Psycho Shower Scene Analysis

Analysis of ‘Psycho’ shower scene, exploring how film techniques are used to create effects

The pace at the beginning of the scene is very slow and drawn out. This is done with the use of shots that last a long length of time, possibly with either a hand-held camera or tracking. We see everything that the female character does, leading the audience to believe that something more must happen soon. It also shows how undisturbed the environment is, which is strongly contrasted a few minutes later when the killer arrives.

This slow pace also gives the audience time to become aware of the victim’s surroundings. We become familiar with the fact that the shower is very loud, meaning that she will not be able to hear the killer approaching, and others are unlikely to hear the murder at all. The fact that she is naked and the lighting is very bright conveys how exposed and defenceless she is. The bathroom is almost completely white, which could connote the innocence of the character, how pure she was and how she didn’t deserve to be killed. The white also emphasises the blood, showing the extent of the damage the murderer has done.

A high angled camera is used a few times, as if she is being looked down on from above. This creates an atmosphere of her being weak and vulnerable in comparison to the superior killer. This follows the convention of the thriller film as she is being portrayed as the stereotypical weak female victim. When the villain enters, the camera pans very slowly across the shower curtain where the viewer can see them slightly. As this is done very slowly it builds tension, as we are waiting for them to pull the curtain away. It could also be said that this is dramatic irony, as we can see that the victim is unaware of the killer’s presence, building tension further.

The scene is edited so that there is a cutaway to a cloudy sky very briefly. This is pathetic fallacy, as the weather has connotations of doom and commotion. It also shows what is happening outside, how the world is unaware of what is happening at the hotel, and perhaps that the loud weather is preventing people from hearing the struggle. The editing during the murder is very fast pace, contrasting to the slow pace before and after, which highlights the chaos of the murder and shows how quickly it occurred. In this section the iconic high-pitched string instrument soundtrack is playing and each of the jabs of the music is the same length the shots. This allows the audience to feel the panic and disorientation of the victim, inspiring sympathy for her. The non-diegetic music turns to a very low bass tone after the murder, which could be said to parallel her heartbeats slowly fading away.

For this shot, the camera has a staggered zoom towards the woman’s mouth. This shows how rough and difficult the whole event is. It is also very uneasy and disorientating, as the audience will not feel comfortable getting close this close to the action. This also highlights that the woman is screaming, giving a fearful and chilling feeling.

This shot is an extreme close up into the plughole of the shower. The plughole is slightly off-centre which could reflect the frenzy and chaos of the whole scene. In this section you can also hear the diegetic sound of the water and blood glugging down the plughole, which can represent her life dwindling away. This is edited so that there is a graphic match between this and the next shot which is an extreme close up of an eye. The pupil of her has got smaller from a previous shot, showing that she is now dead. The graphic means that the shot of the eye and the shot of the plughole share the same idea of her life draining away.

This is another high angle shot which shows the defencelessness and vulnerability of the victim, as we are looking down on her as she is being stabbed. We can also notice how the setting is almost completely white, while there is some red nail varnish on the woman’s fingernails and a red flower pattern on the killer’s clothes. This is done intentionally to have particular connotations: possibly death, blood and anger.