Psycho Response

After watching the movie Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock I had a conversation with my friends about how interesting it was. They continued to tell me how it was a big movie of its time and that Hitchcock’s techniques helped take film to the next level. I decided to do little research on the movie and I learned a lot. Hitchcock’s film Psycho is very avant-garde. This type of work was something completely different from the norm in the “1960s” (Susman). The use of violence and sexuality was not accepted at the same level as it is now. This caused some controversy but it did not change the fact that it was one of Hitchcock’s best films and is looked highly upon by “scholars and Hollywood” (Susman). The movie helped set the bar for the films we know today. It changed what was accepted in film at that time.

Hitchcock’s use of montage is highly looked upon. The best example of montage in the movie is in the shower scene. In real life a murder would have been shorter and to the point but in the movie the scene is longer. Hitchcock uses montage in the same way Eisenstein uses it in his movie Battleship Potemkin in the “Odessa Steps” sequence. Hitchcock stretches out time to help evoke emotion. Hitchcock goes from showing the clip of the water, to the clip of the knife, and then to a close up of her hand. These effects of going from clip to clip help to make the moment intense. The music in the scene also helps to create that intensity. Similar to the way the music was used in the Rocky movie, it gets louder in stronger to pull you into the moment. Hitchcock also uses light and shadow to help make the moment during the shower scene more intense. “Hitchcock had a very low budget to work with but he used his techniques to help bring everything together” (Susman).

Personally, I enjoyed this movie. It is completely different from the mainstream movies we see today. The outcome of the movie is something that you would not expect. It was nice to see a movie that used simple techniques to create such nice effects. The montage techniques helped to connect the viewer to the intense emotions. Even though the technology level was not the same Hitchcock made up for it by using the montage effects. Overall this was a great movie and it helped pave the way from the films we know today.

Works Cited

Susman, Gary. "'Psycho' at 50: What We've Learned from Alfred Hitchcock's Horror Classic." AOL Moviefone.                                      Moviefone, 10 June 2010. Web. 31 Aug. 2013.