I played the victim, Craig played the murderer and Charlie captured the footage.
We each had a copy of the raw footage to take home to edit together. Here's my edit:
Saturday 14 January 2012
Mirror Task
In class, after we watched Psycho and noticed it's mirror usage within the film - we were inspired to produce our own piece together involving props of a large mirror, a small flower , a mask and a hammer.
Monday 9 January 2012
'Psycho' And Mirror Work
In class, we have watched the 1960 classic film 'Psycho' by Alfred Hitchcock. We took notes during the film of the techniques that Hitchcock used within this film.
Firstly, throughout the opening title sequence of credits: orchestral music with jerky strings play in the background whilst the white text appear and disappear from the black background. Already, the tension is built in these first few minutes - the background music seems to 'pierce' the ears with the jerky, high pitched strings which warns the audience of any 'stabbing' that may come along.
The first piece of footage is an establishing shot of the city which then slowly pans down through an apartment window of a couple having an affair. At this point the background music seems to calm down for the dialogue.
During this scene, the couple (Marion Crane and Sam Loomis) are both semi-naked, showing vulnerability and 'reveals their true selves'. As she's a single woman and he's a married man, it is sinful and therefore she will be punished - an indication that she will 'pay the price' later on.
Throughout this film, Hitchcock used a great deal of reflection work. For example, when Marion was in her bedroom to quickly pack her bags with clothes and the stolen money - the camera is concentrated on the mirror which is looking at the door. This shows that we may be expecting someone to walk into her room to catch her out - this raises tension as she is acting in a suspicious behaviour and wants to run with the money successfully.
When Marion begins her car journey, she drove into the night - the darkness isolating and disguising her from any passers by.
The camera shots mainly focuses on Marion's facial expressions and the rear-view mirror, this indicates the viewer that she is becoming paranoid of anyone finding her with the large sum of stolen money. Her eyes often glances at the rear-view mirror when she sees other car's headlights in the dark.
After Marion has driven throughout the night and it becomes daylight - which exposes and makes her feel vulnerable - a police officer comes along to stop her. During the conversation between the two, it consists of mainly close ups of the character's faces - amplifying the atmospheric tension as all the viewers see were their faces. This causes an uncomfortable, awkward tension with Marion and the police officer as she tries her best to keep composure.
When Marion was eventually free to go, her paranoia creeps up as saw the policeman seemingly following her for a distance before parting with her.
Marion continues with her journey to stop at California to purchase a car to keep her tracks covered. She stops off the nearest car dealer and went in to the toilets where it's enclosed and restricted. The camera concentrates on the single mirror on the wall which focuses on Marion and the door behind her - showing the viewers that she's behaving delusional that someone may walk in and catch her out.
Firstly, throughout the opening title sequence of credits: orchestral music with jerky strings play in the background whilst the white text appear and disappear from the black background. Already, the tension is built in these first few minutes - the background music seems to 'pierce' the ears with the jerky, high pitched strings which warns the audience of any 'stabbing' that may come along.
The first piece of footage is an establishing shot of the city which then slowly pans down through an apartment window of a couple having an affair. At this point the background music seems to calm down for the dialogue.
During this scene, the couple (Marion Crane and Sam Loomis) are both semi-naked, showing vulnerability and 'reveals their true selves'. As she's a single woman and he's a married man, it is sinful and therefore she will be punished - an indication that she will 'pay the price' later on.
Throughout this film, Hitchcock used a great deal of reflection work. For example, when Marion was in her bedroom to quickly pack her bags with clothes and the stolen money - the camera is concentrated on the mirror which is looking at the door. This shows that we may be expecting someone to walk into her room to catch her out - this raises tension as she is acting in a suspicious behaviour and wants to run with the money successfully.
When Marion begins her car journey, she drove into the night - the darkness isolating and disguising her from any passers by.
The camera shots mainly focuses on Marion's facial expressions and the rear-view mirror, this indicates the viewer that she is becoming paranoid of anyone finding her with the large sum of stolen money. Her eyes often glances at the rear-view mirror when she sees other car's headlights in the dark.
After Marion has driven throughout the night and it becomes daylight - which exposes and makes her feel vulnerable - a police officer comes along to stop her. During the conversation between the two, it consists of mainly close ups of the character's faces - amplifying the atmospheric tension as all the viewers see were their faces. This causes an uncomfortable, awkward tension with Marion and the police officer as she tries her best to keep composure.
When Marion was eventually free to go, her paranoia creeps up as saw the policeman seemingly following her for a distance before parting with her.
Marion continues with her journey to stop at California to purchase a car to keep her tracks covered. She stops off the nearest car dealer and went in to the toilets where it's enclosed and restricted. The camera concentrates on the single mirror on the wall which focuses on Marion and the door behind her - showing the viewers that she's behaving delusional that someone may walk in and catch her out.
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