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One could argue that the whole idea of a thriller or horror film is to scare or make the viewer anxious. The whole point is to frighten the audience! Without good suspense, many of our all time favorite horror movies would be unknown. Suspense is the key to this unique genre of filmmaking. Alfred Hitchcock uses drawn-out scenes, dark settings, and unsettling music to create suspense in the movie Psycho. Long, uneventful scenes really help convince the viewer that something exciting or scary is going to happen soon. Usually they’re right, but good directors will have many scenes like this so that when something really does happen, we’re not ready for it at all. In Psycho, right after Marion steals all the money from the bank and is on the run, there are super long scenes where she’s driving, driving, driving with suspenseful music playing. She’s then pulled over by a cop, and eventually let go after a questionably suspicious conversation with the cop. Marion then goes on to buy a used car, and we see the same cop parked across the street watching her. These drawn out scenes build suspense because we feel like the cop is on to her. We feel like soon that the cop will confront her or arrest her because he knows what she’s up to, but it never happens. It’s like putting a gun up to someone’s head and keeping it there, only to never pull the trigger. Dark scenes also really help set the mood in an eerie scene. Stereotypically, we were all afraid of the dark at some point in our lives. We can’t see much, and we have no idea what is lurking in the shadows or what’s waiting for us. We are afraid of what we can’t see. In horror films, dark settings, when used correctly, can create extremely frightening scenes. For instance, when Lila enters the grandmother’s house to search for her, she goes into the dark basement, where we, as the viewers, suspect the grandma to be. As Lila walks through, the cellar is cast with dark shadows and a lack of light. The scene is drawn-out, and shows the audience all the different dark crevices of the basement. This method of creating suspense is extremely effective because we as the audience are unable to get a full view of the characters surroundings, therefore leading us to worry what is behind the darkness. Finally, suspenseful music ties it all together. Without a good soundtrack, many spooky scenes would just be bland and feel like nothing is going to happen. Exciting piano and high-pitched electronic noises are played throughout the movie Psycho in order to get people on the edge of their seats. Why this type of music makes you feel this way, I don’t know, but the fact that it is energizing, loud, and sharply noted keeps you fully engaged and wondering what’s coming. For instance, when Marion is driving in the super stormy weather; it’s pouring rain, thunder is crashing all around her, and the darkness of night surrounds her small vehicle with weak headlights. She’s on the run with her money, and she needs somewhere to go. A scene like this that is so uneventful, usually would bore the viewer half to death. But, there is a nifty little soundtrack that goes with it. The suspenseful music being played encourages the audience to believe that something is just about to happen. The scary music and long scenes go hand in hand. Frightening music also helps the director mess with the viewers, by playing this type of music when nothing is about to happen, and then when something really petrifying is about to take place, we are caught completely off guard. In conclusion, Alfred Hitchcock uses a wide variety of cinematic techniques and elements, such as long, drawn-out scenes, dark settings, and frightening music to create thrilling suspense in the movie Psycho. When used correctly, these techniques can really take your movie to the next level. For its time, Psycho is an extremely well thought out and intelligent film in terms of its psychological impact on the audience, and in terms of the plot in general. The idea that one of the main characters, Norman Bates, has a disorder where he mentally is embodied by his mother, would be something completely unheard of in the 60’s. Just the fact that Alfred Hitchcock thought in depth enough to come up with a (at the time) groundbreaking idea, and then decorate it perfectly with suspenseful scenes and eerie actors and actresses really sets this film above all others.

The release of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho revolutionized cinema and changed the horror genre forever. Premiering in 1960, it effectively marked a dramatic shift in the kind of horror seen on the big screen. This shift mirrors a larger, cultural change in the mindset of Americans as the 1950s aged into the 1960s. It represents the fears of America, and how the evolving world affected the widespread societal anxieties of those time periods.

Mid-Century horror films can be marked by the prolific science fiction subgenre. These movies can be dubbed “monster movies,” where the central problem, and the thing that brings the fear, is a monster, or at least something not human. Some examples being Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) and The Blob (1958). These films have many common themes, the most obvious being science creating the monster. Films such as Them! (1954) displays the atrocities of radiation. The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) show the dangers of alien invasions. The Fly (1958) has its plot set in motion when a fly gets caught in a scientist’s experimental teleportation device.

