psycho shower scene (1960)sound analysis

Psycho (1960) shower scene. 

Sound techniques

Before the woman gets into the shower there is diegetic sounds, such as her footsteps and the shower curtain, but it’s quite peaceful, however this creates an on edge atmosphere, then the peace fades and there is a use of non-diegetic music that slowly builds up to eerie slow pace music which benefits the film as it builds up the climax, creating an edgy and uneasy feeling for the viewers. After the music stops and there is parallel sounding, the shower turns on and we can here the shower, it Is in sync to the image also. This shifts the eerie atmosphere to a more relaxed one and breaks down the climax. As soon as the curtain is pulled, there is high pitched non diegetic music, played once again, this time much louder and faster. This is to help create a shocked fearful impact on the viewers. The music is sharp, which crates fear as sharp things make people uneasy, studies have shown, so having the sharp and creepy music helps set the horror feel. Before the psycho stabs her you here a high pitched scream and Hitchcock uses selective sound to produce a scream that terrified the audience and to emphasise the women’s fear-as she struggles for her life, her screams become much less piercing, this shows the women is dying, the sound helps us to figure out that she is dying. Once the psycho has left the scene, the non-diegetic music that was playing becomes less high pitched and rapidly slows down- this could be to show that when he leaves, a sense of terror has left with him. The music at the end of the scene slowly dies down and I think Hitchock used the music to reflect the that the women is also dying as he grabs the shower curtain and falls to her death.

Editing techniques