Psycho

Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho features a truly mentally unstable individual in the form of Norman Bates as the antagonist of the film. Having a true psychopath in psycho is one of the main elements of the movie. Norman Bates, however, differs from the cliché psychopath character in pop culture today. Norman, as a psychopath, fools the audience by gaining their empathy early in the film, having the audience ignorant to his actions until the very end. Psychopathic characters in movies today are not so easily sympathized or empathized with as they are made very one dimensional especially in modern slasher films. Hitchcock did a very good job to humanize Norman and make him seem like a truly lonely young adult with nothing but a domineering “mother”.

                The editing in psycho truly contributed to the viewing of the movie. The dramatic highs and tense lows of the movie are paired perfectly with a change of tempo in the shots and clever use of space. One of these tense moments occur in the car dealership after Marion has run away with the money. While Marion is talking to the dealer, the camera consistently cuts to a still shot of the cop on the other side of the street and back to Marion’s face with her eyes facing right. This is an example of eyeline match, even though the policeman cannot be seen in the shot with Marion, her eyes are still focused in his direction. The use of space here shows Marion’s paranoia, that at all times she is worried about the policeman.

                The shower scene in Psycho is, by far, one of the most clever scenes ever shot and filmed in the industry. The genius of the shower scene comes in two parts, the first with its tempo, and the second with what was actually filmed in every shot. To get a grasp of the amount of editing that went into the shower scene: This 3 minute scene required 78 shot set-ups in the span of 7 days. The audience was immediately shocked at seeing Marion attacked, the up-tempo of the scene, however, does not let the audience come to terms with what is going on until the scene is over and Marion is laying on the bath floor.  Every shot was a close-up, featuring either the silhouette, Marion, Or the knife. Seeing all of these images rapidly flash by while having the audience have to piece together what is going on while they are terrified is why this scene has stood the test of time. 

Citizen Kane

                The inability to truly know somebody is the central theme of Citizen Kane and the main driving point of the plot. Thompson’s interviews were based upon this theme: every person he interviewed gave a different description of Kane, while none could answer for what “rosebud” meant. While the viewer eventually discovers that “rosebud” is his childhood sled, every character interviewed had no idea. Kane shows that no matter how famous someone is or how much others claim to know about that person, there are always pieces of that person’s life that are kept secret.

                Cinematography is one of the distinct features in Citizen Kane that played a role in making it a uniquely innovative film. Many shots and camera mechanics were very much ahead of their time, having both foreground and background in complete focus as well as using low angle shots. Welles uses these low angle shots to establish a sense of the character’s dominance in the scene. During Kane’s speech on the podium, the camera slowly shifts underneath and displays him as a large, towering figure to the audience. This shows how the audience not only in the movie theater but in the crowd that Kane is talking to views him: as a figure of great power and confidence.

                Had the story of Citizen Kane been told in a chronological manner, the film would have been a lot less culturally significant. It would lose one of the aspects that made it innovative and different from movies of that time, as well as a major plot element. As mentioned earlier, the film’s plot is built upon the notion of being unable to truly know someone. Having the narrative split up between six unreliable narrators reinforced this central theme; each narrator gives a different piece of Kane’s story, while at the same time having some points that differed from each other’s.