It makes perfect sense as to why science would be hailed as the enemy of this time. The 50s was the Atomic Age, with the threat of a nuclear winter looming over everyone’s heads. It was an age of uncertainty, where technological advances presented a world without control. In regards to said uncertainty, there was also the percolating fear of communism and the loss of the democracy that supposedly created the American dream. These factors create a phenomenon where the solution came in the form of the government, which used the same science that started the disaster to fix it.

All this changed when Marion Crane was brutally stabbed to death while showering in 1960s Psycho. The abrupt stabbing is reflective of the change this film brought to horror, where it broke up the comfortably uncomfortable stagnation of the 50s ago of convenience. Psycho had no aliens nor creatures, but rather a human that didn’t require radiation in order to frighten. It turned a mirror onto the 50s, asking them who the true monsters were. The 60s saw an age of civil progress, where Americans turned inward, shifting a focus on their own already occurring injustices, rather than the Cold War politics of the possible horror. In 1963, their president was assassinated. The Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam war raged on harder than ever before. The anxieties became more tangible, less idle. The foreboding trepidation made way to suspenseful angst, perfectly symbolized by the master of suspense’s most iconic work.

This transformation can be seen in numerous ways. The 50s red scare was reflected in the way that the monsters had no sympathy, a divergence from the charismatic horror villains of the 1940s. The monster flicks shed no empathetic light on them, othering and creating an “us versus them” mentality. The 60s brought the trend back, where they humanized the monster, both literally and figuratively. It did not try to other the enemy, it instead told Americans that the enemy could be us. Peeping Tom (1960) follows a voyeuristic murderer who the audience elicits sympathy for and The Sadists (1963) has a murderous young couple as its antagonists. Carnival of Souls (1962) tells the story of a woman dealing with her shattering mental health through the poetic allegory of a man following her.

Additionally, Psycho was a film that broke the aesthetic distance of horror pictures, which is the gap between the moviegoers’ consciousness and the fictional reality of the film. Monster films created this distance by having their settings and characters be generic. This meant that while it seems like it could happen anywhere, the viewer doesn’t register it as happening to their reality at all. It provides a security blanket where they know that, after all, it’s just fantasy. Psycho, and movies that follow destroy that distance. They do this simply enough by adding small setting details and dismantling restrictions caused by what was thought to be taboo. Psycho was the first film to feature a toilet flushing, injecting realism into the sheltered minds of the aesthetically distanced audience. In the mid-century, you left the theater feeling vulnerable, like one would with the social convictions of the time, but after films following Psycho, you left feeling attacked.

As a whole, Psycho had an immeasurable amount of impact on horror, a quantity of which wouldn’t even be felt until the 70s, which saw a renaissance of the horror genre that can easily be found with Psycho as its inspiration. The film created an entirely new genre: the slasher flick. Movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and Black Christmas (1974) have the film seeped into its cores. It brought America away from the nuclear, prepackaged scary movies of the time and flipped them over their heads. It told them that no, the monster wasn’t some unfathomable scientific abomination, that it was me and you and your neighbor Norman. It represented the slaying of the American themes that permeated their escapist horror. It reminded us that our mutually assured destruction wouldn’t have to come from our weapons of war, that we were perfectly capable of ravaging each other all on our own.

