Mel's AICE Media Blog: Research On Psychological Thrillers (Day 3)

So I was thinking about my idea and my genre and I have noticed that my genre doesn't really illustrate or accompanies my story really well. I think what would fit my idea best would be the genre of psychological thrillers.

Psychological thrillers are really interesting and mysterious. They give the audience a feel of excitement, surprise and suspense. Many people have watched some pieces with this genre, but don't really know what elements are necessary to make it. Directors such as Sir Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, and actors Anthony Hopkins, Leonardo DiCaprio and Nicole Kidman are familiar with working in the genre.

But what is exactly a psychological thriller?

Psychological thrillers are movies and books that usually deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting

- The main character, or narrator, is usually unreliable. the story is told from someone that is psychologically stressed, and this lets them to share their distorted reality and perceptions with the public. An example of this is the character James from The End of The F***ing World

- Psychological Thrillers emphasize the mental state of their characters; their perceptions, thoughts, distortions, and general struggle grasp reality.

- They focus on mostly the story and character development, moral conflicts and choices to be made. The psychological stress on the characters usually lead them to take unpredictable choices. This can be seen in the 2019 movie "The Joker" , where Arthur Fleck starts out as an innocent person that is treated poorly all the way to become an insane killer.

This video is great to demonstrate how character development in this genre can go.

- They explore the uncertainty of the character's true motives and intentions, as well as their point of view in life.

- Many times these types of movies will share a certain type of information to the audience that makes them want to share it to one of the characters, creating anguish.

- On the story, there is usually a plot twist- like the movies Psycho and The Skeleton Key

- MacGuffin is a thing or goal that starts or advances the plot; it is used to increase suspense.

- Red herrings can also be used to mislead the audience's attention and make them take false assumptions about certain situations or characters.

Production Techniques

- Lighting- usually, in this type of genre, the lighting is mostly low to intensify fear and tension. The lighting is everything! It can create a much more dramatic feel to a scene or image.

Notice how the lighting is on top of Joker's face, accentuating his emotions.

- Sudden changes in camera angles and shots also are used, helping to create chaos and suspense.

- Camera shots such as POV, tracking shots and Dolly Zoom are great for this genre.

- The music used for these films consist mostly of eerie or high tension songs, or even old, creepy calm songs.

- Colors- the colors are usually not super bright; some movies can be in just black and white even. Cool tones often help with creating an empty feeling or a negative connotation. I am using imagery from "The Joker" once again to illustrate what I am saying because it is perfect for these examples:

Notice how the lights are quite green toned. Since green is a cold color, it emphasizes feelings of discomfort and darkness, night.

- Small or crowded places are also good for creating a negative feel to a scene, making the audience feel claustrophobic, like for example in "Psycho", when the murder scene happens inside the shower.