Psycho shower scene

How has camerawork, editing, sound and mise-en-scene been used in ‘Psycho’ shower scene to build tension?

The camerawork used in this image of ‘Psycho’ has created tension is due to the mid shot it uses of the killer. This shot is masking the killers face by the use of the shower water. This creates mystery and tension as the audience cannot see who this killer is and it remains a mystery through the whole scene. We can see the killers face is shadowed out hiding the truth of who it is. The lighting is lighting the background showing that it is a typical household bathroom. This creates an effect of mystery and innocence as both dark and light shades clash between each other in the shot. The light could reflect innocence of the victim as the centre of the image is dark showing overpowering of the light as the killer overpowers the victim. The shot is a 1^st person view so the audience can see what the victim sees before the murder giving a sense of realism. This gives the effect of tension as this could happen to the audience too and the killer is close up to them and the audience feel trapped in the victims shoes.

The sound of this shot is the running water. This is used so it masks the sound of the approaching killer from the victim and the audience as a diegetic sound. The use of the violin soundtrack is used quick and sharp connoting with the killers knife as the audience sees the weapon first time. The soundtrack is non-diegetic showing confusion and builds a lot of tension to the audience.

The main prop in this scene is the knife. The knife is the main focus of the shot as it shows danger and death and is a warning towards the victim and audience. The knife is pointed towards the victim showing that she can’t escape and is trapped. The knife creates tension because an everyday item can easily take away a life just like this scene causing fear and danger to the audience.  
The gender of the killer is shown to be a woman's outline as we see typical woman features such as long hair and looks fragile too but the audience aren't entirely sure which creates confusion as the killer is still hidden by the lighting effects.  

 

 In this screenshot of ‘Psycho’ we can see the victim’s eye in an extreme close up. This was used as it clearly shows the audience the victims fear and confusion shown in her eye.  This is the only part in the scene that the audience can focus on. During this the eye is spinning after the victim is killed. This can show confusion as the camera spirals around. The eye links to the use of the bathplug as the water and blood drain away so the spiralling movement of the camera can represent the draining of the victim’s life as she slowly dies. This creates tension because of the confusion created and how the victim links to an everyday person who's life can be taken very easily.

There are no sounds during this shot, this means that the complete silence shows that the victim has died and she cannot make any sounds to call for help and there is nothing left for her and the tension has gone as the killing took place and she is left alone. The shower noise has gone because there is no need to mask the sounds of the victim’s pleas and stabbing and it is a diegetic sound adding to the realism of the killing as if it was a background soundtrack.

There is no mise-en-scene used in this as it only wants the audience to focus on the victim’s eye and not get distracted by the background of this shot.

 

In this screenshot we can see the victim's legs covered in blood in a close up shot. The camera focuses on the legs to show how she is becoming weak and slowly falling over. It creates tension as the blood drips t the floor down her legs creating the effect of the running water but using blood instead, the colour red shows tension due to the fact that it's the sign for death in horror films. This links in with the victim as she is portrayed as the distressed lady who needs help and is physically weak. We don’t see the rest of the victim’s upper half as we know that she is getting stabbed as we see the blood falling into the shower creating tension as we don’t fully know what she is doing to defend herself.

The sound used in this shot is the shower water as it is masking out the sounds of the knife stabbing the victim and her screams for help leading to her weakness as she cannot do anything to stop it. Also there are the quick, sharp sounds of the violins. This can lead to high tension as the violin represents the stabbing of the knife which also masks the knife stabbing the victim. The violins could also represent a heartbeat as the heartbeat is short and quick and it get louder as the victim gets into more danger and tension rises dramatically.

The mise-en-scene used in the shot is the victims’ blood and the shower water. This creates tension because the blood and water mix together as water represents pureness and innocence while the blood can represent danger. When they mix the blood seems to be more of the focus as the innocence is washed away.