Sound Analysis of a Thriller

Psycho (1960) is a thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It tells the story of an office worker (Marion) who is fed up with her life. She meets her lover Sam in her lunchbreaks and they can’t get married as he has to give most of his money to his ex-wife. Marion is given $40,000 to bank by her employer. She decides to take the money and start a new life and goes to find Sam. After driving for a while and becoming tired, she pulls stops off for the night at The Bates Motel.

The shower scene begins with the woman closing the door of the bathroom before she gets in the shower, a diegetic sound of the door closing accompanies this action so that the audience believe that this is actually happening and so it makes the scene more realistic. This is important for the audience as we need to believe that the woman is actually in a bathroom otherwise the plot becomes less scary and less believable.

The scene begins with the woman closing the door of the bathroom before she gets in the shower, a diegetic sound of the door closing accompanies this action so that the audience believe that this is actually happening-it makes the scene more realistic. 

 The next thing we hear is the diegetic sound of the woman closing the shower curtain. As there is no other sound, we as an audience are completely focused on the diegetic sounds of the bathroom. 

We then hear the sound of the shower turning on. This again is a diegetic sound which helps us to feel the reality of the situation, making the rest of the scene more terrifying as we see that it can happen to anyone. At this point the volume increases so that all we can hear is the sound of the shower. It gives the impression that it is all that can be heard and it is drowning out any other noise. This sound is synchronous to the shower and it is all that the audience are focusing on. Although it is a very normal and harmless sound, the diegetic sound of the shower lasts from 0:20-0:48 seconds, without any other interruptions. This prolonged length of time makes the audience uneasy and causes them to question what will happen next. The calming sound of the shower, which has connotations of relaxation and cleanliness suddenly because unnerving because that is all we can hear for 28 seconds. The steady, uninterrupted sound, automatically worries the audience and causes tension as they are anticipating something to come and interrupt this gentle, calming sound. 

At 0:48 seconds the audience is alerted to there being an issue as you can see the shadow of someone coming through the door.

At 0:58 seconds, the non-diegetic soundtrack begins. At this point, the tension is at its peak as we are alarmed by the high pitch harsh sounds of the soundtrack. The soundtrack uses string instruments, such as violins, only playing very high, piercing notes, which cause the audience to feel uneasy and uncomfortable as it is not a normal or pleasant sound to listen to. The soundtrack is parallel to the non-diegetic sound of the shower curtain being pulled open. At 1:00 we hear the diegetic sound of the woman screaming over the top of the non-diegetic soundtrack. This again causes the audience to panic and adds to the intensity of the scene. The loud, piercing scream is not a nice sound and has connotations of danger and is often a warning that something bad is going to happen so it immediately grabs the audience’s attention and keeps them hooked and expectant.

 The volume of the soundtrack increases while the woman is screaming to alert the audience to the danger. The non-diegetic soundtrack is synchronous to the stabbing, giving the stabs more purpose and adding even more danger as the loud volume causes panic. Throughout the whole stabbing sequence, we continue to hear the shower running, just as it was before. This adds an eerie element to the scene because The shower has not stopped and the once relaxing sound becomes deadly and terrifying.

The soundtrack becomes faster and faster and more and more instruments are added to the soundtrack to increase the tension of the scene, however at 1:23 the high pitched loud soundtrack begins to die down and becomes slower and there are lower sounds used, symbolising the evil and the violence that has just taken place. It also signifies to the audience that something is about to happen to the woman.

 

At 1:52, the non-diegetic soundtrack stops after gradually decreasing in speed. Two seconds later, we hear the diegetic sound of the woman pulling the shower curtain off the rail, hook by hook. This slow process indicates her slow death and we hear the sound of each individual hook coming off the rail. This is a sound that we would want to be fast, however it happens in real time, forcing the audience to listen to each hook coming off the rail, emphasising her death.

We then hear a diegetic ‘thud’ when the woman falls out of the shower. This noise is sudden and alarming as it confirms for the audience that the woman is dead. This loud thud is aggressive and so is a direct contrast to the character of a woman, who we would associate with being dainty and not making such a loud sound, therefore emphasising the unusual events that have taken place.

The shower continues running and we hear in the scene is the plug draining away the water from the shower. As the camera zooms in closer to the plug draining away the water, the diegetic sound of the plug draining the water gets louder, drawing our focus to the blood that is being drained away and causing us to think and about and reflect on the events that have just taken place.

 

The scene ends with the shower still running in the background as we see an extreme close up of the woman’s eye, zooming out gradually to show the audience that she has been murdered.

Overall, the use of sound in this scene creates the uncomfortable and terrifying atmosphere for the audience and the non-diegetic soundtrack directly contrasts to the normal environment, making it more relatable and so more terrifying for the audience.