Alfred Hitchcock’s film Psycho was made in 1960, a time where how we understood psychology was changing dramatically. This is definitely reflected in the characters in Psycho and some of the themes in the movie. The character of Norman Bates starts out as seeming strange and unsettling, but we can’t really tell if there is actually anything wrong with him psychologically until later in the movie. In the earlier 1900s, behaviorism was one of the most common psychological schools of thought. This meant analyzing the “observable behaviors” of psychology patients, however it placed little, if any, emphasis on the actual minds of the patients. In the late 50s and the 60s, a new school of thought called humanistic psychology emerged. Humanistic psychology focused on experiences that people had and how that impacted them. Cognitive Psychology combined both of these. People who followed this school of thought were concerned with both observable behavior and the mind itself. With all of these new and unexplored ideas about psychology floating around, the media of the time will reflect that in films like Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” or Ken Kesey’s book “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” An important part of this interest with physiology was the conclusion of the movie, where the doctor tells Lila and Sam about Norman’s condition. It is a satisfying conclusion at first until we hear Norman’s conversation with his “mother,” which casts doubt on the analysis. While some of what the doctor said was true, it was definitely not completely correct, which just shows that they have a limited understanding of what goes on in Norman Bates’ mind. This makes it even creepier since if we don’t understand his mind we have no idea what he might do. This may reflect Hitchcock’s own feelings or the general public’s feelings about people with psychological disorders at the time. This film is like an insight into what people thought in the 1960s. Norman’s condition definitely gets into the ideas of Humanistic psychology, where the things he has experienced have definitely led him to this point in his life. We get some explanation of the trauma he faced as a young person and how he developed his mother into his own mind. This definitely reflects the thinking of Humanistic psychology because it seems this was the single thing that really changed how he had behaved and ultimately gave them his psychological disorder. Throughout most of the film Norman (when he is himself), is still reasonably likable, even if he is unsettling and the audience almost feels sorry for him. It never really seems like it was his fault that his “mother” killed people. A common trait that there seems to be is the stigma around these mental problems. In both Psycho and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest(another piece of media made around the same time), people seem to be frightened by the people with these disorders. In Psycho, Marion is taken aback when Norman mentions his mother and hints that she might have something wrong with her mind. This is really the only point we see Norman flip out and get mad at Marion. It is obvious that these disorders are seen as very bad and people want to avoid them as much as possible. Similarly, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the patients are often treated with disdain and fear, not only by random people they encounter, but the hospital staff as well. These pieces of media are both very conscious of the way these people are treated in the society of their time. The film seems to cast a negative light on people with psychological problems. However it is worth considering that someone who had a psychological disorder who was less violent and more docile may have been a much worse story, especially a horror story, rather than one who is a murderer with complex and obscure motives. Alfed Hitchcock’s Psycho reflects its time. It was a time where people were questioning and discovering new ideas about psychology and this very much was an influence on the media of the time. This was made clear through how little anyone could really understand the actions of Norman Bates, especially when considering the lens of the early 1960s.

Ladyfingers by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass:

This song is an instrumental and has a calm happy feel to it, it doesn’t make you think of murder, investigation, and unbearable heat; and that’s why I think it’s a perfect intro to this story. If everything is presented as a happy and same atmosphere at the beginning it could mislead the audience to a happy story, or lead them to a dreadful one depending on how trusting the audience is. Either way, it leads to suspense, which in this whole film. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We are led to believe that Jeff is just delusional and bored in his hot New York apartment. This song is a good cover-up for what’s going to happen for those who are gullible, and for those who aren’t. Knowing and simultaneously not knowing is what creates suspense.

I Will Possess Your Heart by Death Cab For Cutie:

This song, just by title, is more about the obsession and lust that is mistaken for love which doesn’t directly connect to Jeff’s situation, although we could argue that Jeff is infatuated with his neighbor; out of sheer fear and worry for Ms. Thorwald. This song opens with a very long instrumental that builds up slowly to the chorus. The intro aids to an investigation ambiance, there is something seriously wrong here; tone to it. Jeff is slowly becoming more and more obsessed with his neighbor to try and find the truth, this song follows the same story, slowly building up to the truth. The lyrics don’t fully match the movie so I would edit the scene when Jeff first picks up his binoculars and accelerates to his camera only with the long intro and cut out right before the lyrics start because I hope Jeff isn’t in love with Mr. Thorwald.

Suspenseful Crime Scene Music:

I would include this song in Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock because it has a very suspicious vibe to it; which is the first attribute I looked for when searching for music to score this movie with. The name of the song is suspenseful crime scene background music; so it seems very appropriate to attach this to the scene when Lisa and Stella are going to investigate the crime scene. To see if they can dig up anything incriminating, to finally prove their case against Lars Thorwald. The song slowly picks up and increases in suspense and dramatics, there are more instruments or effects which can make the audience more on edge for what follows. When Lisa makes the rash and impulsive decision to sneak into Mr. Thorwald’s house, I would cut to the end of the song where the music picks up more. This would increase the fear in the audience, thus making even more suspense which is Alfred Hitchcock’s defining trope throughout his films, that we have watched.

