Pyscho shower scene analysis

The scene started with a long shot of the protagonist entering the shower, this was used to orient the audience as to the protagonist dress which is a long flowing robe that you would expect one to wear to for bed, suggesting the time of the day to be around bedtime in the movie diegetic. The protagonist’s hairstyle is short and round giving the impression that the movie was shot during the 60s as hairs of these types were mostly popular with women of that era this is also backed up by the fact that the movie is in black and white.

Moreover the woman is young, perhaps in her late 20s, this combined with her blond hair highlights her feminity, reminding us of the fact that women of her stature tends to be venerable in thriller films. The background seen from the longshot of her in the bathroom illustrates her to be in her home/apartment bathroom giving the impression that she is alone and safe however this contrast with the very quiet with non-diegetic music that slowly builds up to eerie slow pace music which is perfect for building tension. The sound immediately builds a dramatic irony, and makes the audience worry for the innocent looking women going about her duty without the awareness of any danger.

The camera then cuts to a close up of the protagonist throwing something into the toilet and flushing it suggesting an enigma, and makes the audience wonder why they are being shown it, the close up is used on the toilet to show that the flushing is a crucial part of the scene. We also hear the synchronous sound of the flushing and the unknown item disappeared. We then see a close up of the protagonist walking into the showroom, this build tension and suspense as it is unusual to have a shot of a woman having a shower especially in the 60s. The way she goes about her business of preparing for her shower shows her obliviousness to any danger, this was emphasises by the asynchronous sound of her shutting the door firmly behind her, giving the impression that she was safe however this differs from the slow diegetic music playing which suggests some kind of danger, therefore building a sense of anticipation.

 The medium close up of the protagonist undressing would have caused controversy as any forms of nudity were heavily frowned upon in the 60s. As she enters the shower we hear the asynchronous sound of her taking out what one would believe to be soap, the slowing diegetic sound playing stopped and the synchronous sound of the shower replaced it. The director filmed the protagonist in the shower, naked, but the camera just cuts off her breasts, engaging the viewer in a sexual scene. Before she is brutally murdered, we get a medium shot of her showering.  It seems as if she’s enjoying her shower, so oblivious to the fact that she is just about to me killed. The sound of the shower diegetic also blocked out other sounds which may have contributed to the reason that she did not hear the murder.

 She thought she was the only one in the bathroom. The series of close shots of her showering suddenly stopped when the silhouette appears behind her, she has her back to it, this could be because the Hitchcock didn’t want the women to see the killer before he kills her, so then she is shocked when he kills her. (Dramatic irony). In many ways it is an inter-textual reference of horror films where we can only see the killer well enough to make out a few vague features, namely whether they are male or female. As the camera pans and zooms to the left to highlight the killers silhouette the diegetic sound of the shower reduces in volume, this creates almost a split second of silence until the killer pulls the curtain back with a sharp grasp, the sudden noise of this action effectively has the potential to make us jump. 

The pleonastic sound of the score synchronised with the sound of the shower cloth being violently pulled back, a close up shot of the protagonist’s mouth emphasis her fear and surprise as her scream is accentuated by the pleonastic sound of the score. During the murder, close and extreme close up shots are used to hide the actual knife penetration but to maximise the effect of the character writhing around. This was done to create suspense (dry horror) as opposed to disgust (wet horror ), however we still hear the asynchronous sound of the knife stabbing the woman. After the murder the character is left dazed and struggling for life, something she inevitably fails in doing. Her hand clutching the shower curtain is a connotation for her feeble attempt to cling on to her life, as she slides down the wall, the sound of the score synchronised with her sliding down, it shows her descending in to what can only be death and as soon as the curtain rings are pulled off we know she is dead, a rather brutally morbid end at, quite literally the hands of a psycho.

 The graphic match of her blood sipping into the sink and the camera zooming back from an extreme close shot of her eyes illustrates her life draining away. A point of view/tracking shot was done towards her bedroom inferring that someone was in the room, the fact that the camera hovers above the newspaper near her bed for a couple of seconds suggests immediately that it is a key prop in the plot. The camera then tracked to the window and outside in which we sees the cloud. The use of the clouds in this particular scene is also rather intriguing. We can interpret this as pathetic fallacy where the clouds are reflecting the mood of the film, one of darkness and evil. We associate clouds with taking away the sunlight; this is effectively what the killer is doing. He is taking away the life of another character only to leave the promise of rain and more misery. The last thing we hear is the asynchronous sound of a woman’s voice shouting, suggesting the dead body of the protagonist to have been found.