OK – revisiting this because coronavirus, and what the hell else do I have to do? Not sure who wants/needs to read this, but I’m going to take a deep dive into my pick: Hitchcock’s PSYCHO. Obviously, spoilers ahead. (THREAD!) #filmschool
Lesson 1: HAVE A GREAT TITLE SEQUENCE AND SCORE. Check out those amazing visuals courtesy of Saul Bass, and the exciting, driving score from Bernard Herrmann. Both set the tone for what’s to come.
Lesson 2: MAKE YOUR OPENING SCENE COUNT. Hitchcock shows us our location and then delivers us to a hotel room where we immediately meet our protagonist (Marion Crane). Hitch doesn’t waste any time introducing us to her main problem...
...she wants to be with Sam, who lives in another state and has too many debts to marry her. All of this is revealed actively through conflict, as Marion tries to convince him that “respectability” is better than meeting in cheap hotel rooms.
Note the location of the scene: a sleazy hotel. Hotels and motels will (obviously) play a big role in this story, and Hitch introduces this element immediately. Also note Marion’s underwear: “good girl” white. He's telling us a lot with a little.
Lesson 3: MAKE YOUR INCIDENTAL CHARACTERS AS SPECIFIC AND ENTERTAINING AS POSSIBLE. Pat Hitchcock doesn’t play generic “Employee #1”. She’s Caroline, a woman whose self-absorption is hilarious. We all know people like this.
Similarly, the character of the rich oilman is a loose-lipped, horny lech. His creepy come-ons to Marion make the scene come alive, capped by Caroline’s (self-absorbed) comment that he must not have flirted with her because he saw her wedding ring.
See also: the cop with the mirrored glasses and the woman who's looking for a "humane" pest control solution right after the shower scene.
Lesson 4: IT’S A VISUAL MEDIUM, SO MAKE YOUR VISUALS COUNT. Notice Marion’s wardrobe as she decides to run off with the money: Bad Girl Black, a visual contrast to her Good Girl White earlier.
Also notice how the shower looms in the background. Foreshadowing one of the most famous scenes in movie history.
Lesson 5: VOICE-OVER IS A CRUTCH. I’m not sure the v/o was the best solution here… although maybe it was (see lesson 11). Is this Marion imagining what they're saying, or is this what's actually happening? It's unclear.
Lesson 6: CASTING MATTERS. Putting Janet Leigh, a star, in the role of Marion Crane immediately made her sympathetic—which is good, because, honestly? She’s a thief. But we like her and want her to succeed, even if we know she’s doing the wrong thing.
And casting Anthony Perkins as Norman? Genius. Watch this scene and see how sympathetic Norman is. You like him! This is a huge change from the novel, where Norman was a physically unattractive, middle-aged, mildy creepy slob.
Casting the boyish, handsome and charming Perkins makes the surprise twist even more shocking. Compare that to the Gus Van Sant remake. Vince Vaughn is a great actor, but he’s miscast as Norman. This guy is obviously a creep.
Lesson 7: This is the biggie: AN ENTIRE MOVIE CAN BE BUILT AROUND A FEW SET PIECES. The first 45-minutes of Psycho exists for the sole purpose of getting Marion into the shower. Everything drives us towards this moment...
...It is the hinge moment on which the rest of the story turns. It’s the scene we remember most… and everything else that happens is a direct result of this scene. Incidentally, this scene also reinforces lesson one: the score matters. A lot.
BTW, my pal Alexandre O. Philippe directed the definitive doc on this scene, 78/52: HITCHCOCK'S SHOWER SCENE. You should watch it: hulu.com/movie/7852-hit…
Lesson 8: DON’T SKIMP ON SHOWING THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR HINGE MOMENTS. Hitchcock could have cut away right after the murder, leaving us in shock. Instead, he ups the squirm factor by making Norman’s clean up every bit as compelling as the scene that preceded it...
I wish I could find a clip of this moment. But you know what? You should really watch the whole movie. It's on Starz right now: starz.com/us/en/movies/3…
Lesson 9: GOOSE THE MIDPOINT BY INTRODUCING A NEW CHARACTER… OR TWO. Now we meet Marion’s sister Lila. She’s been mentioned before, but here we are seeing her for the first time. Something new! A reason for the audience to sit up and pay attention again!
Lila replaces Marion’s function in the movie. She has a clear goal: Lila wants to find her sister. So even though Hitch broke a “rule” by killing off his protagonist, he wastes no time giving us someone else to root for. We want Lila (and Sam) to find out what happened to Marion.
But Hitch and writer Joseph Stafano also introduce ANOTHER character, Arbogast. He's a PI who: a) fills in some information for the audience, b) can plausibly track Marion, and c) is also a "red shirt." Someone else to kill off in our next set piece!
Remember how the first 45 minutes of the movie drove us towards the shower scene? Everything from the midpoint drives us to Arbogast’s death. And then the fallout from that scene drives us to the obligatory scene of the movie: Lila and Sam confront Norman at the Bates Motel.
As an aside, I love Anthony Perkins’ performance so much. How did he not win the Oscar? Check out his “OK” at the :12 mark. Is he calling their bullshit or what?
But once protagonist and antagonist are at the motel, the story rushes to its conclusion. Lila discovers the truth about Norman and Mother… and again, Hitch goes for maximum visual (and auditory) effect.
So that’s three key set pieces around which the whole movie turns: The Shower Scene, Arbogast’s death, and the discovery. Everything else is either lead up or fallout from those scenes. It's such a beautifully simple construction.
Lesson 10: A WEAK SCENE CAN BE SAVED BY A GREAT PERFORMANCE. The psychiatrist scene is often called too long and expository. True… but some kind of explanation was necessary, especially to a 1960s audience. And the performance here is captivating.
Lesson 11: END ON A GREAT FINAL IMAGE. That shot of Norman smiling, with the image of his mother’s skull superimposed? Brilliant. Was the shot of the car necessary? Maybe not. But it does remind us of how this whole thing began, closing the circle.
And now I’m re-thinking my comment earlier about the voice-over. Because it works so well here… and it doesn’t seem strange because we’ve already seen it. So... that weird thing in Act Two pays off in the final scene.
Lesson 12: GOOD STRUCTURE IS UNIVERSAL. Psycho moves through all five stages of story structure as outlined in the brilliant "Into the Woods" by @jyintothewoods. Everything until Marion steals the money is setup. Then we move into another stage as Marion is chased by the cop...
She’s left the status quo and is on a new adventure! Will she be caught? Keep watching!
Stage 3 starts as she enters the Belly of the Beast: arrival at the Bates Motel. The story tips into Nightmare with her death in the shower. Stage 4 begins with Arbogast investigating, and ends with his death. This is the “Worst Point”, and it happens at roughly the ¾ mark.
Act Five is everything after that, plus the brief denouement in the psychiatrist’s office. Again: simple elegant construction.
I'm sure you could analyze through the lens of any "guru", but I'm partial to the Elizabethan 5-Act structure for its simplicity. This is a great read: amazon.com/Into-Woods-Fiv…
And here's another lesson to make it a baker's dozen: YOU CAN SHOOT A GREAT FILM ON A TV BUDGET. Hitch made this whole film like it was an extended episode of his TV show. See also: Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan.
There are a million other things I could name. Watch the movie, study it, love it. BTW: many of these lessons can be applied to comics, novels, or any other form of storytelling. Stories are stories!
Here's the thread unrolled, for easy reading: threadreaderapp.com/thread/1240735…
