Pink Floyd Synchronization phenomena (thing)

interrobang has given us an in-depth look at just about every possible Pink Floyd synchronization possible. But wait, there's more! My dad and I discovered this one by accident a few years ago after first trying the famous Dark Side of the Moon-Wizard of Oz sync. While it's not quite as phenomenal as its more famous counterparts, syncing up The Wall and Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 classic Psycho leads to some neat coincidences and one sequence you have to see to believe.

(Previously noded as Mother, did it need to be so high?, purged and cleaned up, then resubmitted in its rightful place.)

The Wall and Psycho:

Play:

• Start the album three seconds into the Paramount logo before the film. Just as in Dark Side of the Rainbow, there's an easy way to determine whether the sync has worked: if the Psycho credits start with the first jarring note of "In the Flesh?" you're on your way to some trippy fun.

Syncs:

• In the Flesh?
  • The credits begin almost exactly as the song begins. The credits' stylized lines move on, across and off the screen in time to the music.
  • The lyric "If you want to find out what's behind these cold eyes/you'll just have to blow your way through this disguse" fits the film's plot and ending quite well.
    
• Another Brick in the Wall, part I
  • Sam talks to Marion about having to pay off his late father's debts as this song about the narrator's father's death in World War I plays.
    
•  Goodbye Blue Sky
  • The lyrics "Did you ever wonder that we'd have to run for shelter as the promise of a brave new world all fell beneath a clear blue sky?" are heard as Marion plans to run away after stealing $40,000 from her workplace.
    
•  One of My Turns
  • Marion approaches her suitcase, sitting on the bed, as we hear "Run to the bedroom, in the suitcase on the left you'll find my favourite axe."
    
•  Another Brick in the Wall, part III
  • Marion drives through a heavy rainstorm after having stolen the money, and imagines what the people she's leaving behind are saying about her. Her situation nicely fits the lyrics "I don't need no arms around me/and I don't need no drugs to calm me/I have seen the writing on the wall/don't think I need anything at all."
    
•  Goodbye Cruel World
  • Marion arrives at the Bates Motel, where she will -- unbenknownst to her -- be killed while taking a shower.

The second half of the sync depends almost entirely on how quickly one's CD player switches from disc one to disc two. But if it's like mine, you'll be entranced and amazed by the following:

• Is There Anybody Out There?
  • Norman and Marion have a bonding session during this song about alienation.
    
•  Nobody Home
  • The highlight of the sync, in my humble opinion. Watching a woman get hacked to death in the shower with a piano-driven ballad in the background may well be even more unsettling than Bernard Herrman's original shrieking string score.
  • One of the single greatest sync moments of all time -- right up there with the cash register sound as Dorothy opens the door and discovers the land of Oz: the shot of the drain dissolving into the closeup shot of Marion's eye at "I've got wild, staring eyes."
    
•  Vera
  • "What has become of you?" as Norman runs out of the bathroom in disgust after discovering Marion's corpse.
    
•  Bring the Boys Back Home
  • Norman drags the body out of the bathroom in time with the military rhythms of the music, giving it an eerie funeral march kind of feel.
    
•  In the Flesh
  • Arbosgast questions various motel owners as Pink questions his audience on a variety of inappropriate topics.
  • Norman sits on his porch, bathed in light at the lyric "That one in the spotlight, he don't look right to me."
    
•  The Trial
  • Arbogast opens his car door at the sound of a cell being unlocked.
  • He also climbs the stairs, where he is awaited by a knife-wielding Mrs. Bates, to the lyric "Come to mother, baby."

 Concepts

• Overbearing mother, ahoy! While it's arguably a more blatant plot point in the film, the album also tells the story of a young boy who, having lost his father in the war, is overprotected -- one could almost say smothered -- by his mother, who fears losing him too. There seems to be a direct correlation between the two works here; Norman Bates's father died when he was very young and he became a little too close to his mother as a result.
  
  
• Both The Wall and Psycho deal with the theme of running away from one's problems -- either literally, as in Marion's case, or more figuratively with the use of drugs -- with tragic results. Marion runs away from her mundane life in the hopes of marrying Sam, only to end up dead. Pink tries to escape his problems in typical rock star fashion and ultimately has a breakdown.
  
  
• The Nobody Home sequence seriously has to be seen to be believed. When we first did the sync, my dad and I figured this would be one of the songs that went by without any syncs or coincidences we'd come to expect from other matchups. We were wrong.