Textual Analysis In Terms Of The Thriller Genre Conventions: Psycho Shower Scene

The Scene begins with a long shot of an attractive blonde woman which then cuts to a
close up of the women flushing torn paper down the toilet, backed up by soft
string score, however there are also elements of tension arising from the

score. Firstly the fact that the women is blonde, attractive and alone we get

the sense that she is in a vulnerable position especially due to the fact that
she is alone, furthermore the genre expectations of a thriller builds up
tension as we anticipate that something bad will happen to this female. Also
the fact that this woman is seen to be flushing paper down the toilet causes an
enigma and this begins to raise questions to the audience as we begin to ponder
why she is getting rid of the paper and what the paper contained, finally the soft
but tense score adds to the tense atmosphere surrounding the bathroom.

The long shot reveals the female undressing herself and stepping into the shower and the
fact that she is naked puts her in more of a position of vulnerability. The
female turns the shower on and we hear nothing but the synchronous sound of the
water pouring down the shower head creating a sense of normality from an
everyday routine, furthermore there is a montage of the female showering with a
series of close ups of her and the shower head, this could suggest a time lapse
and at the same time create tension for the audience as once again due to genre
expectation the audience begin to anticipate a disaster of some sort, suddenly
the camera framing draws a silhouette into the scene creating dramatic irony as
we as the audience can see this protagonist however the female in the shower is
completely oblivious to the situation, furthermore there is a slow zoom,
getting closer to the mysterious silhouette, all of the sudden there is the
synchronised sound of the curtains being drawn and the tense score kicks in
creating tension for the audience, the series of quick cuts really emphasises
the stabbing also backed up by a series of close ups.

Once the attack is over a close up of the females hand is revealed and is backed up by
pleonastic sounds of the score as the hand slides down the wall, also the shot
of the blood running down the bath tub and into the drain followed by a panning
of the camera symbolises her life going away, the score begins to fade away and
the sound becomes asynchronous and synchronous of the water continuously
pouring down almost creating a peaceful feeling after the attack. Finally there
seems to be a POV from the attackers view point as he walks through the room and the camera is focused on a newspaper this once again is an enigma as it raises questions as to why the attacker was looking at the newspaper and what significance does it have ?