LMU Homework - Psycho - 4 of 15

Alfred Hitchcock. Master of suspense. The thriller.
I loved Psycho (although I could have done without the know-it-all psychiatrist at the end.) Anthony Perkins was awesome for the part and his acting was perfect... best I've seen for an old movie. Great twist (too bad I learned the entire story before seeing the movie, but my sister didn't know so it was fun watching her keep guessing). You think the story is about this girl's romance and lapse of judgment but no its about Mr. Bates and his mother. The very end was awesome... Anthony's creepiness was so great! :-)

Themes:
1. Madness, and how it effects people.
2. Traps, being in them
3. Mothers, their omnipresence
(there are many more... but these ones stood out)

Interesting thing about old shot-on-film movies is that they often have long continuous shots, many times starting from a full shot of the conversation and moving into a medium close up of one of the characters, or following them about the room at a steady full shot.

I think the most interesting thing I learned though was how Alfred directs... because he has storyboarded every shot and how his camera moves... basically what he tells the actors is that when my camera moves, you move, what you bring to the character and what gets you to the next mark is up to you. If you need help, I'll be there. Janet Leigh said often actors said this hindered them but she felt it was a nice challenge for her to find the motivation to move when he wanted her to.

Fun Facts:
1. The blood in the shower scene was Chocolate Syrup
2. There were 70 setups for the shower scene which took a total of 7 days to shoot.
3. First time a toilet was ever seen in a movie
4. The censorship department had a cow over the word "transvestite".