Blog Feed

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11x6Pt511K6RKezBRhc9jFQjx6ckiYxgEbeMPEVGLuzk/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SZFbf124dUjUzGiWAV0d81jtUL8BFzyOJOyQxjtQ5OE/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SZFbf124dUjUzGiWAV0d81jtUL8BFzyOJOyQxjtQ5OE/edit?usp=sharing

The movie Psycho is a magnificent horror/thriller film created by Alfred Hitchcock. The suspense aspect of the movie was something never experienced before. Hitchcock had the ability to keep his audience in the dark until the moment he needed them to notice. This created a great horror movie that became a classic in a line of suspenseful thrillers. When it came to the marketing, specifically the movie posters, the same skill was used and most of the posters were vague. The original poster only had three of the characters in the movie and the title of the movie. The position and expression of the characters give no window into what the movie is about at all. There are no items that you would expert in a horror movie poster like knives or blood. In my personal opinion, the poster is rather boring in how it looks. The other marketing poster put out was about the “Rule” of watching Psycho. The rule was that you had to be there when the movie began, and that you would not be allowed in after the movie had already started. In all, the marketing was horribly vague and uninteresting. I think that because of the vagueness and mystery behind the posters, it drew people to go and see it. It was something to discover, like an adventure. For my take on the poster I wanted to keep the mysterious aspect, but make the poster a bit more captivating.

When making the poster I wanted to focus on the killer in the movie, but making sure to keep the identity still a mystery. Alongside the killer I decided to put two icons of the movie in the poster, the house and the bathroom drain. As for the color scheme, because the movie itself is in black and white, the poster should mirror what the movie is like. I wanted the viewer to get a good sense of what to expect, but keeping in the dark how the two silhouettes and icons correlate to each other. The “mother” I decided to be the looming figure over the entire scene. She is the mastermind of the scheme while the son, the tiny figure by the house, is weak and small looking compared to the “mother”. The house itself leaks in the drain below to signify connection. The also has something else draining into it, and to the viewer that liquid could be anything which keeps the surprise of what that liquid actually is. As for the title, even though Psycho is a great title, I wanted something that captures the villain of the movie. Mother is Home gives the sense that “mother” was not there before. As to say that this character is unwelcome, in a familiar saying we all know.

I read the New York Times review of Rear Window, published back in 1954. While detailed in its descriptions of the film, I found it interesting how the author did not include any distinct opinions on the movie. Unlike other film reviews, like Roger Ebert for example, there was no numerical rating, nor was there any strong language indicating whether this film was enjoyable or not. Instead, the reviewer explained and analyzed Hitchcock’s cinematic and theatrical techniques and let the reader decide if they appreciate what he has done. They talked about what parts of the movie were well done and what parts were lacking a little bit. The style in which this review was written made it enjoyable for me to read. Oftentimes I am turned off by reviews from other people, especially strangers, because people’s tastes can vary dramatically. How can I know if I can trust the reviewer? I appreciated how this reviewer detached themselves from the film and backed up their claims with evidence from the movie.

When I read this review for the first time, I was immediately captivated by the first line. “The boorish but fascinating pastime of peeking into other people’s homes.” I just loved this line and I feel like it sums up the premise pretty well. Hitchcock chose to create a film about something that we all do, whether we like to admit it or not. But it is not something we ever really do willingly. Every time I have found myself staring into other people’s homes was when I have exhausted just about every other form of entertainment that I have to the point where I have to turn to something that most of the time is not entertaining at all. It truly is very boring and you almost never see anything juicy. Yet, we all still do it to fill this strange biological need to know what everyone else around us is doing. Describing a movie as boring, but in a good way is such a great way to encapsulate the reader.

