How are camera angles used to create tension and suspense?

How does Hitchcock use camera angles to create tension and suspense in Pyscho?

Hitchcock creates tension by the use of the close shots of Marion which tightly frames her and allows the audience to see the emotions and feelings on her face. This creates suspense amongst the audience because they can see the tension in the lines above her eyebrows which transfers a sense of tension to the audience. Marion is placed in the centre of the shot which makes her the audience’s centre of attention. Which means the audience’s sole concentration on her.

  

This links with the long time between cuts. Each time the camera cuts away it gives a point of view shot of the road and how she sees it as she is driving, then when it cuts back to her face the camera has zoomed in slightly and we are that little bit closer to her face which creates a sense of unease in the audience, combining this with the pace of the editing creates tension because they know something is going to happen but they don’t know what.

Hitchcock uses the weather, as pathetic fallacy, but also to distort the car lights behind Marion’s car which gives the audience a sense of discomfort, because as they are distorted we are unsure if they're following her or whether they are just driving behind her this gives a sense of suspense to the audience because they are left wondering. The use of pathetic fallacy is when human feelings reflect the weather outside. The rain is coming down rather hard outside her car which could reflect the tension she is feeling as she is clearly running away from something.

Linking back to my previous point about Marion being centre of the shot I believe this is highly effective because the shot lengths are exceptionally long between cuts which means the audience could grow bored, but all out attention is on Marion's face and her emotions. The lighting highlights her cheekbones and eyebrows making her face seem more deep and detailed, it also allows the audience to see all of her emotions and read her like a book.

Hitchcock uses close up shots to create suspense because we cannot see what is going on around Marion we have no idea of what's going on around her, this also links to my point about pathetic fallacy because the camera is tightly framing her face we don't know if she's being followed and the weather blocks out any other chance we might have to know if she's being followed. This creates tension and suspense for the audience because they have no idea of what's to come, for Marion or in the film itself.