With reference to Hitchcocks "Psycho" (1960) and at least two other thrillers you have studied, as well as your wide research, discuss the Thriller genre, its forms and conventions.

Conventionally, Thrillers use all elements of film; mise en scene, framing, camera movement, sound etc to create a tense atmosphere that is manifested in audience reactions and emotions. The thriller genre is seen to be a specific adaptation of cinema that focuses on not only generating fear in the audience but also generating excitement, making audience predict future events. Its also common for a thriller to not offer a satisfactory happy ending to maintain audience tension and fear of a possible reality of the film. Often, characters that are portrayed in Thrillers are depicted as curious and often seek answers, its common that these characters often die during the story. The fear conveyed in the audience through thrillers is made due to the characters and how often these characters are just ordinary characters in extraordinary situations, creating a relationship between the audience and the film, increasing the fear of the possible reality of the situation depicted in thrillers. The Thriller genre can split off into sub genres. For example psychological Thrillers such as “Pyscho” and “Shutter Island” (Martin Scorsese) and Crime Thrillers such as “The Departed” (Martin Scorsese). These are the films I will be studying in the essay.

Hitchcock effectively creates a great thriller through the many conventions that he initially invented and that are still impacting audiences today, some of the conventions are character portrayal. The central characters that appear in “Pyscho” are deemed to be ordinary, creating a feeling of relation between the audience and the character. However the only difference is, is that these characters are in extraordinary situations as Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is seen to be stealing a large sum of money and is on the run. The sense of the characters being ordinary highlights to the audience that it could be “you and me” so to speak, elevating the fear of the possible reality of the situations portrayed in the film.

“Pyscho” is based on a true story written by Ed Gein that documents the life of an American Serial killer, propelling the fear of the audience, highlighting the great scripting of Joseph Stefano. The script for “Pyscho” manages to maintain fear as the audience is introduced to the character of Norman Bates. Stefano manages to quickly introduce the protagonist to the film – Marion Crane who is depicted as having made a decision to run off with a large sum of money. A common human decision therefore relating to audience and how their minds work in terms of temptation and imperfection, drawing the audience into the story. However we, as the audience, soon realize that Marion is a false protagonist, as she is murdered quite soon into the film. This demonstrates the genius of Alfred Hitchcock as “Pyscho” breaks all the conventional rules by killing off the main star of the film yet still manages to maintain interest and fear throughout. That’s what makes “Pyscho” a masterpiece.

Stefano discreetly refers to private traps due to his script writing, suggesting traps in life and a struggle to escape – shown through the character of Marion Crane who is clearly portrayed through her facial expression and body language to be tired of the life she lives and the interminable cycle she experiences every day, therefore leading to the eventual catalyst of the narrative – as her decision to steal the money eventually lead to her fatality. Its clear that Hitchcock understands the audience and knows that money and power drive their motivations and that this greed in life an cause a downfall.

Another convention to “Pyscho” and most good thrillers are the plot twists in the films. These plot twists are essential in a good thriller as they maintain audience interest through diverting from the inevitable and creating an unpredictable twist for the audience. They effectively bewilder the audience and create something that they lease expect, preventing the audience to attempt to foreshadow events of the film. Hitchcock does this well in creating a false protagonist, Marion Crane and generating a fake villain that turns out to be Norman Bates in disguise, creating surprise and twists in the story, maintaining the interest in the film from the audiences perspective. The drastic change in storyline keeps the audience in suspense even though the main character has died. Hitchcock draws the audience in due to their overwhelming intrigue as there are many unanswered questions (a key concept in thrillers) and they want to find out more.

Hitchcock effectively uses Mise en scene, framing, camera movement, sound and overall cinematography to generate the suspense and tension in “Pyscho” – this is vital in Thrillers. These aspects generate the “thrill” for the audience. We see Hitchcock focus on the eeriness of the dark house in which, the audience are lead to believe, Norman Bates and his mother live. The mysteriousness of Norman Bates situation and the house instantly generates alarm in the audience, creating fear and making the audience expect future events and predict what actually goes on in there. Similarly Hitchcock uses the unkempt Motel to link in with the house, the desertion and lack of activity in both buildings creates fear and anxiety.