Towards the middle of the review, the author says “Mr. Hitchcock’s film is not ‘significant’. What it has to say about people and human nature is superficial and glib.” I understand this perspective. When you boil it down, I don’t see any hidden message or underlying moral to the story. Hitchcock is not trying to sell you some idea. But I don’t necessarily see this as a problem. Not every movie needs to be commenting on an issue in order to be taken seriously. In fact, I found this movie to be quite pleasant to watch as a second semester senior because I didn’t have to try that hard to understand the narrative. I felt that the spectacular writing and beautiful set design fully compensated for any narrative shortcomings.

The review dedicated an entire paragraph to describing the side characters in the film. For this film specifically, they are obviously worthy of that space. I liked how this was a main focus in the article and that the reviewer chose it as one of the selling points of the movie. In my opinion, nothing beats a well thought out cast. Deeply developed side characters are a good indicator of a quality film. The reviewer said just enough to interest the reader while leaving out just enough to avoid spoilers and keep them wanting more. The characters are all so absurd that as a reader, you can’t help but wonder how they all fit together into the story. If I hadn’t seen the movie yet, this paragraph would definitely have made me add it to the list.

I understand completely why the author chose not to speak of the ending for fear of spoilers. After all, many people read reviews before they set out to watch the movie. However, from someone who has already seen the film, I craved for some discussion about the end. I want to hear other thoughts about whether the ending came as a shock. While I could relate to LB Jeffries’ curiosity and voyeurism throughout the film, I could not relate to his confidence and need to interfere. I simply do not have the courage to confront people like that. For me, I spent the entire movie doubting LB Jeffries just as I would doubt my own thoughts if I were in his position. Therefore, when Thorwald actually ended up committing the crime, I was truly surprised. Despite seeming like a straight forward ending, Hitchcock subverted my expectations by not including the classic twist ending.

Works Cited Crowther, Bosley. “A ‘Rear Window’ View Seen at the Rivoli.” The New York Times, 5 Aug. 1954.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is a technical and precise movie that shows its wit in a different way from most movies. It uses comedy that most wouldn’t even try and the storytelling is risky but works extremely well. Wes Anderson, The director of the film uses certain skills in a lot of his movies like his quick and witty comedy that lights up the movie or how detailed he is in his storytelling. The GBH is one of the most technical movies I have ever seen with the way that the director has everything set up so perfectly.

Wes Anderson uses his detailed shots to give the film a more realistic and alive feeling. During the shot where the camera tracks Mr. Chuck while Zero is interviewing for a job follows and pauses multiple times to show how the hotel is very up and running. This gives perspective on the hotel and shows that Mr.Chuck is an important man. This tells the audience the importance of his character and to watch him closely to understand the story. Another example of a technical shot is when Zero was being taught all the ropes of his job and increasingly got better at the tasks. This shows his determination to become a better employee. It also shows that he is grateful for having the opportunity. Wes Anderson is one of the more technical directors with his great storytelling and it shows with these shots how he can transform a simple scene into a scene with a lot of meaning.

GDH shows the characters and the way they act and gives them meaning. Like Zero, for example, he represents immigrants who work hard and how much friendship means in the world. Mr.Chuck represents a good soul who turned bad and has been wandering but once he found a true friend he snapped into place. He saved Zero and in turn, he died for him. The woman’s family represents the lack of love in the world. The importance of these characters was a technical decision. It shows that love and peace will always win over hate and ignorance. The choice of characters is meticulous showing every background and giving characters the background like Zero and being from a country of war or the guests at the modern hotel while not playing the biggest role in the movie still has the background of being taking photographs and writing books.

The last big technical part of the movie is the different timelines. The first timeline shows a young lady getting ready to read a book that seems to have something to do with the statues she’s sitting next to. She doesn’t seem that important but it’s still added into the movie. Next is the present day where a man is staying in a random hotel and is interviewing the owner. The last piece is that the owner tells the story in a flashback story. While risky I think it structures the storytelling well. The young lady is reading the second man’s book while the second man is interviewing the owner about the story he writes. This gives perspective to the timeline and shows how a story can travel over many different times and places and have different impacts on each person who reads it.

