He has many themes, motifs and devices that he uses for his films. But specifically for this film. He uses an ordinary person as his main character but then turns into someone who steals money. The women are always blonde in Hitchcock's films as they appear more innocent than a brunette and they also look better in black and white. He uses a MacGaffin which is his own device, and with this film the MacGaffin is the money because we are constantly following it throughout. Hitchcock was not a fan of the police from a previous experience with his father and the police. In this film the police are portrayed in way that they appear controlling and dominant, with the low angle shots and the dark aviators that cover his eyes, meaning we can not see any emotion. Hitchcock uses mothers in his films and in this film the mother of Norman is oppressive and very over protective. Also at the beginning of the film where we see Marian and Sam's affair he says about putting mothers picture down so they could get up to no good. We see Norman as a likable character, but think he is quite weird as he has stuffed birds in his room and he says that Marian eats like a bird, it is also weird how Marians last name is Crane. Hitchcock also uses voyeurism where Norman spies on Marian in her room through a hole in the wall as she undresses. There is a lot of suspense throughout the whole film, where we know what is going to happen but we know the character is going to do it anyway. the use of principle concealment, narrative retardation and dramatic irony are used in this film. Hitchcock also uses stairways in his films as if there is something dreadful about them. It is used for suspense and the detective gets murdered on the stairs in Psycho. Hitchcock finally uses long silences in his movies which are very effective where music is just played to create more suspense and tension.
We'll have some more ideas up soon!!
Would be nice to hear what you think, feel free to comment us =]
Much love Emma And Haz xxx