Hitchcock builds the several different shots together in a sequence for an effect for example he slowly builds up the story about the policeman’s suspicion of Crane and how he follows her and finds her car etc, this is possibly a factor that leads to Marion Crane eventually changing her mind and intending to return the stolen money which would be morally correct, however she still dies, this raises questions in the audience “should she really die?”.  Hitchcock uses this to break the rules and raise the fear in the audience through the unexpected outcome of her death.

The scene in which we see Janet Leigh’s character brutally murdered is arguably the most famous scene to appear in a thriller yet the most perplexing as Hitchcock surprises the audience through the plot twist by killing off the main protagonist. This surprises the audience as previous to her murder the audience built a relationship with the pivotal character. Throughout the first half of the film we, as the audience, look through her eyes, listen to her personal thoughts and witness her actions and mistakes only to see her brutally murdered in a vulnerable, naked, defenseless state. Hitchcock subtlety presents the murder of Crane in a domestic surrounding therefore contradicting the view of safety and comfort of a shower. Similar adaptions of such scene have been created since as it clearly depicts the shear knowledge of filming and thrill Hitchcock possesses. However the perfection will undoubtedly never be repeated.

Hitchcock uses editing and sound as cinematic manipulation to create a carefully thought out horrific and iconic murder scene resulting in cinematic magic and perfection. Hitchcock uses a combination 78 shots in the short scene to contribute to the thrill and fear. He initially uses the editing in a slow pace. Using a very steady cut rhythm making the audience feel comfortable, as reflected by the high angle shots reflecting water dripping down from the shower to show the normality of the scene. He then uses continuous quick shots in succession combine to display the horrific murder in a frantic motion. The shots range from extreme close ups of Leigh’s unaware and supposedly relaxed state convey to the rising tension and eventual surprise of the murder. Before Janet Leigh’s character is murdered the audience witness the shadow of the figure nearing the shower curtain before they attack her thus building suspense and reinstating the unawareness of Marion Crane. Hitchcock uses extreme close ups of Marion’s hand and body to convey her defenselessness against the mystery attacker. He then uses a “Shot-reverse shot” when the camera repeatedly transfers from the woman to the murders point of view to emphasize not only the brutality of the murder but the fear and quick heart beats of the viewer. Hitchcock pans across the bath tub floor towards the plug causing the audience to focus on Marion’s downfall, then a fade transition is used of the plug whole that merges into Marion’s lifeless eye in a rotating motion. Followed by a track shot from her gaze to the bedroom directing the audience to the money therefore possibly suggesting that her downfall was deserved due to her greed. Hitchcock expresses the moral liability. All the editing of the scene can help portray the overall feeling and emotion of the scene. In this case fear, tension, inevitability and suspense.

The iconic shower scene is further intensified through the use of music and the mise en scene. As the audience we are convinced that Marion Crane is being stabbed and violently attacked in the shower yet we never witness the sight of the knife entering the woman’s flesh. Hitchcock cleverly uses the sound effects, editing and the music to convey this sense of stabbing, this timeless and violent scene is entirely left up to the imagination of the audience, again demonstrating the genius of Hitchcock and cinema. As Hitchcock realizes that imagination has no limits and is the best catalyst for horror and thrill. Therefore, even though Hitchcock has only exposed the audience to 45 seconds of non-Stop violence yet he didn’t show any on screen, the audience still envisages this horror in their mind. The blood in the scene is also highly effective for displaying horror. It is clearly darker and thicker, making it stand out, causing the audience to focus on the slow flowing of blood making the audience realize the brutality of the murder.

The music also contributes to the suspense of the scene as the musical score expresses the fear through the sharp strings of violin and cellos creating an intensity that leads to her inevitable death, thus creating a chilling disturbing atmosphere. This musical genius is now and still extremely iconic and recognizable and still has the same effect to that of when Hitchcock originally used it in 1960. The sound and music can evoke a reaction from the audience. Hitchcock simply uses the diegetic sound of the domestic surroundings such as the shower then slowly builds up sounds to suggest a potentially dangerous intruder through the use of footsteps, the pulling of the shower curtain and of course eventually the use of animalistic screams and shrieks to suggest the pain and ruthlessness. The music intensifies during the fast cuts of stabbing to emphasize the fear and madness of the situation. This breaks the suspense that had originally been created with the silence and slow paced editing.