Narration/Psycho

Narration defined

Narration refers to how the narrative is presented to the film spectator. It is the mechanism that controls how the spectator gains information about those actions, events and characters. (E.g. voiceovers in bladerunner, Terminator 2 Judgement day, Fight Club, A Clockwork Orange)

Narrative structure

• What is narrative structure based on?
• Narrative logic
• Cause and effect – NOT random events. This is what drives the narrative.

Narrative logic in action

• Event A a man is shot A points a gun in an off-screen direction and fires. In shot B another man is shown collapsing to the ground. Because of the way the shots are edited (shot B immediately following shot A) The spectator reads the event in shot A as the cause of the event in shot B

Let’s watch Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock)

• We’ll watch the first three scenes (plus the great Saul Bass credit sequence)
• Write a brief synopsis of each scene in your laptop, WHAT is happening in each scene.
• By the end you should have the content of each scene one after the other…
• Then we’ll analyse the cause-effect logic of the narrative:

1. A city with buildings is shown; cars are going down the street. We see the date (Friday 11^th, two forty-three pm). We see through a window. A girl is on the bed in her underwear. She is talking with a man. They start kissing. They start discussing. Man kisses her; woman kisses back and hugs him. Man insists in seeing each other. Woman stands up abruptly and put her blouse on. Man stands up and starts playing with his shirt. We learn his name, Sam and the woman Marion. Sam starts hugging Marion and kissing her neck. Sam starts talking about how he has to pay a lot of things and opens the curtain abruptly. Woman asks for marriage, and Sam starts stuttering. Marion is in a hurry and leaves the hotel room.
2. Marion goes into her job, in an office. She talks to her co-worker. Marion is nervous and putting make-up quickly. Two men enter the office. He starts talking to Marion. He seems really keen in talking to Marion. He states he has 40 thousand dollars in cash with him. The man talks about the bottle of alcohol in the boss’s office. He tells Marion to leave the money in the bank. Marion puts the money in her purse.  She talks to her boss and leaves the office.
3. We are in her house. Marion is looking for clothes. There is a suitcase with a lot of clothes. She is nervous and she is putting a blouse on. She looks herself in the mirror and turns looking at the money, which is on her bed. She is quickly packing and the music insinuates that she is nervous and preparing to do something bad. She takes her suitcase, she gets her coat and leaves.

Some questions about narrative causal logic in Psycho

• What would be the effect is Psycho began with scene 3? Would it be logical? Why not?

We would not know why she is robbing the money, and it would lose its sense therefore it would not be logical.

• In what ways is scene 3 an effect of scenes 1 and 2? (In what way are they causes?)

Scene 3 is an effect of scenes 1 and 2 since in scene 1 we see that Marion needs money and scene 2 presents the opportunity of getting the money, therefore in scene 3 they show she has got the money.

• What is the significance of showing the money in the scene immediately after Marion and Sam talk about getting married?

We get to see the money after them talking so it shows simple yet effective use of cause – effect logic. After we see them talking about getting money we see money. We also learn that she truly loves Sam.

• Why don’t we see Sam leave the hotel and going to the airport – or Lowery and Cassidy eating lunch?

Because it is not relevant and it is not needed in order to tell the story, so it would not be logical.

• What other events are we NOT shown? Why?

Events such as what Sam is doing all along. It is not relevant to the story.