The Grand Budapest Hotel shows that a movie can be both technical and beautiful as it has done both things beautifully. From the types of shots to the characters and even the timelines it all comes together to make a masterpiece. The Grand Budapest Hotel is a technical and precise movie that shows its wit in a different way from most movies.

Westerns fundamentally revolve around the juxtaposition of modern, civilized life and the rudimentary, untamed frontier. They take place in a time of transition. One where the inherent human inclination toward expanding territory coincided with the rapid growth of technology. The technology and desire for growth and adventure fed on one another, creating a society evolving at an extreme pace.

“Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid” captures this feeling precisely. To make a poster reflective of this, I decided to follow the example set by the western genre as a whole and combine new with old. To satisfy the classical aspects of my poster, I examined the trope of western wanted signs and previous movie posters and attempted to format my poster similarly. The elements I drew from these were large, centered portraits of the main character in a semi-painterly style and the type font standard in these posters. I also used text with highlighted bars to draw the observer’s concentration first, allowing them to comprehend the information essential to marketing, such as the name of the movie and starring actors, before looking at the scenes depicted.

Contrasting these widely used tropes of western culture are two images in a more modern style. First is a portrait of Butch and Sundance staring into the camera. While the concept of shoulder and up pictures in a movie poster is nothing new, the gradient behind them and the eye contact with the camera is a new twist used in current posters, such as “Moonlight” and “The Martian.” Along with the contrast, the portrait also captures attention. The human face evolutionarily draws our eye. Therefore, having too large faces will lead to more people looking at the poster, which is the goal. The second image I used to imbue the aspect of modernity is a digitally rendered, 3D scene containing a landscape of dunes and rocks with two blacked-out characters walking from left to right. Similar images are not often used in posters because it is fairly monochromatic, lacking the attention-drawing colors and intense action of other posters. In the context of this poster, the unassuming image is a feature, not a flaw. It is naturally observed after the title and portraits allowing for a complete experience of initial interest-grabbing and further exploration. I chose to create this render in the form I did because it emphasizes the aura of mystery and adventure promoted by the western genre. You don’t know why and where the people are walking. All that is known is that they are, giving an incentive to see the movie and fully understand the poster.

Through an integrated combination of attention curating composition and image, font, and color choice, my poster put a new spin on an established art form and serves as a successful poster.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sye1gOiolLbGieXZuwH-0VLHQLFREj6pRq8eWh0MI-s/edit?usp=sharing

Teron Ingram Lit Log #1 4.8.22 Ms. Giknis

Instead of the movie being called Psycho I would name it either The Boy and His Mother. This title sounds basic but it does sound really scary and it would shock the audience to find out his mother is actually dead at the end of the film. For the poster I just used a simple close up shot of Norman Bates with It saying “Alfred Hitchcock’s The Boy and His Mother in red to represent blood. Not too much going on so I don’t give out a lot of detail just from the poster. I would make a dark and creepy movie trailer and poster to advertise it to the viewers because if it looks good it will draw attention from an audience that likes these types of movies. My decisions would communicate the meaning of the film by exploring both two main ideas which are mental help issues and the relationship a boy and his mother has. In 1960 mental health issues were seen completely differently compared to 2022. The views on mental health issues in the 50s and 60s are that you are considered a lunatic and defective and were sent off to asylums. My decisions would communicate the tone of the film by keeping it suspenseful. This movie did a great job to draw suspense. Watching this film in the 60s would have you on your feet from start to finish. Throughout the whole movie you knew something was going to happen just didn’t know when. Something in my head told me Marion was going to die at some point during the movie, we just didn’t know who was going to kill her or when she was going to die.​​ My decisions would communicate the genre by keeping it the same as the original film with horror, thriller, psychological horror, slasher and mystery being the genres. This movie killed it , and it really changed horror films. Overall the film was good. I really enjoy it even though I’m not big on horror movies. My one negative is I would change the pace of the film because at times it felt slow and some scenes felt dragged out for way too long making me bored and lose a little interest while watching it. Other than that this film is really good and it was definitely ahead of its time for many reasons such as the drawing suspense, camera shots, unique plot and mystery.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window is centered around voyeurism. The characters living in this tight nit and closely built community allows for the easy invasion of privacy, even on accident. Each character can easily look into another’s home or space and come up with a conclusion about the events taking place. This is an invasion of privacy for the person being observed and creates tension, especially if they know they are being watched. By watching and concluding, people can assume, make false notions, and even feel entitled to more information or others’ decisions. In a bigger context, it creates a safety issue for both parties. The person being observed has to take liberties to hide what they don’t want to be shown. The voyeur puts themselves in danger by involving themselves in commodities they shouldn’t.

