Psycho editing methods

Editing analysis, Psycho

Editing presents the relationship between shots and the process by which they are combined to the audience creating a frame of emotion, and to create a realism about the film.  It is essential to the creation of narrative and to the establishment of narrative time.  The relationship between shots may be graphic and/or rhythmic.

Film-makers and editors may work with various goals in mind.  Traditionally, commercial cinema prefers the continuity system, or the creation of a logical, continuous narrative which allows the audience to suspend disbelief easily and comfortably.  Alternatively, film-makers may use editing to encourage our intellectual participation or to call attention to their work in a reflexive manner.

The clip below, takes place as the woman in the scene, takes a shower and is brutally murdered after being stabbed several times in the chest. As her blood is washed away down the drain the camera slowly zooms onto the drain. This is an example of slow editing. They then use a technique called a match cut and turn the drain whole into the iris of the dead woman's left eye. This leaves the audience in shock, and giving the effect that the woman's life has been washed away by a mystery murderer.  

 

Freeze frame is the effect of seemingly stopping a film in order to focus in one event or element and was used in the clip above when the woman is lying on the floor. They freeze the frame and rotate the image whilst zooming out to show that the woman is dead and the unusual position she finds herself in. This shows the audience her final fate and securing them of any confession they had for a reverse plot or something else to that affect. This whole clip is filmed using the continuity edit. This is an edit that makes the clip feel 'life like' as the technique draws attention to the realism of time. This is more used right at the beginning while she is at the desk. This technique does not draw attention to the editing process so has a great effect on the audience.

Montage editing is used to join a sequence of cuts into one fluent edit making the scene frames move fast or slow. In Psycho, this technique is used to make the killing scene more realistic and to hide the fact that the antagonist doesn't actually touch her with the knife. This edit is quite old and so doesn't show the realism of modern films but at the time created a sense of panic and energy throughout the audience. 

The Establishing Shot or sequence serves to stimulate the viewers within a particular environment or setting and/or to introduce an important character or characters. It singles out the main character(s) and shows the environment there in. The mise-en-scene can be properly examined in this shot witch (among other things) an important characteristic in the portrayal of the genre. The establishing shot is usually the first or the first few shots in a sequence (and is most effective when followed by a montage edit), and as such, it must be very efficient in portraying the context. In this clip it is used to show the character at her desk and then in the shower. It is then followed by the montage edit to show its full affect.