Halloween Theme Music:

This is a classic, and has quite the reputation but it fits too well for this movie to not include. When Jeff is attacked there needs to be some suspense and worry if Jeff is going to make it out alive or not. The fact that this song is from a classic murder movie would make the audience anticipate Jeff’s demise and an ultimate ending that comes from being too curious. If we pretend that this isn’t a well-known song it still fits very well in the film, the song creates suspense and fear just by being a generally creepy song. I do believe viewing it as a well-known song makes it somewhat more suspenseful because we know the story attached to this song so the audience will have a lingering fear that something terrible will happen to Jeff.

Everybody Loves Somebody by Dean Martin:

The ending of Rear Window is very joyful and it ties everything up in a happy bow. We see Jeff’s neighbors with their loved ones, the murder house is being repainted and the newlyweds are starting their journey to the stereotypical nagging wife life. This song is what it’s titled, everybody loves somebody. It’s a happy song so I think choosing this as a closing song is a good way to end the film. This especially connects to Jeff and Lisa’s ending, Lisa is staying with Jeff as he recovers from Mr. Thorwald’s attempt on Jeff’s life, which landed him with a second broken leg. Despite their constant differences throughout the film Jeff and Lisa end up together, their love for each other finally starting to grow. It’s a cheesy ending, therefore why not add a cheesy song.

Hitchcock’s Psycho accomplishes an extraordinary feat: each choice made, from the soundtrack to the title sequence, from the color grading to the camerawork, develop an intense atmosphere of suspense. Not only that, but these cinematic and theatrical elements also serve to enhance the devastating twist and change in tone. Most importantly, Alfred Hitchcock sculpts a harsh and disjointed, almost frantic, viewing experience which reflects the tension and suspense pervading the film.

From the very beginning, Psycho focuses on building a suspenseful panic. The title sequence features the text splitting apart and puzzling back together. It establishes the film as feeling disjointed and confused. It also serves to visually reflect the murders to come. The way the text moves and breaks emulates a sort of dismemberment; the jagged movement echoes the stiff jaggedness of the stabbings. In addition, the title sequence is accompanied by the movie’s infamous score. The music is quick and abrupt. The orchestral score is redundant: it showcases the same brief pattern of notes over and over again, in varying pitches. As the music gets higher pitched, the tension builds. It auditorily allows for the same disjointed tension. The viewer becomes anxious, though doesn’t immediately understand why.

This disjointed tone continues throughout the film. When Marion dies, the film cuts to a series of fast, confused close ups. The viewer sees the knife, then the drain, then her eye, then the shower head, then the drain, then her eye, and so on. The quick cuts are tightly framed, not allowing for the full, broader picture at any time. In doing so, Hitchcock doesn’t allow the suspense preceding Marion’s death to break; instead, it becomes more suffocating. The audience immediately knows there is more to come. The close ups are claustrophobic. The sequence possesses a frantic quality, mirroring the viewer’s panic. It furthers the confusion of the scene. This scene marks a major twist; the main character has died only a third of the way through, leaving the viewer questioning what comes next. Once again, the music contributes to the tension of the scene. It becomes screeching, exacerbating the panic in Marion’s screams.

The sharp cuts are then juxtaposed with a slow, lingering sequence, showing Norman Bates cleaning the murder scene. The shots do not change angles as much, nor does the camera physically move as much. However, this in itself retains the frantic disjointedness of the rest of the film. It feels out of place in comparison to the preceding scene. It enables the viewer to wallow in the chaotic emotions and confusion caused by Marion’s murder, enhancing the confusion in turn. Furthermore, it reads as simply unnatural. The sequence feels too calm. As such, the suspense is able to slowly simmer and build more.

The color grading also adds to the feel of Psycho. The film was not shot in color, making for a palette of blacks, whites, and grays. These colors create a harshness to the visuals, resembling the thematic disjointedness. This amplifies the ideas of corruption and evil that pervade the movie. Black and white are so frequently correlated with bad and good, and Hitchcock uses this association to build up suspense and themes of corruption. This is seen, for instance, when Marion changes from white undergarments to her black undergarments following her thievery. Furthermore, Norman notably wears a long black dress when taking on his mother’s identity and committing the murders, in contrast to the other characters’ more varied and lighter outfits.