Everyone has become an L.B. Jefferies, an invasive observer at one point or another. The general curiosity we all have can lead to an obsession with someone or something. In turn, we sneakily watch, look or take a peep, and from our perspective, we develop conclusions. They can be outlandish or sound-minded but they were developed from an invasion of privacy.

Close nit housing and row homes in modern-day society create voyeurs because of proximity. Curiosity in addition to access creates temptation. The temptation is then acted on, leading to “peeping toms”. Which in turn prohibits others from their private isolation. Social media creates people who pry. People post intimate things about themselves or their lives. Others observe those posts. Without knowing a person closely or having met them in reality, they can learn or retain multiple facts about their lives and what they do daily. This is especially true with social media influencers. People with a platform or large following that have established credibility with a particular industry can then persuade people to buy things based on their recommendations. Social media influencers, people of high social status, and celebrities are subjected to extreme invasive voyeurism. Their voyeurs develop obsessions. From this obsession, entitlement is produced. Entitlement to more information, judgment on their mistakes or decisions, and entitlement to make choices for them.

Companies have become spies as well. Different “free” apps that use advertisements may be tracking your data and selling it to give you more personalized advertising. The only way they can obtain this information is by watching the different hyperlinks you follow, the ads you don’t skip through, the things you purchase, and how you got to purchasing. By observing your choices, and trying to follow a brain pattern, companies are then able to persuade you. Companies and apps invade your privacy to freely choose. Every choice means something and is closer to putting you in a targetted audience.

Surveillance is also a form of voyeurism because of the observation they provide from cameras in video or photo form as well as audio recordings. Places with surveillance cameras invade people’s privacy to protect others. The cameras themselves or the recordings they create allow others to view you and anything you’ve done or engaged in for that whole recording. Photography and cameras on their own accord not connected to surveillance can be considered voyeurism as well. Cameras and photography can amplify the curiosity and psychological tendency to pry. An example of this could be a picture with background noise, catching people off guard. Regardless of the actions the people committed, they have now been captured without their knowledge.

Voyeurism isn’t always a bad thing, as seen in Rear Window. If the main character had not spied on his neighbor. A murder would go unsolved or noticed. This is true in our modern reality as well. Witnesses can be essential in solving a case and making sure the perpetrator gets the punishment they deserve. Many witnesses obtained their information by watching and observing. These observations are more often than not a product of invading privacy. But without that action and without the testimonies that come from making the observations many people would not receive justice.

Rear Window uses voyeurism to bring awareness not only to the way we watch movies but the way we watch eachother. Watching and observing isn’t always a bad thing but to watch and observe could be invading someone’s privacy. It has thus become a cultural artifact because of this trope.

I’m doing this movie title and poster lit log on Psycho (1960) because I feel like the poster could have been a lot better, however, this might spoil bits and pieces of the movie but it would look pretty awesome.

Dissociation - is a break in how your mind handles information. You may feel disconnected from your thoughts, feelings, memories, and surroundings. It can affect your sense of identity and your perception of time. The symptoms often go away on their own.

