Analysis and Influence of Psycho

A film which we watched in our media class was Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' (1960), this film gave us great inspiration to when filming our thriller piece, especially the shower scene shown above. The influence it gave was to set the scene in a similar location and make the viewer feel intrigued about the killer and think why is he doing these acts.

'Psycho' (1960) shows Marian Crane who is the lead female character being murdered in the shower, however, the viewer does not see any form of violence such as the knife puncturing the flesh. The illusion is then created by incorporating screeching string instruments and short duration shots to make the sequence feel more subjective. As you can see from our thriller below, this was a major influence when shooting the flashback of the murder through the reflection of the mirror. However, unlike 'Psycho' we let the viewers see the killers identity because we wanted them to question the killers motives in why he was doing what he was doing.

Hitchcock also adds a suprising element by killing off a major character early though the film. A big twist is also added with the use of this, this is because the audience are already interested in Marian after she stole the forty thousand dollars. By achieving this, the audience get a sense of fear and therefore listen more intently, this also makes the reader think who will die next? This is also which we incorporated into our thriller by showing a early murder to set the scene promptly.