Hitchcock seems to have combined superb angle-shots with excellent sound
effects.
What's the shower scene in _Psycho_ without the sound? The heart-racing
eeeek-eeeeek that slashes the air before Mother's knife does? What about the
much discussed angle-shots in this scene?
Field of vision tricks: why the angle-shots themselves can make the audience
seasick.
A flipbook: Take a two stacks of different-colored paper (black and white works
best); use one sheet as the backdrop and cut the other sheet so that it forms a
solid (preferably a rectangular or trapezoidal shape); glue the foreground shape
to the background so that the foreground and background sheets form a
well-defined horizon line; repeat this activity for each background sheet, but
vary the size and/or angular positioning of the foreground sheet relative to the
sheet that precedes it; focus on the stack of sheets so that they alone are in
your field of vision and flip the sheets; finally, notice how the movement of
the horizon line makes you feel. Did you notice how shifts in the horizon line
create a sense of rising and falling or of speed?
Another flipbook: Try this same experiment with a circle or a torus that shrinks
and expands.
Another trick that creates a sense of rising or falling or of rapid and slow
movement is shifting the brightness in lighting.
JMC
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