I changed the name to dissociate because that word means split personalities, something that is a big thing in Psycho. The element of personality is reflected a lot in this movie because there’s an atmosphere of the unknown. My poster doesn’t spoil anything for the movie but provides a simple yet complicated view of what the movie is about. Only when you get to a later point in the movie you’ll realize what the title is talking about. My poster also reflects the theme of the movie and that anyone could be in their alternate personality and you wouldn’t even know. I think dissociating fits the title for psycho because well it outlines that someone has another personality. It reflects how your mind does certain things to handle tough situations and I believe that Norman had this condition because he killed his mother and father’ he convinced himself that his mom was still there which is quite a dilemma that builds up so much suspense. The thought of being two people at once makes my mind feel strange but good at the same time because of how interesting it is to act like someone else. The poster I made this way split in half because I felt that split personalities fit the poster in a way that made it simple. I wanted to make it as simple as possible while still conveying my point of view on the movie psycho. The genre of the film is more or so a psychological thriller and is one of the most popular slashers being one of the first-ever to be a really big hit. I love slasher movies but this one is one of the few with a genuinely interesting story that kept me intrigued till the very end even if the plot midway changed. I think people would like this poster because of how simple yet complicated it is. It reflects the movie psycho well in a way we haven’t seen before. It’s a new take on psycho making the personalities the big focus. It’s the point of view that gets me and how interesting that can be because it can be so different depending on the person and you can tell the difference between the two sides even if it’s black and white. There’s nothing like watching psycho for the first time and that’s what I went through. It showed me a masterpiece of a slasher while keeping the atmosphere the same from beginning to end which is tough, especially being such an old film. So many elements here that are in other movies and shows brought me to a different place. Overall I want people to get a different perspective out of this movie poster.

In the process of renaming Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, I referred back to a short but meaningful quote that I thought captured the film’s message seamlessly. When Jeffries and Stella are keeping a lookout for Lisa, Stella asks to use Jeff’s “portable keyhole” (referring to the telephoto camera). This quote stuck out to me because it so simply outlined the moral dilemma faced by the characters in the movie. On one hand, it is a simple method that can be used to view the personal lives of others, and on the other hand, it is a flagrant violation of privacy. It is entirely up to the individual whether they should decide to take advantage of this “keyhole” or not. This metaphor also shows that those who are being watched have a false sense of security, as the keyhole is far less apparent to the observed than it is to the observer. For these reasons, I chose “Keyhole” to be the revised name of this classic film. Now for envisioning the movie poster for Keyhole, one of the main themes I wanted to reflect in the design was that nothing Jefferies observed would affect him directly. These were the affairs of someone else, yet he felt the dying need to view the events as they played out - almost as though he was watching a puppet show. To represent this in my poster, I decided to depict a room in a dollhouse, where one doll is trying to murder the other with a knife. In the background, an eye can be seen peering through a window, watching this whole scene play out. This is supposed to be the eye of Jefferies, with the knowledge that he is removed and completely unaffected by the events occurring. This illustrates to the viewer that the film incorporates psychological themes as well as action. In the making of the poster, I referenced a 1950s dollhouse, using colored pencil outlined with pen to create the scene. I also referenced a photo of Jimmy Stewart’s eye to ensure that it was realistic, making it distinct from the cartoonish setting of the dollhouse. This further supports the idea that Jeffries is physically, as well as emotionally removed from the situation, possibly not even considering the murder to be authentic. Finally, to create the film title, I used gray block lettering, which is supposed to be reminiscent of a metal key or latch.

