Camera Angles

Here is an online PowerPoint briefly outlining each camera shot and some extra shots as well .

Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory

Propp,Todorov & Levi Strauss

Here is a prezi that outlines the 3 main media theories as well as their criticisms.

Sinister Film Poster Deconstruction and Analysis

Here is a poster analysis and deconstruction outlining all the key aspects and features as well as their significance and effect on the audience.

Psycho Clip Analysis

This is the very famous shower scene from the movie Psycho. Produced by Alfred Hitchcock in 1960, he deliberately chose to film in black and white although there was the option of colour at the time. He thought it would be less horrifying which is understandable because when the main character gets in the shower, it is a very gruesome and gory death and if it were to be in colour, it would be really intense. Alfred Hitchcock said that he wanted the audience to 'suffer as much as possible' and although the movie was in black and white, it still was very effective.  Psycho was the first slasher movie ever made and from then on, many films have been using this scene and some main aspects of the movie in their own. The movie was based on a book by Robert Bloch who wrote about the crimes of American serial killer, Ed Gein. Psycho has been inspired by the story of Ed Gein, a body snatcher who lived in isolation with his hyper-moralistic mum. Other movies that have a similar narrative and similar characters is Texas Chainsaw Massacre as the killer, Leather Face is inspired by Gein. The transvestite in Psycho has been inspired by Ed Gein also as he used to dress in woman clothes himself. The psycho killer was committed to a mental hospital institution for life just like Gein so we can see many links between the movies.

To begin with, the scene has around 90 shots and over 70 camera angles and Hitchcock has incorporated them very carefully and managed to not even show the woman's private parts. The high angle of the shower is quite effective as it makes the audience focus on it more than anything else at the time but then the scene takes a sudden twist and the character is brutally murdered in the shower.The movie uses aspects of the male gaze and voyeurism throughout as we see the movie through a male's perspective. This image is clearly through a male's point of view and we are in such a confined space with the character which creates a uneasy atmosphere. There are also intimate scenes at the beginning which is an aspect of voyeurism because it unusual to watch someone in private situations and this is done quite a lot throughout the movie.

Furthermore, there is no music throughout this scene until the actual murder takes place. There is intense music when the woman is being stabbed multiple times and this is in correlation with the hand gestures of the murderer. Little do the audience know that the murderer is a transvestite and that is also another twist in the narrative. Not much takes place within the scene and the main focus is the murder as it is very unexpected. Hitchcock is very good at making links between the scenes in this movie and that is how we as the audience know what to expect or why something is happening. This is very effective as it doesn't leave the audience in question and the narrative and plot is also very clear so that nothing is unexplained. A lot of cross cutting is used in the movie to create a suspense sequence.

To add to this, the room is quite bare with limited amounts of furniture and the woman is alone which clearly sets the scene for the murder.This evidently links to the first scene where the two characters are in a hotel room with sparse furniture. This foreshadows the events that await.

Horror Timeline

Analysis of Eden Lake