The black and white appearance also serves to amplify the use of shadows. The lighting techniques used in Psycho often emphasize shadows and glares. For example, after cleaning up Marion’s death, Norman is only sidelit. This paints over half his face in shadows, obscuring it. This, in turn, reveals a level of mystery. It obscures his full expression. He has, to the viewer’s knowledge, at least acted as an accomplice to murder, and so he proves tainted. He is overshadowed by his actions, and they take over the Norman first presented to the audience. It creates confusion and sharper edges. Similarly, when Norman attempts to kill Lila, the light is in constant motion, creating a rotational shadow effect. The fast-paced shadows and glares created by this lighting exacerbates the confusion and panic of the scene. Once again, it develops a confused, frantic atmosphere. The scene is harsh and disjointed.

Overall, one of the reasons Psycho is so effective is thanks to the ingenious technical and cinematic techniques. They come together to set a nuanced tone, which proves harsh, abrupt, and disjointed. This mood increases suspense and panic, which amplifies the powerful storyline.

“Never Going Back Again” - Fleetwood Mac

I chose this song for the scene where Marion Crane is driving away from Phoenix, where she just stole $40,000. I chose this song because it explains what is going on in the scene and creates an almost happy feeling. Marion has just stolen an abundant amount of money and is “never going back” to Phoenix, just like the song says. This scene is one of the first scenes in the film. It is before any of the suspense or creepy feelings. This song would make the viewer feel safe and calm before the plot thickens. This song is also very relaxing, as I imagine the drive would be. However, much like other songs in this Fleetwood Mac album, the song is about betrayal and endings. This scene is also about betrayal as Marion is betraying her sister and leaving everyone behind. Overall I would include this song in the film for the calm aspect for the beginning of the film and to create the sense of betrayal and fleeing.

“Will You Be My Love” - The Four J’s

In the film Psycho the main character, Norman Bates, meets Marion Crane at the motel he runs with his mother. Norman eventually falls for the girl. This love song references a rather lonely love life with a kind of creepy vibe to it. It further fits the vibe of the movie because it is from the same time period. I chose this song to go with the scene of Norman flirting with Marion while she was eating. This song could be used to show Norman’s feelings for Merion while still creating that suspenseful, eerie feeling you get while watching horror films. Also a quote from the song is, “ will you stand by me when things go wrong,” which could be used as foreshadowing for the scene since things do indeed go wrong for Marion and Norman.

“Where Is My Mind?” - Pixies

I believe that this song is a good representation of the scene where you hear Norman talking to himself as the mother and he looks up to the camera and does his iconic smile. This scene is after you find out the two personalities going on in Norman’s head. In the song the lyrics read “Where is my mind” as if to say the narrator has lost their mind, much like Norman in this scene. The audience fully understands the backstory and craziness of Norman. This song would help create a deeper meaning and connection to the two personalities in Norman’s mind. The song itself also has a very unsettling tone to it. The song uses minor chords which are regularly connected to the feeling of suspense and creepiness. There are also parts of the song where the music suddenly cuts out creating more suspense. Additionally the majority of the song has someone eerily singing in the background. This eerie singing was actually recorded in a bathroom to create more echo, much like the iconic scene from the film.

“A-State” - GRLwood

This song has a very scary vibe to it. In fact the Album cover to this song Is a cartoon of blood running down the shower drain much like the famous scene from Psycho. Towards the end of the song all you really hear is a woman screaming over and over. I believe this song would go well with the scene where Norman is cleaning up after the murder of Marion. It gives off a very sad yet creepy feeling and reminds you of the life that could have been Marion’s. The sound of the girl singing is muffled and sounds rather distant. This would be a good choice for the scene since it references both the suspense and loss of life.

“Another One Bites The Dust” - Queen

I chose this song for when the private investigator is murdered by who appears to be the mother in the house. This song is upbeat, especially compared to the other songs on my list. However this song has a lot of rises and falls which keeps it suspenseful while still building intensity. The song chorus and name,” Another one bites the Dust” quite literally references another life taken. As this is the second murder in the film this song goes well with the storyline. The song also ends abruptly just like the sudden loss of the private detective. Also the quote from the song,” You can beat him You can cheat him You can treat him bad and leave him When he’s down” I think it correlates well with Norman’s tragic backstory and relationship with his mother in some ways.

Question 1: How did you approach playing Norman Bates?

