However, in Psycho, the main character dies at the end of Act 1.
Given that Psycho varies so significantly from Syd Field's classic three act paradigm, it is possible to define a new paradigm based on Pyscho's plot structure. Psycho follows Field's three act paradigm during Act 1, where the main character, and his or her situation, is outlined. However, the plot point at the end of Act 1 can be seen as turning point, where the story changes substantially from the events set out in Act 1. This differs significantly from Field's inciting incident at the end of Act 1.
In Pyscho's Act 2, new characters are introduced (like the detective), and formerly minor characters (Sam and Marion's sister) develop as the main characters. At the end of Act 2, there is a plot point, which I will call the crisis point, where the newly developed main characters (Sam and Marion's sister) come into peril. This contrasts with Field's second plot point at the end of Act 2, where the main character usually achieves a goal
In Psycho's Act 3, the resolution, the crisis created in the crisis plot point at the end of Act 2 is resolved during the movie's climax. The climax...
According to Francois Truffaut, "Hitchcock is universally acknowledged to be the world's foremost technician, even his detractors willingly concede him this title," and other critics state, "Hitchcock is one of the greatest inventors of form in the entire cinema," while still others assert that "his films remain central to questions of cinematic practice and critical theory" (Kirshner). Psycho was one Hitchcock's favorite films, because he derived his main satisfaction from
The “mother” of all other horror movies, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho transformed the directorial, cinematographic, and narrative style of cinema (“Psycho - How Alfred Hitchcock Manipulates An Audience”). Especially in the way Hitchcock attempted to involve the audience directly by creating a subjective, unreliable narrator, it was possible to generate the intense suspense and tension that permeates the film. As a result, viewers place themselves into Marian’s shoes. Even though Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock has cast several actors in a few of his films. James Stewart, a favorite of Hitchcock's has been in "Rope," "Rear Window," "The Man Who Knew Too Much," and "Vertigo." He is and always has been an actor that grows with his characters. As the relationship between Stewart and Hitchcock grew, so did the character's he played, complexity. Stewart provided Hitchcock what few could in his life and
Psycho Alfred Hitchcok's Psycho was released in 1960, and encapsulates the social, psychological, and political tensions of the Cold War era. As Raubicheck and Serebnick point out, Psycho could have been a bridge to the 1960s but the film is "less linked to and reflective of the so-called radical sixties than they are of the more controlled fifties and possess more cultural texture of this earlier era," (17). The issues related
This ties closely with Hitchcock's belief that "dialogue means nothing" in and of itself. He explains, "People don't always express their inner thoughts to one another, a conversation may be quite trivial, but often the eyes will reveal what a person thinks or needs." Thus the focus of a scene within his movies never focuses on what actors say, but rather on what they are doing. Unlike a painter,
During the broadcasting of Psycho, Hitchcock asked for the doors to the cinema to be closed for those that wanted to enter. Psycho is a motion picture that had surely intimidated its audience. From the very start of movie, the viewers feel that they are being presented with a distorted image of an ordinary lunch. Marion and Sam have sex in their hotel room instead of finishing their food. This
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