How does Hitchcock use cinematography to create tension in The Parlour Scene in Psycho?

How does Hitchcock use cinematography to create tension in The Parlour Scene in Psycho?

Hitchcock uses cinematography really well in the Parlour scene to create tension. One technique that is very effective is the way the two characters are never in the same shot together. This is effective and creates tension because we cant see the other persons face so we don’t know what they are doing. We are also unable to tell how close they are sitting, this creates tension because usually threat can be portrayed by how close someone is to another person, being up close and in someone’s face maybe seen as threatening, but because we cant see the distance the level of threat is never quite known to us thus creating tension.

The composition of each shot has been done very cleverly and again makes the scene feel very threatening. The treat is often created by the placement of the birds in the scene, the birds appear to be baring down on Marion in a very threatening way, they almost seem to be attacking her as if she was their pray. A lot of the shots are also composed so that the angles of the birds are always angled towards Marion, again creating threat and tension in the scene as if the birds are waiting to attack her. In one shot there is also a big black stuffed raven which screams out death and warnings, its faces directly towards her head clearly foreshadowing Marion’s death.

The use of shadow creates tension by hiding the people’s faces. Shadows are cast across Norman’s face when he talks about the ‘mad house’ this could imply that this is a dark topic and he is hiding a lot form Marion. As well as the fact Normans face is covered by dark shadows when the topic of the mad house is brought up, there is a close up shot of Norman’s face, this close up allows us to clearly see the expression on his face and linking back to what I said earlier about distance relating to threat because he is close us he is in away getting closer to us as an audience, almost as if he is getting in our faces and threatening us.

The light source in this scene is also a good indicator to the characters background and way of life. The main light source is a lamp behind Marion, showing us she is modern and more open minded. Whereas Norman is shown to be old fashioned with sturdy family values, this clash in culture and way of life causes tension and reminds the audience that Norman isn’t as social sophisticated as Marion. The poor lighting seems to also blur the background out slightly, this causes a feeling of tension because we cant see who or what could be hiding away in the shadows. The fact that even the room is being ‘hidden’ by the blurredness of the room could further imply threat, lies and build even more tension.

As well as having the light sources behind Norman and Marion the other props placed in the scene are used to represent the characters personalities. Marion’s personality is depicted using rounded and elegant shaped props, such as the lamp and the jug of milk, these props are curved and feminine, telling us she is a feminine character and a smooth character who can do know wrong, ironic though as she has just stolen forty thousand dollars off her boss, but because Norman doesn’t know this his view on her would be that she is kind and elegant and as a well rounded person, so it makes sense for her to be depicted in this way while she is in his room,  and being seen through his eyes. Contrasting to this Norman is composed as a sharp character with defined lines and sharp angled props, even the shadows cast upon him are sharp looking. And the way the photo frames seem to be titled slightly could suggest to us that his state of mind isn’t the best and he could flip and any second again creating alot of tension, we are almost expecting and waiting for him to flip and get angry. 

When Norman refers to Marion as ‘eating like a bird’ this comes across threatening because clearly Norman enjoys killing and stuffing birds. Because he has said this we get the impression that sooner or later Marion is going to die, the reference in its self isn’t actually threatening but because of who is saying it and the situation it is being said in this simple phrase clearly foreshadows death. 

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