To this, I propose completely rebranding “Rear Window” with the title “Unbeknowst Briefs”. Call it silly but I find that this takes a funny take on what this movie is. Now the title was conceived purely out of what may be sleep deprivation, but also to what the b-line segment of the story is. The man we focus on for the main gist of the story is essentially an adrenaline-seeking photographer always shooting for that perfect shot that is temporarily disabled, forcing him to stay put at home to almost be almost immobilized for (honestly I forgot how long). For this period of time or main protagonist needs some sort of hobby right? What kind of person can sit idle for hours a day with nothing at all to do? Maybe some sort of serial killer to be fair, but not our main protagonist. So what will our main protagonist ever do with a broken leg for weeks on end? Sleep? No. watch some television? Heavens no? Pick up some skills in the kitchen? What is this the 2010’s? Oh wait, I got it!, or the main protagonist will begin to become a mildly and weirdly educated peeping tom on all the neighbors! And what’s this? A potential love interest? Could be, but it turns out that our main protagonist has gained a friend in the middle of his post-injury boredom that grows very fond of him since there seems to be a weird way shape or form of connection between the two. Now the second protagonist is against the idea of the main protagonist being a peeping tom.

Why I really wanted to stick with the title is because the word unbeknownst can be defined as something happening or existing without the knowledge of someone specified —usually used with to, or in simpler terms; you don’t know what is going on. I wanted to aim for this title to be shot in the neighbor’s direction as they are unaware of what creep creeps on them while they are oblivious to the man behind the bifocals keeping tabs on everyone’s niche actions and private moments. In my opinion, this title choice is great because it is comical, it summarizes the point of what is happening and I also wanted to get kicks about how the main protagonist could catch people moving around in their underwear, hence the briefs part. Also can double as a play into how long we get to see our neighbors being put on display for our protagonists. Pure gold.

I adored Rear Window. I loved the way it was never too much in one genre: sometimes it was thriller and mystery, other times it was romance, and for a few scenes it almost felt like a mockumentary. I read several reviews in preparation for this project and landed on My favourite Hitchcock: Rear Window, written by Killian Fox and published in 2012 by the Guardian. Unlike many reviews I’ve read that are more formulaic, this review intersperses summary with analysis. By including random scenes Fox remembers from his first viewing many years ago, his review reads like a friend explaining their thoughts on a movie you saw a while back.

Fox starts with: “The first time I watched Rear Window, I was 14 or 15 and living in a remote part of Ireland. There was a mile and several hills between us and our nearest neighbours, so the concept of looking out the window and being able to closely survey the lives of an entire community was alien to me, and totally fascinating.” One of the main reasons I became invested in this film was because I live in a city and could understand its portrayal of city life. I know what city heat feels like and can sometimes see what my neighbors are watching on TV, so even though it was set seventy years ago, many aspects still felt relatable. I wonder if the same would be true for viewers from a city watching a film set in a rural area. Nevertheless, this quote shows Hitchcock’s ability to engage viewers from anywhere. He makes the setting central to the storytelling in this film, yet you don’t need to know anything about city life before watching.

Later on in the article, Fox writes, “When I watched Rear Window again at university, I was able to appreciate what the film was saying about the cinema-going experience – of sitting in a dark room and gazing into other people’s private lives.” I like that he brings up that he watched it at university, a place where you are often in a living situation closer to what Jeff has. Although I’ve never lived in a dorm, I can imagine that due to the typical high-density housing, it can be easier to look at your neighbors. I wish Fox wrote more about the similarities he found between the setting of Rear Window and his university life. I understand reviews typically are supposed to be more about the film and less about the writer but this would’ve been a great way to continue the theme started in the first paragraph.

He concludes, “If the film was critical of voyeuristic behaviour, Stewart and his co-conspirators would be proved wrong…this is Hitchcock, connoisseur of the perverse, and the film ended up saying the opposite of what I thought it should.” This is the only line I disagree with. I would not have liked the movie as much if they had been wrong, all the suspense would have been a letdown. In class, we’ve talked about Hitchcock’s “the bomb must never go off” ideology. That seems like it could be applied here, but instead of just the audience knowing about the bomb under the table, the characters know, too. In Rear Window, the characters feel the same type of suspense the viewers do so Hitchcock uses a completely different kind of suspense that only is worth it if what we think is going to happen, happens. I’m not super into thrillers or mysteries, because I’m often pretty gullible when it comes to movies. I tend to believe what the main character believes and I’ve never guessed a plot twist before it occurred unless it’s super cliché. Rear Window is a movie for people like me, I didn’t have to do my own detective work to guess what was going to happen, I just listened to the characters.

