Intertextuality

Intertextuality is a term to describe similar visual references between films. It's when a film 'borrows' another technique, including camera angles, soundtrack, or methods of editing you've seen from other films.

We watched 3 clips from films where the director had borrowed a technique from Alfred Hitchcocks film Psycho. The first film clip we watched was What Lies Beneath, which includes the same type bathroom, very white and modern looking. The camera firstly gives a point of view angle from the door, looking in towards the shower. Then the camera pans over the shower top, showing the shower running and the water falling on the lady in there. Her face is emotionless, as if though she is in shock. This is simliar to Psycho as the ladys face is shown, after she has been stabbed, seeming like she is in need, but is powerless. The camera focuses on her face until she dies. The lady in What Lies Beneath looks similar to the lady in Psycho,  she also has blonde hair and slim. She is also wearing a bathrobe which we see the lady from Psycho wearing at the beginning of the clip.

Another film we watched was Succubus, a clip that students have made which mimics Psycho. The sound in the clip is minimal until the lady walks into the shower room where we se her take out a big knife. That's when the drum beat sounds, to link the sound to the action. The impact of the blade cannot be shown so instead is shown through sound. This is very similar to Psycho as Alfred Hitchcock uses high pitched violins to show the impact of the knife. When the attack is over, the women walks off and the man is left there, with blood all over him, dead.