Janet Leigh in Psycho (1960) - Source
Hello there! Thanks for checking in.
You stumbled upon my consistency experiment. A daily blog that is slowly shapeshifting into a mix between a diary and a write up on movies and filmmaking. In case it interests you, feel free to sneak a peak at part 1,2,3,4 and 5 here. The fact that I'm writing today, means I made it to part 6. Six days of blogging in a row.
I hope that sharing the process of my search for consistency and my discoveries along the way, will benefit you one way or another. And if that isn't case, you might learn some other things (I tend to write a lot about film) or perhaps even enjoy the whole thing.
It's a rainy Thursday today, the 30th of November. We're close to winter. This morning, while taking a shower, I had to think about my blogging (about movies). My brain started connecting the two dots and soon Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho - its famous shower scene, to be precise - came to mind. So let's take that as a starting point for today's writing.
Those of you who have indeed seen this classic (1960) movie, will probably know that it is considered as one of the best horror movies/ thrillers ever. Besides that, it was also one of the very first Slasher films. Now I could easily write a post on slasher movies. If you like that particular horror subgenre, here's an earlier post I wrote on 80s horror films
For now, let's focus on the shower scene in Psycho. In case you haven't seen this movie gem yet, beware! the following might contain spoilers. I myself do not necessarily mind people telling me about a film that I haven't seen - I will experience and judge it for myself - but I know a lot of people do.
Psycho's Shower Scene
A year or two ago, when I was still employed and spend some of my days teaching film, I used to take this particular scene as an example. I would start out with a little introduction and then show my class the following clip, asking them to pay close attention. Here you go:
Afterwards, I would present them - in this case you - with the following question:
How many shots or cuts do you think this scene consists of?
I would explain them about shots too, as I wasn't teaching at a film school. They were just students interested in filmmaking or those who thought they could score (what they thought were) easy points. Now filmmaking isn't easy at all but I guess I was a kind, forgiving teacher. That's totally off-topic though.
After watching the shower scene, the students would guesstimate the amount of shots and their guesses were often way off. Probably because I didn't ask them - before watching - to count the shots. At times I did do that, and even then, most people found it extremely hard to get close to the exact amount. My point is, that it's tough to focus on a thing like counting shots when you're watching a scene. Especially when it's an intense one. The brain prefers to try and understand the plot/ story, to grasp what's going on.
Studying Film
Anyways, this is the kind of stuff/ practice I learnt, back in the days when I was studying film history and film analysis in University. I got used to focusing on certain aspects of a film: from the editing to its camera movement, from soundtrack to lighting, from acting to use of color and so on. It slowly turned into a skill or habit that was and is engraved in my mind. Trained like a little movie muscle. Through making movies and editing some of my own short films myself, I got used to focusing on these kind of details even more.
I guess I drifted off...
CUT BACK TO PSYCHO
So What's so great about this particular scene, especially the stabbing part? One of many noticeable things is, that there's no single shot where the knife actually cuts the skin. Nevertheless, the scene is extremely intense and creepy as hell. Especially on a first watch. It is scary, even after 57 years. You can imagine how audiences back then received the film. People weren't used to this kind of violence in movies at all. I will get back to that in a bit.
The intensity of the scene is an effect of - among other things - the shot selection, camera angle and -position, framing and editing. Not just the speed of the latter, but also the way that/ the order in which the scene is cut (pun intended).
And we're not even talking about the soundtrack and the fact that it's actually a black and white movie. It was black and white for a good reason - it wasn't that color movies didn't exist back then, Hitchcock had already directed several color features - but
"Hitchcock thought that filming in black and white would soften the shocking, gory nature of the images (he used chocolate syrup for blood), but despite that, newspapers in 1960 reported moviegoers fainting, vomiting and staggering out of theaters screaming after viewing the sequence, which occurs just 30 minutes into the film."
Source
I could go on and on about this scene, but I mainly felt like pointing out how powerful editing can be. The fact that I thought of this particular scene while showering, shows you how powerful it is. Or maybe it doesn't. I tend to think in film clips anyway. It's no lie though that it made taking a shower a whole different experience for a lot of people. Just as the movie JAWS, back in 1975, stopped a lot of people from swimming in the sea afterward. That was also mainly an effect of the sublime editing of that movie. The (robot) shark itself was a mechanical failure and is therefore hardly seen in the entire film. Therefore the editing became extra important. That is probably one of the reasons why it's as exciting a viewing as it is.
Alright, let's end today's post here.
As always, I'm curious to hear about your opinion. How do you like this scene and the movie Psycho? What is your view on the importantce of editing?
Possible Further reading:
http://www.methodsunsound.com/dissecting-the-psycho-shower-scene-hitchcocks-greatest-shock/
http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/interviews/psycho-shower-scene-alfred-hitchcock