Psycho Shower Scene

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Mise en scene, editing, lighting and sound. This scene opens with Janet Leigh (Marion Crane) sitting in her bath robe at a desk in her room at the Bates Motel. The room is typical of any other room of this type, small, bare walls, just the furniture you would find in a sparsely furnished bedroom and a table along with en suit bathroom. The first shot (MS) sees her sitting at the table writing, which cuts to a (ECU) of her working out money figures. Her mood appears calm and her movement is relaxed and casual. She hesitates to put the ripped up paper in the litter bin before deciding to put it down the toilet. Walking across the room (pan LS) to the bathroom, she flushes it down the toilet (CU), getting rid of the evidence. Her decision to take a shower probably represents washing away her guilt. She certainly appears to be enjoying her shower, emphasized by her facial expression, smiling which is framed with a close. Eye trace, she looks up at the shower head then cuts to POV of shower head. A number of camera movements are employed placing the camera at different angles around her until it is behind her, tilting down, facing the bathroom door. I think they obey the 30 degree rule here. The door, seen through the shower curtain, opens and the shadow of a figure is seen walking in. The duration of the shots becomes very quick as Norman pulls back the shower curtain and repeatedly plunges the knife into her body. ECU’s CU’s and MS’s are used from a variety of angles putting emphasis on her facial expressions, the screams coming from her mouth and the stabbing action of the knife in Norman’s hand. A tilt down camera angle reveals the blood from her body dripping into the water in the bath. An ECU of her hand and a MS of her sliding down the tiled wall into the bath indicates that she is dying. She reaches out, almost as a desperate bid for help and grips the shower
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