Conventions of Psychological Thrillers

Location

Location is an important element in any psychological thriller. Often these types of film are set in urban areas rather than the countryside or other rural places as this may portray a more horror like genre. Typically, an audience would expect a thriller to be set in a location which is busy and so, generates Adrenalin. However, our film will be set in a rural, isolated location to subvert this convention. As a result, the audience may be less prepared for events that take place in the film, given that they can make less predictions. The action that unfolds here will be untypical of the location and therefore, create a shocking reaction and stand out. 

Typical locations used in psychological thrillers include:

• Cities
• Inside and outside of houses 
• Abandoned buildings 
• Asylums 
• Hotels 

These locations are very similar to those used within horrors. It is therefore important that the other conventions of psychological thrillers are outlined clearly through the use of props, camera work, editing and costume. In psychological thrillers you typically find that mirrors are used to show the darker side/motives of a character. Occasionally, characters will be seen talking into a mirror which can show conflict and/or progression of madness. Also, psychological thrillers can include props that have been left to offer clues for the hero to find or for the audience to subconsciously recognise. This is a really effective technique to use because can help to embed different messages and promotes a mysterious feeling which keeps the audience engaged with the film. 

Camera shots

• Quick camera movements are made during most psychological thrillers to build tension and panic within the scene, which can often make the audience feel the same emotion that the actor is trying to convey.

• Slow dolly zooms can be used to build tension and focus the audiences attention towards an object/character.

• Close ups and extreme close ups can be used to accentuate mild fear into moderate fear.

Editing

Flashbacks are a typical convention of psychological thrillers. These can help portray the distortion of time which can confuse and mystify the audience. These can also be used to reveal what has happened to a character in the past to help the understand why a character is behaving in  certain way. In doing this, a lot of the characters actual personality, behaviour and overall character can be revealed. They also can be used to eliminate hermeneutic codes created during the duration of the film. 

Sound 

In most psychological/horror movies, the music used is eerie to create tension and suspense. However, like in some psychological horrors, juxtaposing music is also sometime used to create and sense of tension and fear. Commonly, a drone sound can be heard at significant and/or revealing moments in the film to help build tension. This sound is proven to generate the feeling of fear. 

Additionally, my reserach showed that sound can be used to make the audience feel as though something is about to happen. Music/sound which builds up to become louder or more complex is useful for this purpose.

Lighting

In psychological thrillers, you typically find that the lighting is dull/dark. This is used to create a sense of tension and suspicion. A lot of what's in frame could be kept mysterious and the focus of the film, ambiguous. You can also find the use the dark lighting to add shadows, adds to the tension however this does not happen to often as this is the border when it starts to slightly become a horror.

Low-key Lighting and Shadows can be used to visualise dark concepts, and to create tension during the scene, and in some cases are used to represent the darkness within a particular character.

Themes

There are different themes that a psychological thriller may adopt to create an interesting plot. These can be used in conjunction with each other. Each one can create a different atmosphere and feeling for the audience. Themes that we may include in our film include:

• Reality: the idea of actually being real. Characters often try to determine what is true and what is not within the narrative and can display stress regarding this.

• Perception: a persons own interpretation of the world around them and their own being.

• The mind: The human consciousness is explored though a characters: ability to reason, memory, intelligence and emotion. The mind is often used as a location for narrative conflict, where characters often battle there own minds to reach a new level of understanding and perception of the existence they lead.

• Existence and purpose: the object for which something exists; and aim humans have is to understand their reason for existence

• Identity: the definition of ones self. Characters are often confused about or doubt who they are and try to discover/rediscover their true identity. It may be revealed to the audience as to how they lost their identity. 

• Death: Characters often either fear or have a fascination with death which leads them into a dark existence, full of exhaustion and metal illness. This could be as a result of loosing a close relative/friend who was previously significant in their lives. The loss of this character could make them feel although they have lost direction and so, this is why they become so infatuated with the idea of death.

Characters

The villain; otherwise known as the antagonist, typically wears smart clothing. For example, they may wear a suit instead of casual wear. The costumes also normally suit the location so you would very unlikely find someone in an urban, built up area wearing trousers and a shirt, whereas a character in a rural area would be wearing more relaxed wear.

The villain also typically wears black dark colours to represent mystery and to add suspicion. A example of this would be the main character in American Psycho who goes rounding a suit.

In contrast, the hero or the protagonist is the opposite to this so he or she is less likely to wear dark colours. By putting the protagonist/hero in brighter, lighter colours, the audience will think of the connotations of this. When we see lighter clothing, we might think of: day time, angels and other positive imagery. Also, brighter coloured clothing can also be more visually appealing.

In some instances, it can be fitting to subvert a convention such as the dark colours.