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Psycho - Opening Sequence


Hitchcock's 1960 thriller film Psycho was a fantastic film of its time, representing themes of corruptibility, confused identities, human vulnerabilities and victimization. These themes were also shown through using various motifs, which are used to establish a mood within a film, and these were used by birds, hands, eyes and mirrors. Hitchcock had also represented typical thriller conventions in this film, including the opening title sequence, where he used sliced lines to reveal the cast and producers, which also represents the murders later taking place in the films, and the weapon used; a knife. The titles were also used to represent the characteristics of the murderer, where three colours (grey, black and white) which come together in a jagged effect to represent a split personality, of which the murderer Norman Bates has.As this was an old and original film, a lot of the conventions from this film were adapted and used in other modern films. The typical conventions include a blonde, female victim used as stereotype, a male murderer, an isolated house, bad weather as a use of pathetic fallacy and a mind twisting storyline.

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