Review Of Psycho

  Figure One - Psycho DVD Cover 

Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh. The screenplay by Joseph Stefano is based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The novel was loosely inspired by the crimes of Wisconsin murderer and grave robber Ed Gein, who lived just 40 miles from Bloch.

·         Release: 1960

·         Director: Alfred Hitchcock

·         Screenplay by: Joseph Stefano

·         Produced by: Alfred Hitchcock

·         Genre/subgenre: Thriller, Mystery, Horror

·         Duration: 109 mins

Psycho starts off with an unsteady high camera pan onto a building where Marian Crane and her lover in a room, the audience finds out, she wants to marry him but due to his ex wife he is indebted, that day Marian is asked to put $40,000 into the bank, but she isn’t feeling too well and ask to go home after would but she fleas with the $40,000. Then on her way to her lover she has to stop at a motel due to the heavy rain and this is when she meets Norman Bates who seems like a lonely but a nice guy, at this point you still think both these characters are in it till the end like most films today but Hitchcock never had that in mind.

“And here again Hitchcock's care with the scenes and dialog persuades us that Norman and Marion will be players for the rest of the film.” (Ebert 2000)

 Figure Two - Norman and a stuffed animal. 

but Once you find out Norman stuffs animals for a hobby is when you start questioning what the loneliness has done to him being stuck out there with is ill mother.  

The change in atmosphere in Psycho is superb, one minute you think you’re watching a romance catch me if you can type of film to a horror slasher where one of the main characters is brutally murdered which was a great shock half way through the film.

Emotion changing within Psycho is interesting, one minute you’re caring for Marian even though she’s the bad guy, then you feel sorry for the motel owner due to his situation then finding out he’s a psychopath, you then care for the Sam and Marian sister who is worried sick for her sister.

Hitchcock deliberately manipulates the viewers’ sympathies. There are numerous red herrings: the initial tryst, the stolen money, the traffic cop. But, after the first half-hour, the heroine is butchered in the infamous shower scene, one of cinema’s most memorable moments. Audience identification then shifts towards pathetic, bird-like Norman (a remarkable, brilliant performance from Perkins) as he tries to clean up “mother’s handiwork”.  (Total film 1998)

 Figure Three the famous shower scene. 

The editing within the film is flawless, especially the famous shower scene, too much to watch when it was released, throughout the whole scene you never see the knife touch her skin and the blood is kept to a minimum, yet it caused a lot of disturbances all them years ago but now days it’s just a mild famous scene but helps the shower scene stand out due to violin being played so well, but overall music stands out the most in Psycho, adding great tension to the scenes, building up the suspense especially the scene near the end when Marian sister is in the basement and is slow approaching Normans mum corps. throughout the film, close up shots of the actors faces is strong in Psycho and is done well creating great tension along side the music. 

“The famous shower scene never shows the knife touching flesh, but it's still terrifying.” (Wenk 2011)

Illustrations 

Fig 1 http://www.covershut.com/Blu-Ray-Covers/48676-Psycho-1960-Front.html

Fig 2 http://www.blondeepisodes.com/2009/10/psycho-my-favorite-scary-movie-of-all.html

fig 3 http://www.colesmithey.com/filmblog/2011/07/once-upon-a-time-in-cinema-psycho-.html 

Bibliography

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/psycho

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19981206/REVIEWS08/401010353/1023

http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/psycho

Unit 4 - Plot Idea 2

A lumberjack, who has always been in the family trade, wakes up one day and decides he doesn’t want to be a lumberjack anymore and wants to follow his dreams and play a musical instrument. So he tells his parents he doesn’t want to chop wood anymore and wants to move to the city and play music to people and with that he leaves with small amount of money.

So hes left his home, of in search for a musical instrument and come across music shop and goes in. With a little amount of money his choice is limited so he starts trying the musical instruments, but a lack of practice finds most of them hard or too expensive and then stumbles across a musical instrument, gives it a go and finds his good with it and walks out happy with a trombone.

Then realises that he needs a passport to get the big city to play with his new instrument to people, so he heads to photo shop and enters it, walks to the photo booth and tries to get into the booth but has a lot of struggle due to his size and the size of the booths door but manages to get in with a squeeze  and sits down and puts his trombone next him and pays, getting ready for his photo to be taken he decides he wants his trombone to be in the photo so he bends down and as he’s picking it up the first photo is taken.  He pulls a face in annoyances, but gets ready for the second shot, while posing with his trombone the sit falls and his top half of his head is only in the picture, he pulls a bigger face of annoyances but prepares for the last shot already, a few seconds past and the photo still hasn’t been taken and he moves towards the screen giving it a funny look and it takes the final image.