Fox ends his article with: “Voyeurism has its rewards; keep a close eye on your neighbours and you might just root out a murderer.” This line seems a bit sarcastic and hyperbolic. You probably won’t solve a murder, but you could tell if a neighbor is sick, or find they have a new lover. Above all, voyeurism (to a respectful extent) creates community. You may not know your neighbor’s name or anything about them, but you know they exist, thus you know you’re not alone.

Fox, Killian. “My favourite Hitchcock: Rear Window | Alfred Hitchcock.” The Guardian, 25 July 2012, https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/jul/25/my-favourite-hitchcock-rear-window.

I noticed a general lack of explicit thriller themes in the official rear window posters, so I made mine as over the top and blood splatter-ey as possible. I also wanted to convey themes of spectatorship, voyeurism, violence, and reflect various scenes from the movie in the poster. Starting with the top panel, we see the silhouettes of a group of people, watching the scene shown in the middle two panels. I also have a little quote from the movie that I added for the cool mysterious aesthetic. I had a scene in mind when I made this panel. When the lady across from Jeff’s dog is killed, she loudly accuses her neighbors of apathy, while they watch from their respective places. I feel as if this scene represents the theme of spectatorship quite well, as we have Jeff confronted with the nature of his curiosity, his intentions questioned. Is Jeff a seeker of justice, willing to go to any lengths to see it be served, or a voyeur, merely interested in satisfying his boredom? This is where our title comes in. Scrutiny! Which we will get back to later. Next is the middle left panel, where we have a pool of blood with flowers sprouting out. This is in reference to the flowers in which Lars Thorwald buried a piece of his wife’s body. We have bloody footprints leading away from the flowers, which is just a stylistic choice that references a mystery cliche, and leads our eyes to the next panel. The footprints take us inside the window, behind Jeff, who has his camera out. We see a silhouette behind Jeff, as well as a flash that references the scene where Thorwald invades his home, and Jeff defends himself using a camera flash. I wanted to tell a bit of a story here, implying that the murderer was sneaking up on Jeff, though this doesn’t happen in the movie, I thought it would be cool to have some motion within my poster. Then, boom! Bottom panel! Title! Scrutiny! As viewers, we are tasked with scrutinizing the actions of Jeff and the others on a scale, deciding where and when the line between curiosity and voyeurism gets crossed. It’s a bit of a “do the means justify the ends” kind of situation. Ultimately, Jeff is vindicated, as Lars Thorwald is revealed to be the murderer, but the moral ambiguity of his actions are thought provoking, and (in my opinion) the main focus of the movie.

For my version of the poster, I wanted to go for a less abstract structured setup unlike the original. Whereas the original poster has a collage look I wanted to put emphasis on the thriller/horror aspects of the movie while simultaneously making the viewer question the meaning behind it. Who is this figure being cast on the characters, what led to this point, how will this fall into place with the plot of the movie? My thought process behind the poster was that once you watch it in its entirety the viewer will be able to quickly put together the meaning behind this scene. At that point, they will know that the two people represent the main characters Norman and Marion all that would be left would be to determine who the shadow figure was, and that comes with the viewer more closely analyzing the film. The main point I wanted to bring to the table was how in separate ways both characters are victims of the same entity which I think is a really interesting point that could be overlooked. While there is no doubt Marion is the main victim in Psycho putting more emphasis on the antagonist, in this case, Norman, could make viewers see him in a different light. He is slowly if not fully losing control of his own body to this persona of his dead mother he created. Norman is a victim of his own mind and depicting him in the same position as Marion helps to show this.

