Research: intertextuality 

The definition of intertextuality is a term to describe the visual referencing between films. In other words, films 'borrow' from each other, however the audience, may recognise certain camera angles, aspects of mise en scene, snippets of sound or methods of editing in some films that have borrowed from each other too. There are some very well-known pieces of intertextuality for example is the famous shower scene from "psycho"; loads of films have borrowed that famous shower scene from Psycho such as: The Stepfather and What lies beneath you.

This is the video of the famous shower scene from the film "psycho" 

The stepfather is one of the films that has shown intertextuality from the film psycho. They have used the same camera angles; when the camera focuses on a certain object (broken mirror shot). Moreover, there is some identical mise-en-scene, for example the shower curtain being the same clear white colour as the one in psycho and its also ripped of the rain when the man falls into the bath and dies. This is a clear form of intertextuality. 

What lies beneath you is another film that has borrowed from psycho, for example the scene where a woman is dying, is placed in a bath tub with the water running. Furthermore there is also a high angle shot from above the shower looking dow at the women, which is used from the film psycho. 

Intertextuality makes the audience want to watch the film more, for example, if I used intertextuality from a well known film for my own film, the audience would easily recognise it and want to watch it more.