Answer: Well, Norman’s a more shy, awkward person. Having him stutter a lot and fidget made him seem ansty all of the time. Unlike his mother, he had no composure. When characters are grilling him, he seems suspicious, even if he technically isn’t and hasn’t done anything himself. I knew Norman would come across as creepy even without me making any creepy faces. In very suspenseful moments- like when the private investigator was questioning Norman- there were moments where I just awkwardly stared for a little while. It was almost as if Norman thought that saying nothing would make him go away. Unfortunately for Norman, it only proved to make him look more suspicious. With the amazing direction of Alfred Hitchcock, the lighting on Norman was often shadowy (lowkey lighting). I never had to act creepy, to be creepy.

Question 2: How did you approach playing Mrs. Bates?

Answer: She was almost the complete opposite. When she wasn’t stabbing someone or yelling at her son, she was a lot more put together. Unlike Norman, she’s more expressive when it comes to her evil intentions. In the final shot of the film, I had to make it clear that Mrs. Bates was in control. Contorting her face in a more sinister snarl made me (Anthony Perkins) feel like a completely different person. I mean, could you imagine Norman making that face? Remember, while I’m the same actor, they’re two VERY different characters. Mrs. Bates also has more exaggerated body movements. While Norman is reserved, Mrs. Bates makes her thoughts known with how she moves. I mean, every time she goes to stab someone, she raises her hands all the way up rather than just… stabbing them (laugh).

Question 3: Why do you think Mrs. Bates won the internal battle against Norman by the end?

Answer: Hmm. Regardless of the events of the movement, I don’t think Norman could ever win. Mrs. Bates is a lot more… more determined than Norman is. Norman never saw himself as the bad guy. It’s that very reason why Mrs. Bates wanted to use Norman as a fall guy for all of her crimes. While Norman is crooked in his own ways, he doesn’t have the resolve that Mrs. Bates does. That’s why Mrs. Bates was created in the first place. Norman would never kill an innocent, defenseless girl. Well, Marion wasn’t exactly innocent (laugh). Anyways, Mrs. Bates was willing to murder in a lot of cases where Norman wasn’t. After all, why kill someone you’re attracted to? He also didn’t kill Sam even though he had a perfect chance to do so. The main point is that Norman had a “weaker” personality.

Question 4: How did the directing play a role in defining the overall feel of Norman/Mrs. Bates?

Answer: Alfred Hitchcock is great at building the suspense of a scene. He’s at his best when he has two characters bouncing off each other. Take the confrontation between Norman and the Private Investigator. At one point, the camera was under my chin. It’s literally under me while I’m nervously eating candy. What it did was create this feeling of eeriness. Norman was losing his jester attitude as the PI grew closer to the truth. The camera being where it was created an uneasy feeling that was supposed to be reflected on to the audience. Whenever the camera is on Norman, there is always an underlying, uneasy feeling accompanying him. Sometimes he’s not centered. Sometimes there are stuffed birds next to him. Sometimes his face is covered in shadows.

Question #5: How did editing play a role in defining the overall feel of Norman/Mrs. Bates?

Answer: For Mrs. Bates, it added to her vile aesthetic. In the final scene, hearing her narration accompanied by Norman Bates’ facial expressions left a very disorienting experience. Seeing “Norman” but hearing the mother is genuinely uncomfortable. In the same scene, you have a quick one-second flash of the dead and decayed body of the real Mrs. Bates. It overlapped with “Norman’s” face, making this weird Norman, Mrs. Bates amalgamation. It was the perfect editing choice, to be honest. It might’ve looked a little silly if it were just me staring directly into the camera smiling. As for Norman himself, the lack of cuts helped build suspense. For instance, watching the cars sink was very tense. We practically got to see it happen in real-time.

“Sad Tomorrow” - The Muffs:

I don’t think this song was written about anything related to Psycho but, when heard with the movie in mind, the lyrics take on a different meaning. The opening lyrics of the song are: “I don’t even know why. Do you think I’m a mess? Maybe someday but now you’re gone.” To me, this can be read as Norman talking to his mother. He knows she’s dead because he killed her but he is still talking to her. He still cares about her opinions. The song continues, “When I do as I please, I’m no different to me. Am I crazy or have good luck?” Norman should, by all means, be free to do whatever he wants. His mother is not alive to control him anymore. But nothing is different, she still makes him powerless just now it’s from inside his own head. The chorus of the song goes, “I don’t know why you’re so glad, when my head’s filled with sorrow. So maybe if I fade away, There’ll be no sad tomorrow.” This is still from Norman’s perspective, but now he’s talking to Marion. He resents her for being of sound mind when he is very much not. His way of coping is for Norman to fade away into Mother, who then kills Marion.

