Psycho (1960)

Psycho is a 1960 American horror/thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch.

The film depicts the encounter between a secretary, Marion Crane, hiding at a secluded motel after embezzling money from her employer, and the motel's disturbed owner and manager, Norman Bates, and the aftermath of their encounter.

Marion Crane is a secretary from Phoenix fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks and they cannot get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in alimony. One Friday Marion is trusted to bank $40,000 by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam's California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into The Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman who seems to be dominated by his mother.

Psycho initially received mixed reviews, but outstanding box office returns prompted a re-review which was overwhelmingly positive and led to four Academy Award nominations. Psycho is now considered one of Hitchcock's best films and is highly praised as a work of cinematic art by international critics. The film spawned two sequels, a prequel, a remake, and a television movie spin-off. In 1992, the film was selected to be preserved by The Library of Congress at The National Film Registry.

Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. His nicknames were ‘Hitch’ and ‘The Master of Suspense’.

Over a career spanning more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned for himself a distinctive and recognisable directorial style. He pioneered the use of a camera made to move in a way that mimics a person's gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism. He framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing.

He began his filmmaking career in 1919 illustrating title cards for silent films at Paramount's Famous Players-Lasky studio in London. There he learned scripting, editing and art direction, and rose to assistant director in 1922. That year he directed an unfinished film, No. 13 or Mrs. Peabody. His first completed film as director was The Pleasure Garden (1925), an Anglo-German production filmed in Munich. This experience, plus a stint at Germany’s UFA studios as an assistant director, helps account for the Expressionistic character of his films, both in their visual schemes and thematic concerns. The Lodger (1926), his breakthrough film, was a prototypical example of the classic Hitchcock plot: an innocent protagonist is falsely accused of a crime and becomes involved in a web of intrigue.

The Grudge Analysis- Daryls Presentation

The Grudge was made in 2004 and was directed by Takashi Shimizu. It is about an American nurse living and working in Tokyo who is exposed to a mysterious supernatural curse, one that locks a person in a powerful rage before claiming their life and spreading to another victim.

In the opening scene the house is overgrown with unwanted plants and weeds, this could be to represent the house being overfilled with life, because the grudge is living in this house. It also shows that the house hasn't had much caring and the person there is either unable or doesn't care.

There is a camera shot of the nurse coming down the stairs when she is exploring the house. It is a low angle shot which would usually make the subject seem intimidating but knowing that she is scared doesn't make her feel intimidating. Also in this shot as she walks down the stairs she is walking toward the camera, like she is walking toward the people watching, so we can feel the vulnerable state she is in. Finally in this shot the stairway is very narrow and as she walks down she blocks out the light from the window behind her. The fact that she blocks the light out herself could represent that she is taking herself into danger.

Discuss ways in which Terminator 2 constructs representation of gender using Camera Angles and Mise-en-scene

Terminator 2 was released in 1991 and was directed by James Cameron. It subverts the traditional conventions of the thriller or action genre, by having Sara Connor as the strong and heroine-like main character. It does this in a number of ways.
We first see Sarah Conner in her prison cell doing pull ups, we do not see her face straight away but a close up of her arm. We can immediately get a good idea of what her character is going to be like. It suggest she will strong and powerful, also your can hear that she is struggling or trying hard this could suggest she is gutsy and determined. In this shot the light from the window is shining directly on her arm, this could perhaps be to make it stand out more or to empathise how strong she actually is. The camera then jumps to long shot so we can see all of Sarah Connor and her cell. She has pushed her bed on its side so she can use it to exercise, this is another example of her strength and it could possibly suggest her intelligence, by being able to adapt to her cell. The camera then cuts to a close up of her face, however it is still difficult to see her face because the camera remains still and she continues to do pull ups. This could be another demonstration of her determination.
The light from the window in this scene is always shining directly on Sarah Connor, from all the camera angles. This could represent a number of things, firstly, that it is telling us who the main character is and how important she is. Also you often cooperate light shining on somebody with heaven and God as it is a bit like a halo. This could be a way of Cameron reinforcing the idea that she is very important.
Another way in which we can tell that Sarah Connor is not the ordinary women is this scene is by her clothes. When the camera cuts to a long shot of the whole room we can see she is wearing baggy trousers and a rest. Although in the film she would have to wear this, it has been chosen carefully. The fact that she is wearing a vest meant that we could see her arms and her muscles in the first shot. Also vests, particularly the style Sarah Connor is wearing, are more often seen on men in films, this could be a way of Cameron showing the audience that in this film Sarah Conner is the main action hero.
A scene that contradicts what this first scene represents comes not long after it. Whilst Sarah Connor is escaping she runs into The Terminator and her son. At first however she doesn’t see her son, John Connor, and is very scared of The Terminator. This is because in the previous film Arnold Schwarzenegger’s terminator was sent to try and kill her, however in this film he is trying to protect John Connor, at this point she does not know that though.
As Sarah Connor is running up the hallway, towards the elevator, The Terminator comes out from inside the elevator, it is a long shot so it is easier for the audience to see what is happening. At this point the camera goes into slow motion and the background noises become blurred and also slower. This could be symbolising how Sarah feels at this point, shocked, scared and surprised. The camera very briefly cuts to a close up of Sarah so we can also see this emotion in her face. Then it cuts back to The Terminator, however this time it is a close up of his face, properly reveals the identity of him as in the first shot it is not entirely clear. The camera is still in slow motion and cuts back to Sarah Conner where we see her sink to the floor. The editing of this scene cutting to and from each character very quickly contrasts with the slow motion of the camera. We then get a point of view shot from Sarah Connor and because she is on the floor it is a low angle shot of The Terminator. This shows him to be very powerful and authoritative especially as the next shot of Sarah Connor is a high angle shot. This makes her look vulnerable, which is the opposite from the first time we see her, as she is the one that is made to look powerful. This shows that she is not the only hero-like character in the film.
Towards the end of the film, when the T-1000 terminator believes he has defeated Arnold Schwarzenegger’s terminator, and he goes after Sarah and John Connor there is high angle shot of the T-1000 terminator. This would often display weakness and vulnerability, however in this shot it doesn’t. Sarah Connor and John Connor are at the top of the staircase looking down on him, but from his body language and the reaction of Sarah Connor we can tell he is the one with the power. This is very unusual and different to what this camera angle normally represents.
In the final scene where we see Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator die, the authority which, except from the early scenes, has been equal between Sarah Connor and The Terminator, is returned to Sarah Connor. First we see a close up of a hand shake between the two of them to show that they are equal. This could be a way of Cameron showing that it doesn’t always have to be the male with power, and this is shown in a number of ways throughout the film. After this The Terminator gets a Hero’s death in comparison with the other Terminator as he is slowly lowered down into the lava. There is a high angle shot of him to show he can no longer do anything, even though he is dying at his own will. The shot of Sarah Connor and John Connor here is a low angle one, this shows she is still strong and powerful, and in John Connor’s case he now has more power than The Terminator for the first time because he is about to die.
Throughout the film Sarah Connor, the female hero in the film, is represented to be on a par with The Terminator or if not more powerful. This is unusual because in most other thriller and action movies there is a dominant male character. I think Cameron does this to use it as a unique twist to the film and makes it different to other action or thriller films.