He decides that the last image is good enough and squeezes out of the booth and collects his photos and leaves the shop. 

Lumberjack - Influences

Influence on my Lumberjack character: 

Zohan, Hugh Jackman, Hercules, Gaston, Flynn Rider and a lumberjack. 

Maya - Bouncing Ball

unit 4 - Plot Idea - 1

A middle age lumberjack, who has always been in the family trade, wakes up one day and decides he doesn’t want to be a lumberjack anymore and wants to play a musical instrument. So he tells his parents he doesn’t want to be a lumberjack and he wants to move to the city and play music to people and with that he leaves with his axe which he’s had since a little boy and a small amount of money.

He goes to the city to find the music instrument he wants to play and ends up at a music shop, now not bringing much money with him because he’s not all that bright, his choice of instruments is limited and ends up with an old trombone. So once he leaves the shop he wants to show his family his new instrument but doesn’t have the time or money to go back to his village so he decides to get a photo with his new instrument so he goes to a photo booth and gets a photo of him with his trombone.

Due to him being so excited as the photos of him are being printed he leaves his trombone in the photo booth to go and look at the photos, and after looking at the images, he realises he has left his new trombone in the photo booth so he goes back to it but the booth door has shut and won’t open and he loses his temper and grabs his axe from his back and starts hitting it with the axe but with no luck of getting into the booth.

As time passes by and he’s sitting next to the door of the photo booth wondering what to do and after being there for awhile he falls asleep and as he asleep a stranger puts money into the photo booth and enters it and walks out and collects her photos and as he comes around the door to the photo booth shuts. He asks the stranger how did she get the door to open and she replies by putting money into the slots to open the door, with amazement he runs up to the booth door and starts looking for money in his jacket and jeans and realizes he doesn't have any money left as spent it all on the photos and the trombone and goes crazy hitting the photo booth and falls to his knees and starts to cry, the stranger walks up to him and gives him some money to pay for the door to open. He goes in and grabs his trombone and thanks the stranger by giving her his old axe and walks away holding the trombone close to his heart. 

Review of Rope

 Figure one - Poster

Rope is a 1948 American thriller film based on the play Rope (1929) by Patrick Hamilton and adapted by Hume Cronyn (treatment) and Arthur Laurents, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by Sidney Bernstein and Hitchcock as the first of their Transatlantic Pictures productions. Starring James Stewart, John Dall and Farley Granger, it is the first of Hitchcock's Technicolor films, and is notable for taking place in real time and being edited so as to appear as a single continuous shot through the use of long takes.

Directed by - Alfred Hitchcock

Produced by - Alfred Hitchcock and Sidney Bernstein

Written by - Patrick Hamilton (play Rope (1929)

Genre – Drama, Mystery, Suspense 

Duration – 1hr 17 mins

Rope gets going straight away from the start, with the opening scene of Brandon and Phillip killing of David and then putting him into a chest in the centre of the room. Instantly after that the audience can see Brandon can handle it with ease and being excited about it but for Phillip who’s having trouble dealing with what they have just done. Which makes one thing there’s going to be trouble keeping it a secret because you got Brandon who seems he wants to tell the world about it and be proud and Phillip who is scared and worried there going to caught.

Then to make things worse their having party at the flat where they’ve hide the body, and to make things even worse David’s parents and friends are coming. Once the audience find out that there’s going to be a party where David is hidden, it creates great suspense as knowing someone got to open up the chest for something. Then Brandon decides to put all the food and cutlery on the chest instead of the dining table which makes everyone think he’s either crazy or smart.

 Figure two - The set 

The films was an experiment for Hitchcock, abandoning most standard film techniques which allowed for the long unbroken scenes, it is said there isn’t any editing within the film but one can see there is a few moments such as when the camera angle zooms into a back of a character to make it less obvious but this was done twice within the film which made it stand out to me personally, as Mr. Phillip Jr agrees.

“The supposedly invisible editing is more of a distraction than being really innovative.”  (Phillip Jr. 2002)

Due to Hitchcock experimenting with “Rope” the film felt very stagy at moments such as when Brandon, Phillip and Rupert are talking, so that Phillip is in the shot he walks right up to the other two just to fit into the scene.

