Bates Motel: Continued Suspense and Impeccable Acting

After watching episode 1 of Bates Motel, it is safe to say I will be glued to the television screen every Thursday at 9:00pm.

I must admit I was slightly anxious about the adaptation. But it most definitely exceeded my expectations.

The character portrayals by Vera Farmiga (Norma) and Freddie Highmore (Norman) are phenomenal. Especially Farmiga.

I'm sure like myself, Psycho fans were intrigued to see the character of Norma, Norman's infamous mother.

She is everything I expected and more. Eerily manipulative and there's something about her in which you cannot pull your eyes away from her.

Highmore plays a brilliant young Norman Bates. Unusually likeable and easily empathised with. What I will say is, don't expect him to be the character from the film just yet. Remember, it's a prequel!

The first episode is there to entice the audience from the beginning. And that it does. An incredibly gripping plot line and graphic, horrifying scenes from the get-go have definitely set the bar for the rest of the series.

With such explicit content and continued suspense, we're almost fooled into thinking we're watching an ongoing film rather than television.

The next episode airs Thursday 19th September, 9:00pm on Universal.

in-between-ness

Think about the way mental illness is represented on film. You probably think of Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.

 

But, 30 years on from the genre-defining film, two NorthWalian artists are offering a fresh take on a taboo subject.

 

Karen Heald, experimental filmmaker and Honorary Research Fellow in Social Sciences at Bangor University, has collaborated with Susan Liggett, painter and Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Glyndŵr University, to create in-between-ness.

 

The exhibition, previewed as part of the currentInternational Conference on Internet Technologies & Applications (ITA13) hosted by Glyndŵr University, uses painting, film stills and moving image to capture a sense of self.

 

The state of in-between-ness, suggests Karen is one, “Whereby the audience is unsure as to whether one is asleep, awake, or even in a state of in-between-ness”.

 

“Working with people as an artist, I was interested in time and how different people perceive a sense of time,” said Karen. “Maybe within mental health you may get a different sense of time.”

 

Mental health has been subject to exploitation in the past and remains a much- misunderstood issue. But, Speaking at the launch of a research paper to accompany the exhibition as part of ITA13, Susan described how collaborating between film, art and science had benefitted the participants.

 

“We’ve involved the participants all along. The work is anonymous and we’ve used pseudonyms for reasons of medical ethics but we don’t see them as any different to anyone else,” said Karen. 

 

“We treat them as fellow artists really,” she added.

 

Dan Wilson, exhibition attendee, was impressed by the exhibition. He said: “The work was very interesting. I really enjoyed the variety of sounds, giving an ambient feel to the room.”

 

As for future collaborations? “We would like to see this as a pilot study we would like to take further,” 

 

“We’re looking to apply for funding for a larger scale research project and build upon the findings of this project,” said Susan. 

For more information visit in-between-ness.co.uk. 

Bates Motel.

Bates Motel. It's funny how two words can excite me so much.

As a massive Horror fan and a huge Alfred Hitchcock fan, those two words will always shout out to me. 

Not usually a fan of television adaptations of films, they do appear to be looking up. 

Hannibal based on the novel Red Dragon by Thomas Harris was developed into a television series by Bryan Fuller for NBC received fairly good reviews. 

Bates Motel originally aired March 18th 2013 in America. Similarly, receiving favourable reviews overall. 

The show will be based on Robert Bloch's novel Psycho's characters but will be an adaptation of Hitchcock's classic film Psycho. 

Ok yes, I'm very apprehensive. But I am excited to see the classic story be told in a modern world. 

Here's hoping they don't slaughter it like they did with the many, many sequels... 

Bates Motel airs on the Universal Channel on 12th September 2013 at 9:00pm.