mise-en-scene - 'psycho'

One important feature of the mise-en-scene in the parlour scene is the taxidermied animals. These are used as brief focus points when Norman leads Marion into his somewhat 'enclosed' parlour. Taxidermy is quite a strange hobby and in order to be good at it you have to efficiently kill the animals, remove their intestines, stuff then sew them up and face the task of cleaning up after. Since Norman tells Marion this hobby takes up 'most of his time' we are left with the impression that he is experienced in killing, cleaning and stuffing. The animals being stuffed by Norman cultivate many thoughts in my mind as they're all birds (from what we are shown). The birds he has chosen are ones that have the capability of killing other creatures and eating their remains. He may have chosen these birds in order to prove that he has great strength and is capable of killing what has the capability to kill. This gives off the impression that he has a menacing personality and he gains happiness and fulfilment from wicked doings. Norman also refers to Marion as a bird. He thinks that she 'eats like a bird' - this is quite chilling as Norman very obviously enjoys killing birds as seen hanging in random spaces of his parlour. The dim lighting is also an important focus point as you can't see certain details in the parlour which may be much more obvious in bright lighting and people can't see clearly from the outside in. People usually dim the lights when trying to set the mood for something or trying to hide the obvious from someone. There may have been something not visible to Marion in the room that Norman wanted to keep that way with the minimal lighting.