“Experimental Hitchcock murder mystery, very stagey” (Crum, 2004)

 Figure Three - The Maid and Chest 

The scene where the maid is cleaning the buffet away from the chest and the camera is set on the chest watching her, while the characters are off to the side talking about where David could be. The long angled shot of the maid walking from the kitchen all the way back to the chest, then slowly clears the table cloth to open the chest, This is probably one of the best scenes in the film as its feeding the audience slow build up of suspense then just as she’s opening it she is stopped by Brandon which makes Rupert even more curious about where David is.   

Then once all the guests leave and one assumes they get away with it as they’re about to leave to bury the body and just as they’re waiting for their car and Rupert rings up asking if he could come up because he’s left his cigarettes behind, which brings back the suspense due to the audience knowing about Rupert knowing about them killing David which causes greater thrills when he comes up to get his cigarettes case   which he didn’t leave, it was just an excuse to come back and confront them about it.

Then as Rupert is describing how he would have planned on killing David, the camera goes around the room and looking at each object as he would say to Phillip and Brandon, which made it feel like one was a detective looking at crime scene for any evidence.

“manipulative editing and control of the audiences viewpoint.” (Brown, 2000)

Overall after seeing the murder and finding out they’re going to have a party with David in the chest, which makes  everyone think that some think is just going to open it up and find him but once Rupert and his expertises is coming the suspense becomes greater knowing someone like Rupert might pick up on the situation, which he does. 

Illustrations - 

Figure 1 -http://pearlmodern.blogspot.com/2011/09/film-noir-glamour-crooked-angel.html

Figure 2 -http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2011/6/22/personal-canon-100-rope.html

Figure 3 -http://dementeddoorknob.blogspot.com/2011/07/6060-review-35-rope.html

Bibliography

http://goatdog.com/moviePage.php?movieID=125

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/critic/steve-crum/

http://www2.eufs.org.uk/films/rope.html

Unit 4 - First influence Map

obviously looking at the three subjects I got which were a lumberjack, trombone and a photo booth. I've been looking into environment such as woods, other objects linked to a lumberjack such as axes and chainsaws also environments which you would find a photo booth in.

And Unit 4 Begins

Character - LumberJack

Prop - Trombone 

 

Environment - Photo Booth 

Well this is going to be interesting. :)

Maya - Tutorials

 X-ray jaw

 Santa hat

      Water Droplets

 Book

 Blood Vessel

Fur In Maya

Unit 3 - Final Scene

Unit 3 Presentation

Unit 3 – Environment

The Shining Review

  Fig 1 - poster 

The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King.

A writer, Jack Torrance, takes a job as an off-season caretaker at an isolated hotel. His young son possesses psychic abilities and is able to see things from the past and future, such as the ghosts who inhabit the hotel. Soon after settling in, the family is trapped in the hotel by a snowstorm, and Jack gradually becomes influenced by a supernatural presence; he descends into madness and attempts to murder his wife and son.

Directed by – Stanley Kurbrick

Written By – Stephen King, Kurbrick and Diane Johnson

Genre – Drama, Horror, Mystery and Suspense

Duration 146 mins 

The shining starts off instantly drawing you in with heart pounding music with high perspective views on a car being driven by Jack Torrance on his way to an interview at the setting of the film the Overlook hotel.

“The impact is extraordinary and even repeat viewers of the movie will enjoy the added terror that the 5.1 now brings.” (Haflidason 2005)

The film has a strong sense of spirituality throughout the film, starting straight away with Danny talking to himself with his finger but the audience soon realise it isn’t a imaginary friend but a good spirit talking to him telling him the future. There is also negative spirits in the film dealing with Jack and helping him become insane, telling him to do things. The iconic moment when Jack axes through the door to get to his wife and says “Here’s Jonny”, when his name is Jack makes one think that a spirit has over taken him and his called Jonny. 

 Fig 2 - "The Shining"

The audience is told about the “The Shining” when the cook takes Danny to get some ice cream and tells him about his power which lightens the audience that it’s not an imaginary friend but a spirit. 

 Fig 3 - Jack. 

To see jack character change from a nice guy into a physic nut case, is an interesting perspective because first off, he seems nice so you start to like him then slowly start to dislike towards him, especially the scene where his wife Wendy stops him from written work and he loses it with and becomes quite nasty is when the audience completely dislikes him and after that scene is when he goes downhill which makes the audience completely on the wife’s side and is scared for her and their son Danny. 

“Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), a recovering alcoholic child-abuser, faces his demons again when he agrees to become caretaker of an isolated hotel.” (Ebert 2006)

As Roger Ebert explain Jacks past it seems he doesn’t go made, maybe he’s going back to him old self, which begs the question does Wendy know of his past and if she did why would you take their son with the child-abuser to an hotel which will be isolated for the winters.

Suspense in the shining grips the audience immensely, main scenes such as when Wendy is getting her son out the window from the bathroom to escape from jack and can’t get out or when Wendy and Danny are in the maze walking about the fear of getting lost but once they get to the centre one is reassured there will be ok, this scene is really interesting thou because without the scene it would be a scene but with the music playing it sets the mood of fear.

“Kubrick isn't out for screams, but he manages to make his movie thoroughly unnerving by keeping the horror so close to home.” (Maslin 2000)

Illustration -

Fig 1 - http://www.jerrycomovie.com/?oldal=cikkek&cikk=47

Fig 2 - http://thisdistractedglobe.com/2008/09/03/the-shining-1980/

Fig 3 - http://www.ivewatchedit.com/movie/694/The-Shining

Fig 4 - http://www.spikednation.com/evideo/shining-bar-scene

Bibliography –

http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2001/09/11/the_shining_1980_dvd_review.shtml

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060618/REVIEWS08/606180302

http://www.nytimes.com/library/film/060880kubrick-shining.html

(Personally once Jack becomes insane and for a moment it seems he’s talking to the audience and asks the waiter for a drink and says Lloyd, was one of the weirdest  moments I have had.)

 Fig 4 - Drink Please...Lloyd

The Wicker Man Review

 Fig 1 - DVD cover.

The Wicker Man is a 1973 British film, combining thriller, horror and musical genres, directed by Robin Hardy and written by Anthony Shaffer.  Paul Giovanni composed the soundtrack. The film is now considered a cult classic.

Inspired by the basic scenario of David Pinner's 1967 novel The Ritual, the story centres on the visit of Police Sergeant Neil Howie to the isolated island of Summerisle, in search of a missing girl the locals claim never existed. Howie is a devout Christian, and is appalled by a religion loosely inspired by Celtic paganism practised by the inhabitants of the island.

Directed by: Robin Hardy

Produced by: Peter Snell

Written by: Anthony Shaffer

Duration: 88 mins

The wicker man keeps the audience in uncertainty right up till the end when it finally reveals its true self, the locals on the island are key to making the audience feel alienated and make them take side with Sgt. Neil very early on in the film which slowly makes the locals even weirder as the films goes on. 

The wicker man starts off as one thing then slowly becomes something else towards the end, the locals being decisive towards Sgt. Neil by denying Rowan never existed but clues that pointed to that she did exist.

“The Wicker Man's genre-bending, thematic daring, and tortuous history have made it the U.K.'s definitive cult movie.” (Fuller 2006)

 fig 2 - Willow banging the walls.

Sex is strong throughout the film, also religion and music which the on the island children in the film are taught about the subjects at a young age which to the audience is disturbing. Also scenes Where Willow is dancing naked and hitting the walls next to Sgt. Neil room to a beat is a scene combining all three music, sex and religion in one go almost tempting Sgt. Neil to give in. 

“It envelops you in a time and space that is unfamiliar, fascinating, exotic, and frightening all at once.” (Gonzalez 2007)

 Fig 3 - The Ending 

As for the ending the film, which is probably one of the most memorable ending for a film will either be a complete surprise from someone who didn't pick up on the hints throughout the film but for someone who was it will be satisfying to know they were right. The film is all about cat and mouse, dropping hints to the viewers throughout the film.

“A subtle, effective horror classic featuring an unforgettable finale”. (Niccum 2004)

Illustration - 

Fig 1 -http://horror-mediafire.blogspot.com/2011/06/wicker-man-1973.html 

Fig 2 -http://brianvsmovies.blogspot.com/2011/10/wicker-man-1973.html

Fig 3 -http://betweentheseats.blogspot.com/2010/11/review-wicker-man.html

Bibliography -

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/critic/jon-niccum/

http://www.dvdreview.com/reviews/pages/2556.shtml

http://www.villagevoice.com/2006-08-22/film/occult-classic/

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