Jason L’Heureux’s Psycho Diorama

I decided to build the model when I saw the movie Psycho, but I wanted to do something special like try to make it as accurate to what was in the film back in 1960. I watched the film and took notes on the landscaping, trees, bushes, and the hill. I noticed that the trees in the film changed from one scene to another. I had to decide which shape of trees I wanted. I built the house first, the movie was in black and white so the only way to decide what color the house was, I had to find color pictures from the film, but their were none. So the next step was to find photos from the universal studio tour when it first opened. Then I painted the house the right color and then used pencil to the line the clapboard siding. One thing I found while building the model kit was that the front doorway was wrong ,and they had another door on the backside, so I had to cover it up. Also their was no chimney. So I put one in, the house was finished so now I had to put curtains and shades. I used tissue paper for the curtains and business cards for the shades. I had to watch the movie and see what position the shades were in the window. Once the curtains and shades were finished. I had to start thinking about the hill and how to create it. So I used Styrofoam and carved it to look like the hill. Once it was carved I knew the only way to make this look realistic was to use stuff from outside. I used dirt and moss which gave it the realistic effect.

I knew the trees sold in hobby stores would not be tall enough for the model. So I grabbed sticks from outside for the trees. I got some realistic looking grass, bushes, and tree stuff from the hobby store. Once I finished with the hill. I wanted to do the patio below the hill. I built the patio chairs and tables out of toothpicks. the stones on the patio where bark from a pine tree painted gray. the patio was done. I’m currently building the rest of the motel. Then I’ll put the sign up and then I’ll finish with the swamp.

Jason L’Heureux