The Marvellous creative Editing in Psycho(1960)

Psycho is Alfred Hitchcock's most revolutionary picture that changed the concept of editing and gave a whole new level to editing. It changed the method of movie editing in many ways. The technologies that were introduced in the making of the film were fresh, new and creative. The editing was done very cleverly and is a perfect example of how a movie's feel is completely depended on the way its edited and give the audience complete feel of what the character is feeling and of the environment.


Basically, editing is compiling of raw footages to create a story and fill emotions among the audiences and keep rythm. Lets explain through some examples. The close shot of marion crane while she is running away from her hometown, after stealing money from her office. the shot which showing her, half steering which with the sky as the background and the course changes, can be regarded as an eye line matching shot. Their the is shown the highway in front of Marion. Then, a change in the weather from dawn to dusk, clear sky turning dark and eventually raining which makes Marion park and fall asleep in the car. The next seen shows Marion waking up in the morning in the same car. The editor of Psycho used editing in terms of time like in the same scene where the detective interrogates in different hotels in search of Marion. Hence George dominates the editor uses different shots showing that the time has passed. Tomasini used graphics in a creepy manner like stuffed birds shot there created more tensed and disturbed mood. He even uses space that made the audience excited and on the edge. A large variety of editing is used in a two hour film.