Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Film Language and Representation Post

Extract time frame: 45:00 - 50:00
  
After skipping town with the stolen $40,000 and a long drive on the freeway, Marion is currently residing in Bates Motel, after she had finished dinner and conversation with the owner, Norman Bates. As Marion sits in her cabin, she is adding up some numbers, involving the $40,000 but soon after flushes do the torn up paper down the toilet. Prior to flushing down the pieces of paper, Marion's current emotions can be be conveyed due to her expressions as she adds up the numbers. She does this in a way that shows the audience her feelings of guilt. However, the change in mood can emanate from the shower Marion takes after this. Her facial expressions seem happy, which can establish the transformation in mood. This shower can act as a "cleanse of guilt", in which is providing Marion with a fresh start, giving her the chance to purify her wrong doings. Nevertheless, things take an unexpected turn within the plot. About a minute or so into her shower, we see a silhouette creep up behind her and rip aside the shower curtain. This instance is where the second character is brought out, although their identity is concealed to create a sense of mystery. It turns out this person is the killer who murders their first victim, which unfortunately for Marion is her. After the crime is committed Norman Bates rushes down to the motel only to see that Marion has been murdered. This significant scenario manipulates the plot in such a way that baffles the audience due to how they are led into thinking Marion is the main character, but is killed off a third of the way into the movie.

The acting withing this scene is dynamically done by Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) and the killer who's identity is concealed for plot mystery purposes. Although silhouetted, the audience can be led into thinking that Mrs. Bates, Norman's mother, is the killer due to the physicalities and wardrobe such as the hair and dress. Even though there isn't much dialogue within this scene, a lot of meaning can come out of it due to variation in camera angles, emotion/reaction, style of editing, lighting and symbolism and metaphors. As Marion reacts to the shower curtain being ripped aside the camera zooms into her face to further emphasize her reactions. This is done in a way where the audience can feel the emotions Marion is feeling at the time. More meaning can be established through the murdering and the aftermath, which can demonstrate various types of stylistic choices and forms of metaphors and symbolism. 

In terms of cinematography, certain shot selection and angle variation is utilized within this scene in a way that can show off all the different elements. Different angles such as high angles and low angles are used in this scene to show off all different sides of where and how Marion is being stabbed. Doing so would give the audience more of a vision and imagery on what Marion is going through that the moment. The framing specifically consists of three different shot selections which are, Wide-Shot, Close-Up and Extreme-Close-Up. These particular shots can be a way of establishing reactions and occurrences. The wide-shot is used to establish and show both killer and Marion, the close-up is used to show just killer in terms of their physicalities and the extreme-close-up can be a technique that conveys Marion's reactions, which can further emphasize her emotions towards the audience. The two styles of cinematography that are incorporated within this scene can be considered as both realistic and classicist. The realism aspect can be represented by the aftermath of the murder which is a slow continuous pan that starts out in the bathroom, to the money, ending at the house. the classicism style can be shown through the quick, fast paced cuts during the shower murder scene. When it comes to light design, it is positioned in a way to silhouette killer but, uses a sufficient amount of lighting on Marion to put more emphasis on the victim while the killer's identity is concealed. 


Within this extract the symbolism and metaphors can be exemplified through certain elements in the aftermath of the shower murder scene. First of the symbolism can be seen through what happens once Norman discovers that Marion has been murdered. To visually depict the setting within Marion's cabin, there are two picture frames of small birds. In a way these birds can signify the killer's two victims, which are Marion and Arborgast. Shocked at the sight of Marion's dead body, he turns around and accidentally knocks down one of the pictures. To further establish the symbolism, the picture of the bird can act as a sense of parallelism to Marion due to the way Norman compares her to a bird a few minutes prior to this extract. The two pictures on the wall can represent the two victims; as one dies, one frame gets knocked down. When it comes to the visual metaphors within this scene, after Marion is killed she is laying on the ground and the camera slowly pans over to the shower drain and slowly gets closer into it; soon developing into a graphic match to Marion’s eye. Metaphorically speaking the shower drain matching to Marion's eye can symbolize the life slowly draining out of her.

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