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Codes and Conventions of Psychological Thriller

By Jessica Clayton-Berry

My chosen genre for my film is going to be psychological thriller. I chose this genre because I wanted to create a niche film trailer and thought this genre fit in really well with that type of film. Psychological genres also open up the ability for more artistic scenes since one of the most common themes of psychological horror is the difference between appearance and reality.

Psychological thriller films focus on the psychological state of its character and are a subgenre of the ‘thriller’ section. Thriller films are a type of film that focuses on the mood it creates for its audience, whether this is suspense or excitement etc. In order for a thriller film to become a psychological thriller, it must delve on the mental state of the main character, whether this be seeing things through their perception, seeing their thoughts, death, finding or challenging an identity, finding an existence or purpose in life, or witnessing the character struggling to grasp reality. An example of this would be Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Rear Window’ which focuses on the story of a man with a broken leg who has spent weeks within his apartment with nothing to do but spy on his neighbours from his window. The film focuses on his obsession with his neighbours and the ethical dilemmas he must face when he believes one of his neighbours has murdered his wife. Not only this, but the film also makes the audience question the character’s judgement and whether he is actually right about this supposed ‘murderer’ or whether it’s all in his head from the weeks he has spent isolated within his apartment.

Psychological thrillers will mainly focus on story, character development, and choices involving moral conflict. They can also work on making the audience doubt the character’s choices or motives, and because psychological thrillers tend to prioritise these aspects of film over entertaining action scenes or expensive cinematography, they are often unpopular amongst the average cinema audience and will aim towards a more niche audience.

Usual aspects amongst psychological thriller would be a plot twist to keep the audience doubting either the character or story of the film, an unreliable narrator or main character which is a way of the film exploring the audience’s doubt or psychological state of the character, and a term that Alfred Hitchcock popularized called the ‘MacGuffin’ which is a plot device in the form of a goal or aspiration that is used to move the plot forward and keep the tension of the audience.

What is it?

Reality – Either the main character or a character within the film struggles to grasp reality or tell the difference between fantasy and reality. Characters in the narrative will struggle to determine what is true and what is not. An example of this would be ‘Donnie Darko’ which is about a boy who suffers from severe hallucinations that he believes are telling him the world is going to end.

Perception – This is how the narrator sees things through their perspective. Characters can often misinterpret things due to their perception or have their perception of the world changed by something that has happened to them. An example of this would be ‘Se7en’ where the villain, John Doe, has a perspective of the world being an sinful place that needs to be taught a lesson.

Mind – Characters in psychological thrillers will often battle with their mind and in the end result in new levels of perception. An example of this would be ‘The Game’ where the main character, after spending the film contemplating on whether he is going insane, has a new and brighter insight in life after playing ‘The Game’ as he suddenly recognises how bad a person he was before he played it.

Existence/Purpose – This is a aim or goal the character will strive towards in order to find their reason of existence. An example of this would be ‘Fight Club’ where the Narrator does not know his purpose in life until he encounters Tyler Durden who encourages him to open up a Fight Club.

Identity – The main characters are often trying to discover who they are and what their true identity is. An example of this would be Black Swan where the main character seeks out the darkness in her in order to become the ‘Black Swan’.

Death – The character either has a fear or fascination of death, and example of this would be ‘Copycat’ where two detectives must take down a killer who has been copying serial killers from the past. Here the serial killer is the one obsessed with death.

Themes

Lighting – Psychological thrillers often use a lot of shadows and low-key lighting to create a dark atmosphere. An example of this would be Se7en that used a lot of low-key lighting throughout the first half of the film, especially through the most grittiest of scenes. This was achieved using ‘bleach bypass’ which is a chemical process which does not remove the silver in the film stock which results in darker and more shadowy images and increases the tonal quality.

Props – Mirrors are used a lot in psychological thriller for reflections on the character’s mental state and personality. They can also be used to show the character’s darker side. This is done in the film ‘Donnie Darko’ where Donnie has one of his hallucinations when looking into a mirror.

Setting – Most psychological thriller films are set in a modern and urban setting. An example of this would be ‘Rear Window’ which is entirely set in a city block of apartments.

Mis-En-Scene

Psychological thrillers often have a very tense and eerie soundtrack to build up tension and shock factor. A common psychological thriller director, David Fincher, often uses Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to do the score of most of his film and these soundtracks commonly include a very modernized and abstract sounding score that match Fincher’s modern and quirky film styles.

Sound

The camera movements in a psychological thriller are often quick to increase the tension of a scene, particularly in significant scenes that need to make the audience panic feel emotion alongside the character. Hand held camera is often used for this as it works well in creating tension. An example of this would be the film ‘Saw’ that uses a handheld camera during the ‘reverse bear trap’ scene in order to create tension as the character fights for their life.

Camera Movement

Montage – Montage editing is used to highlight feelings of terror or tension, it can also be used in scenes where the character is experiencing hallucinations or bad dreams – something commonly seen in psychological thrillers. An example of this would, again, be the ‘reverse bear trap’ scene in Saw as the character tries to get the reverse bear trap off her head before it kills her. Montage editing is used to create the panic and tension in the scene to make the audience feel the pressure she is under.

Flashbacks – Flashbacks are used commonly in psychological thrillers because it gives the audience a reflection into the character’s back in order to make them understand the character’s mental state. An example of this would be ‘The Butterfly Effect’ that uses flashbacks as a key part of the plot because the main character has flashbacks that allow him to change time.

Black and White – A lot of psychological thriller films will have very little or no colour, a lot of psychological thrillers feature films that have certain scenes in black and white in order to increase the darkness of the picture. An example of a film entirely in very little colour will be ‘The Machinist’ which only shows colour in the character’s flashbacks before he witnessed the event that caused him to have insomnia and paranoia. This is used to show how bleak his life is and the effect the event has had on his mental state. An example of a film that uses certain scenes in black and white would be ‘Memento’ that shows the character in certain scenes where the main character is in a motel room reflecting on his condition and his past. This is in black and white because it’s almost like a monologue in order to make the film make more sense as the film’s scenes are not shown in chronological order.

Editing