“Stronghold” - Classics of Love:

This song connects to Psycho in Norman’s backstory. The song starts, “Fight to prevail, to be the first one. To climb up and break the lower rungs. So nobody tries to come up from behind. So nobody tries to take what’s mine.” These are the kind of things I imagine Norman was thinking when his mother remarried. He wanted her all to himself and considered the new husband competition. The song continues, “Defend yourself. Protect yourself. Assert yourself. Elect yourself.” I think the way these lines are delivered does an especially good job mimicking the way I imagine Norman was thinking. It’s very aggressive with short, explosive phrases that sound almost fragmented. This seems what Norman’s head was like right as he was about to murder his mother and her husband. He’s trying to protect his relationship with his mother but ends up assuming her personality. The “yourself” mentioned in the song becomes Norman and his mother. The chorus of the song goes, “Who’s gonna run, who will run the show. Who’s gonna lose, who will take control. Stronghold. Strong till your blood runs cold.” These lines can describe the power struggle between Norman and his stepfather, but I think they make more sense in relation to his two personalities. Each of them take control and “run the show” at different moments.

“Padded Cell” - Black Flag:

This song starts with the lines: “Earth’s a padded cell, defanged and declawed, I’m living in hell, it’s a paradise fraud.” This reminded me of the conversation Norman and Marion had where they talk about everyone’s “private traps.” Norman says, “You know what I think? I think we’re all in our private traps, clamped in them, and none of us can ever climb out. We scratch and claw… but only at the air, only at each other, and for all of it, we never budge an inch.” Both the song and this monologue describe a feeling of confinement and utilize animalistic imagery. The song continues, “I’m invisible, nowhere to hide. I’m obscene, the living dead. See the flies in your head. Looking at you, I’m inside you. It’s Walden too but the flower’s dead” Norman is both invisible and has nowhere to hide because he is only a personality. He can no longer escape his mother because she is always with him in his mind. When Norma takes over, he is “the living dead,” but she is still a corpse. He can “see the flies in your head.” Another verse of the song goes, “Suspect, the stranger in disguise. Forced itself upon me something I can’t hide. See it in, maniacs! Their eyes, maniacs!” This can be read as one of Norman’s victims. He is a “stranger in disguise” when he murders. He’s a “maniac,” a psycho.

“Operator’s Manual” - Buzzcocks:

I interpret this song’s relation to Psycho as the Norma personality being Norman’s operator’s manual. He uses the way she ran his life when she was alive to run his own life without her. The song starts, “Operator’s Manual tells me what to do when emotions blow a fuse.” Norman turning into his mother is his fallback for when he doesn’t know how to handle a situation. His feelings for Marion confuse him so he uses Norma to get rid of her. The chorus goes, “Oh, operator’s manual, I’d just fall apart without you. If only I had a mechanic. Then somehow I know I’d pull through.” Norman can’t function without his mother to guide him so he continues to act as if under her control even in her death. He is a very lonely person and needs someone to fix him, like a mechanic. Whether or not he could actually be fixed, he definitely longs for human connection.

“What’s My Name” - The Clash:

The opening lines of this song have a clear connection to Psycho. “What the hell is wrong with me? I’m not who I want to be.” Once again, this is from Norman’s perspective, although more self aware than he is portrayed in the film. I don’t know if Norman knows something is wrong with him, but I get the feeling he’s not who he wants to be. He definitely seems like he has issues with identity, it’s just unclear what they are, aside from the obvious. I think that this song fits with Psycho if it wanted to portray Norman as more struggling with his issues instead of just crazy. The titular chorus goes, “What’s my name?” This shows the internal struggle of Norman versus Norma. The last verse of the song is: “Now I’m round the back of your house at night. Peeping in the window, are you sleeping tight?” This really reminded me of the scene where Norman is watching Marion through the hole in the wall.

