Analysis of opening sequences - Psycho

Analysis of thriller openings

Psycho  Alfred Hitchcock - 1960

Psycho is a classic thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock which follows the journey of Marion Crane, a secretary who has stolen 40 thousand dollars from her employer. Marion attempts to travel home and run away with her boyfriend but finds herself at the Bates motel for a night of rest during a heavy rainstorm when things take a sinister turn. 

The film opens with a fade up from black with a sans-serif white font creating a juxtaposition, the title states the composer of the music used in the film and is centred on the screen. This title is pushed off the screen using a transition that looks almost as if the text has been sliced and pushed out by grey bars. This transition foreshadows violence especially involving knives and a stabbing which is an iconic scene of the film. There is incidental music over the top of the titles which continue in this format for the title of the director, the music is extremley tense and builds in tempo and fluctuates slightly in the high pitch. The music has little percussion and utilises string instruments to create a screetching tone to give the film a surreal and gripping ambience. The music makes it obvious that the film is going to involve many conventions of thriller films and high levels of anxiety.

The music then fades as the black title screen dissolves into a longshot pan of an American city, the location of the film, as the dissolve takes place the music becomes calmer and remains focused on the strings to create tension and apprehension. The music is of an old hollywood style but consits of various pauses to create a jumping effect creating anxiety and tension even though the music is of a slow pace. The pan over the city allows the audience to see the modern city below suggesting those who live there are of good social status and have various luxuries. The next title seen is a white sans-serif font that states the city which the audience can see 'Phoenix, Arizona' the font stands out well on the black and white footage of the city ensuring the audience are aware of the importance of the location. The pan is layered with another pan shot of the city, this shot dissolves into the original creating what seems like a jump in footage that then continues to pan above the city to reveal the next title. 

The next title shows the date when the narrative takes place,' Friday December the eleventh' the title is still placed over a pan shot of the city in the same text style. Like before a layered simillar pan shot of the city is used the create an abstract jumping effect as the pan continues. The music remains the same relaxed hollywood style music that creates some tension, the pan begins to zoom on a certain building in the city scape. As the next title appears over the zoom, this title has the same format as the others and informs the audience of the time 'Two-forty three p.m. ' another superimposed dissolve is used this time as a close up on the building's window. The shot zooms into the low angle of the window illustrating the open window and blind before a straight edit of another zoom. The shot is an extreme close-up of the window and tracks into the window giving the effect that the camera has entered the window. 

As the camera enters the apartment building extremely lowkey lighting is evident as basic furniture is seen in frame. A pan is used to illustrate the room before two occupants are introduced. A midshot of the female protaganist laying on her bed and the male protaganist standing next to the bed shows the intamcy of their relationship. In terms of costume the couple appear to be ordinary young lovers, the woman wears silky lingery and has her hair styled in glamorous curls while the male appears to be half dressed wearing only suit trousers. The interior of the apartment is basic and suggests the couple do not have many luxuries in life. The shot only establishes the female's face but the only character to speak is the male. His dialogue is short as he adresses her 'You never did eat your lunch did you?' .

   

Following this a close-up cut away of the lunch the male is referring to is inserted before a straight cut illustrates the male in a mid shot. He is at the foreground of the shot without a shirt on which suggests to the audience the couple have just shared a moment of passion. The relationship is obviously significant to the narrative as the couple are their intamcy is established in the first scene of the film. This is a long shot which shows the female addressing her boyfriend 'I should get back to the office, these extended lunch hours give my boss excess asset.' this dialogue during a two shot suggests that the female protaganist has a negative relationship with her boss and has little care for her work. The shot then further explores the intamcy of the couple's relationship as the male kisses the female protaganist whilst he suggests that she tells her boss she's 'taking the afternoon off'.

The various camera work, editing and music makes it clear the thriller will be suspensful and consist of tension and crime whilst establishing the protagonists and their relationship which is key to the narrative.

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