film, viewers know to have certain emotions in typical scenarios and situations – an aspect known as the priming effects model. This model features three general elements: (1) the knowledge to store (long-term memory), composed of a network
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Until the release of Psycho in 1960, acts and displays of violence in films and particularly murder acts were thought to be immoral and thus laid the basis for a self-regulation policy within the industry that physical reality of such actions would not be displayed on the big screen. The first surprising effect that Hitchcock created in his film was the brutal act of Janet Leigh’s character, Marion Crane, in the shower murder within the first 45 minutes of a 106-minute-long film – a shocking act for many viewers who presumed that Crane to be the main protagonist of the movie. The “knowledge to store” element of priming effects engrained into the heads of movie watchers that violent acts will not be part of films had not prepared for many viewers of the time for an act as brutal as the one portrayed in Psycho in which Leigh’s character was stabbed at least 7 times. In fact, the 1960 audience claimed that they had never witnessed anything like it before – many were shocked, horrified, and often repulsed to the extent of being angry with Hitchcock for the graphic nature of Marion’s murder (Kendrick, 2010, p. 7). Secondly, the aspect of Janet Leigh, a veteran actor, playing the role of Crane further enhanced the prime effect factor of the association of movie stars and glamour rather than the unexpected event of the violent act portrayed in Psycho. Hitchcock’s production brought viewers back into the reality that violent acts do happen in the real world and that just because they are being kept off the screen, it does not mean humanity can avoid such
Until the release of Psycho in 1960, acts and displays of violence in films and particularly murder acts were thought to be immoral and thus laid the basis for a self-regulation policy within the industry that physical reality of such actions would not be displayed on the big screen. The first surprising effect that Hitchcock created in his film was the brutal act of Janet Leigh’s character, Marion Crane, in the shower murder within the first 45 minutes of a 106-minute-long film – a shocking act for many viewers who presumed that Crane to be the main protagonist of the movie. The “knowledge to store” element of priming effects engrained into the heads of movie watchers that violent acts will not be part of films had not prepared for many viewers of the time for an act as brutal as the one portrayed in Psycho in which Leigh’s character was stabbed at least 7 times. In fact, the 1960 audience claimed that they had never witnessed anything like it before – many were shocked, horrified, and often repulsed to the extent of being angry with Hitchcock for the graphic nature of Marion’s murder (Kendrick, 2010, p. 7). Secondly, the aspect of Janet Leigh, a veteran actor, playing the role of Crane further enhanced the prime effect factor of the association of movie stars and glamour rather than the unexpected event of the violent act portrayed in Psycho. Hitchcock’s production brought viewers back into the reality that violent acts do happen in the real world and that just because they are being kept off the screen, it does not mean humanity can avoid such