Instead of being called Psycho, I would title the film, Mother. In the past when I had previously heard of Psycho I went into it with a different mindset because of the title. With how extreme current-day movies are in the horror/thriller genre I was expecting more drama and death, granted at the time it was most likely pushing limits. While the title isn’t false in relation to Norman I think that it would be more appropriate to have a more open title to slowly guide the viewer into what the movie really is about. With a title like Mother, it establishes that it is a significant role in the movie, and it’s your job to figure out why.

I chose the film “Psycho” because it was a very interesting movie to play around with. It helped Alfred Hitchcock to be the textbook for most modern day horror films, with its major plot twists and elongated angst building scenes. I renamed it “Paranoid” because the main two characters suffered from paranoia. Marion became paranoid after she stole a large sum of money and a car. She felt like she was being followed and that she would eventually get caught and imprisoned. Normen suffered from paranoia, however his paranoia was a result of his mental condition. His delusions centered around a girl he thought had bad intentions because she suggested he put his mother into a better home. I made the context of the title relate to both the victim and murderer. I allowed the words to be split to represent Norman’s Obsessive Split Personality Disorder (SPD). The boy could also represent Norman’s SPD as there appears to be two arms, one is hanging to the side and the other is holding a knife. Furthermore, the man standing still with a black silhouette of a hand holding a knife says to moviegoers, the kid isn’t innocent and is a killer, like how Normen was sweet and paranoid in the beginning but ended up killing Marion. Additionally, the “I” that is laying on the floor represents Marion, who eventually lies dead on the floor. Marion gets stabbed in the shower, so I also allowed the letters to bleed because she dies via knife and gets “split”, just in a different way. These elements will help to communicate the meaning of the movie. Additionally, the second ‘a’ covers some of the knife with blood on it because the knife isn’t supposed to be the main focus. In the movie the murder is only the second part of the movie so I slightly hid the knife. This will help to communicate the tone of the movie. The whole photo produces an eerie feeling but by adding the knife and blood, it could be identified as a horror movie. I would advertise this poster only at dusk. I feel the time of day would add to the creepiness. I would change the genre from a thriller to a murder mystery because the way the movie is portrayed it is a “who done it” film.

In class, we were talking about how the main character, Jeff, was painted as being a hero throughout the entire movie. At the end, he was right all along, leaving the characters feeling thankful he was watching the entire time, and that they should have listened to him. The conversation moved to examining the fact that in reality, Jeff was actually doing this pretty invasive thing under the guise that it was okay because their windows were already open. I was thinking about how the movie would be different if the audience didn’t necessarily see Jeff as the hero, but rather just a man actively invading people’s privacy. I know the assignment wasn’t to change the plot of the movie, but I think it would have been interesting to see a version where Jeff was portrayed in a way that even the audience didn’t believe him, and at the end he was still right all along (and it would still feel like a Hitchcock movie). Since we can’t change the plot, I was still thinking of ways that the audience could go into the movie without seeing Jeff as a hero. I chose to do this through a movie poster, especially since people normally see the poster before seeing the movie, which gives them their first impression of it. I tried to tie in the colors of the original poster, with the brick building and yellow windows, blue text, etc. Every single movie poster I saw Included Jeff’s eyes in it, and because of this you get to see Jeff’s concerned expression, giving him some humanity to the viewer, showing that he’s watching people for the right reasons (the eyes are the windows to the soul…). I drew the poster, not with Jeff’s binoculars below his eyes and him looking over them to the side, but with him looking through them at the viewer. This was in an attempt to make the viewer feel uncomfortable, like they’re the ones being watched without their permission. I don’t know if there’s ever a shot in the movie that is a closeup of Jeff looking through the binoculars, straight into the camera, and perhaps that is done intentionally, or maybe it was just an issue of reflections in the glass. Additionally, In the reference photo of binoculars I used, the lenses were actually red, and I was inspired by this. I thought making the lenses red in the poster would add a value of sinisterness to the action, as well as somewhat foreshadow the events to come, which is a presumed murder). There are also two figures in the binoculars, representing the people he’s watching.

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.