The scene begins with fast paced music from the original psycho film, this contrasts the slow editing. The shots are long mid shots showing the woman in her dressing gown which gives the impression that she has or will be in the bathroom. A long shot is shown of the woman pulling the shower curtain closed which is made significant by the diegetic sound being loud and scratching. The shots of the woman are medium close up shots to prevent the audience from seeing her naked body and this modesty gives the impression of purity and innocence while making the woman seem vulnerable. The bathroom scene is mostly white which also implies purity.
There are low shots of the shower running and the only noise which can be heard are the diegetic sounds of water running and gurgling down the drain. The scene is very simplistic with the woman doing an everyday task in a plain room and nothing out of the ordinary is happening. There is no non-diegetic sound which gives the scene a natural atmosphere however all of this is in contrast to the orchestral music which was played just before. The music was quick paced and sinister and had sharp, high pitched violins. The ordinarity of the woman taking a shower after music like that, creates an enigma for the audience. This is because the audience is wondering why fast paced and frightening music was played while accompanied by a scene of a woman doing everyday actions.
The sound of the woman turning the shower on is sharp and mirrors the music used during the stabbing scene later on, the sharp violins mimicking the stabbing knife. The woman also has red fingernails which could also mirror the amount of blood later in the scene.
The high angle shot of the woman in the shower shows her as being weak and vulnerable. The camera editing is very slow paced and has shown the woman showering for almost a whole minute before the killer is introduced. This can either make the audience predict something is going to happen because there has been no action for a long period of time, or it can create a false sense of security and the audience will be shocked when the killer is introduced.
A pan is used and moves slowly from the woman to the shower curtain where a figure can be seen moving into the bathroom from behind. This keeps the consistent slow pace until any action occurs and also is frightening for the audience because they cannot see who the figure is as the shower curtain blurs the image. The uncertainty of the situation and the slow movement of the figure towards the shower creates suspense and makes the audience tense.
The shower curtain is suddenly whisked back and the sharp sound of it interrupts the steady sound of the shower running. In the beginning of the scene, the sound of the shower curtain being pulled closed signals the beginning of an intimate and innocent scene of the woman showering and the sound of the shower curtain being pulled back signals the end of innocence.
The killers costume is also important as you still cannot see the killers face clearly as the hair covers it and creates a dark space and the camera is filming from behind the running shower which also helps to distort the shot of the killer, however the knife is made clearly visible to the audience. The killer does not move for a short while which allows the woman’s reaction to the intrusion to be filmed.
The camera editing becomes very quick as it flickers from medium close up shots of the killer and the woman. A zoom in shot is used as the woman is screaming and the camera moves quickly to a close up of her mouth. A medium close up shot is shown of the killer every time they are about to stab the woman and a close up shot of the killers hand is shown each time they stab her. The editing becomes even faster as it flickers between close up shots of the woman and high angle shots of her while another high angle shot shows the blood on the bath floor. Pathetic fallacy is used in the form of quick extreme long shots of dark stormy skies which shows the comparison between the chaos inside the building and chaotic nature outside.
A slow tilt is used to show the woman slipping down the bathroom wall and the bright white of the bathroom tiles shows a great contrast as the bright crimson blood smears onto the walls. Then the scene shows a graphic match of an extreme close up of the blood draining down the plug hole matching the extreme close up of the woman’s dilated pupil. The camera slowly spins out of the close up of the eye to completely mirror the water running down the plug hole. This could symbolise the life slowly draining out of the woman.
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