Textual analysis (psycho shower scene)

The Sequence starts with a medium shot of a woman with something in her hands this is denoted by the way her fingers appear. The score is introduced it sounds gloomy and dark.  She then flushes whatever was in  her hand down the toilet and we get a medium close up of it going down, this starts to create tension as this enigma has us questioning what did she flush down the loo was it just paper? Or was it some evidence of some kind?

She then closes the door and we get the non-diegetic sound of the door closing to reinforce this, so a barrier is now shut and she thinks she’ll be alone. The score stops and she then takes off her gown and we get a medium close up of her head, back, and legs. This tells us that she’s young and her blonde hair highlights femininity. Makeup is used to make her look beautiful, and this immediately starts to connote how vulnerable she is. The fact she’s in a bathroom fuels our expectations that something is going to happen.

When she gets into the bath immediately the shower curtain is drawn and the shower is turned on, we get a close up of the shower head this shows us how important the shower is in this sequence. Whilst she’s in the shower we see  a couple of medium close ups of her from different angles, and then a medium close up of the shower head again; this along with long editing is used to build up tension and signify the importance of the shower in  this sequence.

Next we see an example in mise-en-scene of three point lighting as lighting is used to show what is happening behind the shower curtains through shadows. The door is clearly opened and someone else is in the bathroom, the lightening is used to create a shadow of the antagonist. This is great use of dramatic irony as we feel tense and is also an action code as we know something is about to pop off. Her body language connotes that she has no idea of what is happening. The synchronous sound of the shower in this sequence is very important as it connotes that the diegetic sound of the door opening is not heard by the woman in the shower.

As the antagonist walks up to the woman in the shower we get a medium shot and the shower curtain is drawn back. We are then greeted by the sharp screeching of violins used as pleonastic sound to enhance the action of the woman being repeatedly stabbed. When the woman is being stabbed we hear synchronous sounds of her screaming and the knife piercing into her skin. The use of fast editing is vital at this part of the sequence as quick, close up cuts are used to show the action from a point of view of the antagonist and close ups of the knife.

After the attack the camera cuts to a medium shot of the doorway and we clearly see what looks like an old woman leaving the crime scene with the knife in her hand. The old woman is denoted by the way the hair is tied up and this connotes that it was Norman’s mother that committed the murder. This is in fact a red herring which leaves the audience thinking that they’ve sussed the plot.

Close-ups of the hand are used to show the hand sliding down the tiles, connoting to us that the woman who was attacked is losing her battle to stay upright. The score changes to a slower tempo to emphasize her life draining away. The camera tilts downwards to show that she continues to slide down the tiles. We get a final close up of her hand clinching the shower curtain in her last ditch struggle to stay upright and thus alive. The score then fades and she falls out of the bath as the shower curtain can’t support her weight. We then get a tracking shot of the water going down the drain as her blood is washed away. The shot stops as we get to the drain and the camera slowly zooms in to an extreme long shot of the drain until a point where there is a graphic match with one of her eyes. The camera then zooms out slowly so we can see her face on the floor and her neck hanging out of the bath; this long cut and the series of long edits are used to slow down the pace so that the audience can absorb everything that just happened.

We now know that she is dead denoted by her stillness. The camera then pans to another room and the newspaper article is zoomed into showing that it is a key prop to her murder and maybe an enigma code later on in the film. The asynchronous sound of the shower can still be heard this is an example of a sound bridge as we now assume a link with her and the newspaper article.  The sequence ends with a long shot of half a house, the sky looks rather grey so we presume this attack either took place early in the morning or late in the evening. The sequence ends with the non-diegetic shout “mother, oh god mother” this connotes that the woman’s body has been found in the bathroom.