We had to complete this essay to familiarise ourselves with analysing the mise-en-scene, camera angles, sound and editing.

I worked in a group with Dom Simmons, Ben Bowen and George Jackson to analyse the camera shots, mise en scene, editing and sound in the horror/thriller film The Silence of the Lambs.

Silence of the Lambs
· The silence of the lambs was the first horror movie to win an academy award for the best picture.
· Also has the distinction of being only the third movie in history to win the five major Oscars.
· It is an adaptation of Thomas Harris’s bestselling novel.
· The film was a deserved winner featuring superb performances from Jodie Foster who played the main role of Claurice Staling a young FBI agent, and Anthony Hopkins who plays the role of Hannibal Lector.
· It was directed by Jonathan Demme, previously best known for comedy but also had directed a few gore films.

Summary
· Claurice Staling is asked by her commander at the FBI, Jack Crawford, to visit the notorious serial killer Hannibal ‘the cannibal’ Lector a former psychiatrist held in a high security asylum/prison, who may have an insight into the case of a murderer named Buffalo Bill.
· The witty cultured Hannibal is too clever to give up such valuable information easily.
· He draws Claurice into an uneasy disturbing relationship in which he demands insight into her childhood in exchange for information on the case.
· They move Hannibal to a better facility but once there he manages a thrilling and physiological escape which involves the death of policemen and medics.
· Claurice eventually manages to discover the whereabouts of Buffalo Bill and resorts to killing him her and the lives of the girl and possible other girls.
· At the end Claurice is awarded with her full FBI status and gets a phone call from Hannibal telling her congratulations and that he won’t harm her but doesn’t plan to stop killing others.
· It is left with the camera panning out on Hannibal in a foreign country following a man who has done him wrong.

Camera Movements

Panning- When a camera is moved from side to side, this is known as panning. Here the lens scans the scene to provide the viewer with elements of a scene that can not be included in a wide angle shot. It can follow a moving object. Panning should be smooth. Adjusting the tension and and drag on your tripod head will insure a smooth pan

Tilt- The movemnet of the camera head up or down is called tilting. Tilting the camea up can show height and tilting it down can show depth. It can also show relationships, for example, the tilt of the camera from a man standing on a rocky ledge with a coiled rope on his shoulder to a man standing alone at the base of the cliff presents the situation.
Tilts can also generate emotional responses, tilting the camera upwards can cause feelings if rising interest, expectation, hope or anticipation. Tilting downward can lower interest and create feelings of disappointment or sadness.

Tracking Shot- A shot in which the camera is pushed horizontally along the ground on a dolly.

Dolly- Refers to a type of shot achieved when a camera rises above the ground on a mobile support.

Crane- A shot in which the camera rises above the ground on a mobile support.

Steadicam- Mechanism for steadying a hand-held camera, consisting of a shock-absorbing arm to which the camera is attached and a harness worn by the operator.

Hand-Held- When a person holds the camera in their hand whilst shooting.

Zoom- A single shot which moves towards a particular subject.

Reverse Zoom- A single shot which moves away from a particular subject.