Intertextuality

Intertextuality is defined as borrowing and using the ideas from an existing film. I have recently watched the shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film "Psycho". This scene shows a young woman taking a shower, she is completely oblivious to what is going to happen to her so she happily goes about her business. We see a number of different shots of her showing from various angles, the shots flow smoothly together which reflects how clam the woman is as she expects her shower to go smoothly and normally. However we then see a shot of a figure approaching the shower, we can not see this clearly as the audience see the silhouette through the shower curtain which is from the woman's perspective. 

As the figure pulls back the shower curtain everything seems to pick up pace from here. This includes the editing, as we see fast cuts back and forth from the woman's expression to the murderer. Also a non-digetic soundtrack is introduced here which was no heard perviously in this scene. The music comes in suddenly and dramatically as does the murderer when they burst through the curtain. In this scene the miss-en-scene is key as its sets the scene for the audiences as without the props used we wouldn't be clear that it is a shower scene. The important props here are the shower, the shower curtain and the knife. "Psycho" is a very famous film and this very shower scene has had a huge impact on the way some scenes in newer films are made today. Countless films have 'borrowed' parts of "Psycho". One may recognise certain camera angles, aspects of mise-en-scene, snippets of sounds or methods of editing in newer films that have borrowed these features. 

For example, a newer film entitled "What Lies Beneath" a 2000 American super-natural thriller film directed by Robert Zemeckis has borrowed a number of features from "Psycho." The first similarly that we see in this film is in the section where the man is carrying the woman up the stairs, although this may not have an exact relation to "Psycho" the ideology here is somewhat the same as we can see that in both films the men are in complete control of the women. This is a stereotype of men as we are seen to live in a patriarchal society where men dominate women which is reflected here are the women in both films are completely helpless as the men are in control of them. Below is a screen shot from "What Lies Beneath."

Another connection between "Psycho" and "What Lies Beneath" is the mise-en-scene which has been borrowed. The setting in "What Lies Beneath" is also in a bath room which is the predominant feature in "Psycho" and a number of propers are also borrowed like the bath and the way the water falls from the shower head above onto the innocent woman in both cases. Like in "Psycho" we get shot reverse shots here to show emotion from both characters involved. However the clear difference between the sections from the films is that they have a different mood or vibe to them. In "Psycho" when the man bursts in, the mood becomes tense as everything becomes fast pace. In contrast, the mood in "What Lies Beneath" remains constant through out and doesn't change, the vibe is calm and relaxed and things move slowly. 

I have learnt that intertextuality can be used to help inspire a movie maker in a variety of ways. Ideas can be borrowed from other films which is perfectly ok to do but ideas do not have to be identical as they can be adapted and recreated in your own unique way. I think that this will help me when planning for our thriller film opening as I am now aware that it is fine to get inspiration from other films which may help my group and give us a starting point to work from.