Rear Window is a movie about a man who is stuck in a wheelchair looking out his window with his binoculars and camera to watch his neighbors try and cure his boardem. While doing this, he bears witness to a murder. To me, I liked the movie a lot because of the implications of how spying on people may or may not be the right thing to do even being justified or not. I changed the title to “Neighborhood Watch” for two reasons. My first reason is because of what the main character does in a literal sense but my second reason is because of the true definition of Neighborhood Watch is a group of civilians keeping watch to protect their neighborhood and seeing how the main character caught a murderer in his neighborhood and got the murderer arrested. I would advertise this movie by saying it’s kind of a “boy who cried wolf” situation, meaning the main character keeps on telling his detective friend that his neighbor is a murderer but he keeps on going against it last second. I really wouldn’t change the genre of the film because I feel like it goes well with the plot. The choice I made for the poster was a camera peeking through blinds, bending them in the process. I made this choice because, in the film, the main character used his camera to spy on people but he also was being a sneak while looking out the window.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EaLIwK8AvnQVZqLRAlo0EXW0bggKB4omIGtoZVhzRbU/edit?usp=sharing

There is no doubt that “Psycho” is a psychological thriller. It even says it in the name. When looking at the original movie posters for this film, they usually showcase a bright font over a heavy black-and-white image of some iconic part in the movie- usually the shower scene. For my poster I thought it was best to not give anything away. And that is exactly why I choose Norman with his taxidermy owl. It foreshadows the creepy events that are showcased in this movie, without telling us what might happen. The image itself is intense enough to lure people into watching it. The quote and fonts just add more detail and description. As for the title, I wanted to go with something that was mentioned in the movie. I do think Psycho is very fitting, but as I watched this movie, the term did not seem to be used and I believe I could come up with something more relatable and creepy. I chose “The Mother in Me ” for many reasons. As the case of the murder is solved, the audience finds out about the psyscology aspect for Normans behavior. It is explained to Sam and Lila that Norman experienced trauma from his mother at a young age which causes him to act as a second identity in ways that resemble his mother, who is deceased. In today’s terms we would call this “multiple personality disorder”. Without this disorder, there would be no movie, soley why I wanted the title to relate to Norman’s disorder. As you look at the subtle details of this poster, you may notice the two shadows that fall behind Norman. The owl above him only has one shadow. I believe that Norman has two shadows because of his split personality and the ways in which he resembles his mother and himself, but wrapped in one body. Symbolism like this is always something that should be included in a movie poster. It is vital that the audience has some small sense of what is to come, especially if it is a thriller. This poster would be more appealing to the general public based on these small changes I made. There are very iconic characteristics that go into every classic horror poster. Including the large red font and intense image that sets the background. All of these details set up a clear direction for the viewers of this film and future viewers.

SLA will follow the below schedules during the Q3 report card conference dates.

Wednesday, 3/30

08:15 - 12:50 Normal SLA class schedule

12:55 - 03:30 Normal Wednesday programs (mini-courses, ILPs, and Capstone work)

04:00 - 07:00 Evening report card conferences

Thursday, 3/31

08:15 - 08:55 C1 band

09:00 - 09:40 D1 band

09:45 - 10:25 E1 band

10:30 - 11:10 A2 band

11:15 - 11:55 X1/Y1 band

12:00 - 12:30 Lunch/Dismissal

01:00 - 04:00 Afternoon Conferences

Friday, 4/1

08:15 - 08:55 B2 band

09:00 - 09:40 C2 band

09:45 - 10:25 D2 band

10:30 - 11:10 E2 band

11:15 - 11:55 X2/Y2 band

12:00 - 12:30 Lunch/Dismissal

01:00 - 03:00 Afternoon Make-Up Conferences

https://www.wevideo.com/view/2608219695

https://www.wevideo.com/view/2608219695

https://www.wevideo.com/view/2605005991

\https://www.wevideo.com/hub#media/ci/2609340484

https://www.wevideo.com/view/2608290476

https://www.wevideo.com/view/2605307540

https://www.wevideo.com/view/2609333623

https://www.wevideo.com/view/2605489876

https://www.wevideo.com/view/2605002704

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uB6WRVn-vRf-a5fZg0D0XadYBQxBjaI1/view?usp=sharing

https://www.wevideo.com/view/2604829457

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FuJPhSCRoWv2-DzZTnYng_Pzji7tE7AqRBfjRATOCdU/edit?usp=sharing

https://www.wevideo.com/view/2604940802