Conventions of Film Openings: Psycho

Film name: Psycho 
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Year of Film: 1960
Total Awards: 7 Wins, 9 Nominations.
1961 Oscars Nominations: 

• Best actress in a supporting role
• Best director
• Best Cinematography, Black and White
• Best art direction-set decoration, Black and White

Box Office: $50 million






Overview:

The clip introduces the city of Phoenix, Arizona, and the main female role of Marion Crane (Janet Leigh). Her first appearance is her in an apartment room with a male, both half dress and lying on the bed.

Straight away in the clip there is an ident giving credit to the composer of the score, Bernard Herrman. Showing this at the start of the film shows the significance that Hitchcock thought the score made to the film. The following ident was of the director, Alfred Hitchcock.

Camera angles and their preferred reading:

• Wide angle shot of the city  - This is used as the establishing shot to the film giving location to the scene as well as the time of day.
• Crab right - This is used to expand on the location giving the viewer more detail of the day. This leads into post production texts giving detail of the city and the time of day.
• Jump cut - This is used to quickly move between two familiar scenes and progress the opening sequence to the start of the characters dialogues.
• Zoom into the apartment window - This introduces the two characters that are currently within the apartment. The zoom affect gives the preferred reading that the audience are entering in on the comforts of the two characters whom feel they are separate and private from the outside world.
• Juxtaposition to the un-eaten lunch - This is used to show that, although both characters are supposedly on their lunch break, they both used it to satisfy their romantic interests in each other.
• Low angle shot - This is used to show the power the male character over the female, this adds to the innocence and powerlessness of Marion in this scene.
• Medium Close up - The scene ends with this to show that both these characters have a some sort of relationship between them. 

The score to this opening is non-diegetic. It starts jumpy and edgy but it slows and becomes smoother as it introduces the characters, this suggests that currently the characters are safe and secure but later on they may not be so. However the score picks up again just before entering the apartment and being stopped when the dialogue begins. Waiting to make that cut shows that the score is just as important as the dialogue in this film and its portrayal of Mise en Scene.

The dialogue within this scene emphasizes the relationship between the two characters with most of the interactions being flirtatious and romantic.

The initial costume of Marion Crane is white. This connotes her being 'angelic' and 'pure'; showing the audience straight away that her character is morally right and just. Her voice within the scene portrays her again as being morally right, by wanting to get back to work giving her character a sensible preferred reading from the audience. Her gestures suggest Marion's character being a dainty vulnerable female by lying on the bed during the whole scene. The location is a built up city in a well furnished apartment. The audience could read from this that Marion's character is fairly 'well off' with a stable job and lifestyle.