SSC Film Studies

Psycho Cinematography and Mise-en-scene Analysis

The scene extract starts off with a low angle, wide shot of Norman Bates. The low angle shot shows that Norman has power and is intimidating. The wide shot is used to show all his stuffed birds in the background. Norman's head is also in place of a birds that is behind him, this makes him look demonic and powerful. The bird is also in an attack position which shows power. Norman is surround by death in this shot and is consumed by darkness - this is because of low-key lighting.

The next shot is a two shot of Marian and Norman together. There is a lot of space inbetween them which shows that they are strangers and unfamiliar with each other. We are also position closer to Marian and we are distanced from Norman, this is so we empathise with her since she is the innocent protagonist. Norman is sitting in the darkness which shows that he consumed by it, this also shows that he has a split personality. Norman also has a bird of pray next to him and Marian has small bird next to her, this shows that Norman is like a bird of pray and his next target is Marian who is a smaller bird.

The next shot is a mid shot of Marian. In this shot Marian is pushed to the left instead of in the center, this is to make it discomforting. She is also covering her body with her arms, this also because she is uncomfortable. When people are uncomfortable or trying to hide something they try to distance them selves by putting something inbetween them or by covering themselves. There is a light placed next to Marian but there is no light by Norman, this is to show that she is good and he is evil.

Next, when Marian is saying that Norman should put his mother in a "better place" the camera angle changes. It moves to the side of his body and is a low angle shot, music starts to play here. This is to show that Norman is now uncomfortable. He begins to get get more violent in his words and goes into detail about death and about an insane asylum.