Conventions of Psychological Horror

GabriellaNikol

Ewelina

Initial Thoughts of Conventions

Initial Thoughts of ConventionsDetails Film Examples

Plot Use: Something tends to happen in the characters earlier life which messes with them as they are older. This is associated with them having emotional trauma.Develop: Usually related to deception or betrayal by a close friend or someone in the family that the character thought they were innocent.Challenge: The character can have a spilt personality, so one good and one bad.

Case 39

Orphan

Black Swan

Narrative Use: The story can be told in the point of view of a character/in first person.Develop: Flashbacks can be used which means that it doesn’t follow the three part.Challenge: can make the audience feel what the character has to go through, so its non-linear.

The Tell-Tale Heart

Momento

Orphan

Characters Use: Tends to be the main character that has the psychological problem which is the main focus of the film.Develop: Two or more characters, so one has the psychological problem, and the other one is affected by that (could be a whole group that is affected).Challenge: The psychological problem can be masked, so the audience don’t know that they have a problem+.

Case 39/Orphan

The Shining

Black Swan

Details Film Examples

Setting Use: Towns/cities or even in homes.

Develop: Buildings, streets, hospitals or metal asylums.

Challenge: Ballet/dance studios, wrestling ring or in a school

The Shining

Shutter Island

Black Swan

MES Use: Costumes give them equality, so all the characters look the same.

Develop: The character looks more sophisticated than the otherCharacters by the way they dress.

Challenge: Bright colours are used instead of having dark and dull colours.

Black Swan

The wrestler

Camera Techniques

Use: Close ups and mid shots to focus on facial expressions and gestures.

Develop: Two shots which can show the audience between the character with the psychological problem and the one without.

Challenge: POV/told from the perspective of the character with the psychological problem.

The Ring/Momento

The Ring

Black Swan

Sounds Use: Tense music which creates the tense mood

Develop: There can be first person narration, in which they can hear their own heartbeat etc…

Challenge: Sound from objects in the scene, e.g. a piano

Hannibal/The Others

Sixth Sense

The Others

Conventions in a film

Description: Scene1: The scene when Grace (mother) loosing her control and

attack her daughter Anne

Scene2: Scene, when Grace is founding that she is dead

GabriellaEwelina

The convention here is wild body language, when she attacked her daughter. This shows that she cannot control herself and she has problem with it. This type of behaviour is quiet normal in psychological movies

Close up are used to show Grace’s facial expression. Her mood is changing really quickly. This shows that she is not stable emotionally.

The light used is a convention as the light tends to be mysterious and tense

The facial expression and body language of daughter is a convention, as this show reaction of outsiders on behaviour of people with mental problems.

The close up on Anne’s face is a convention as this show that Grace doesn’t recognise her daughter and imagine someone’s else. This shows that there is something wrong with her psychologically

Explain of use, develop or challenge Photo evidence

PLOT The plot was developed because audience could notice that something is wrong with Grace’s psychologically, as she noticed someone else instead of her daughter (where this was her daughter)

NARRATIVE The narrative is developed as the story is told in linear and continues, showing realism

CHARACTER Character is challenge (developed?) in this scene as from calm and good mother she turned into aggressive and careless mother. This can happen a lot in psychological drama, as this is the point that people are loosing their control, even towards closest people.

CAMERA TECHNIQUES

Camera techniques is developed as shows every important detail in this scene. Through close-up camera shows facial expression of Grace (that is changing really quickly) and also what’s provoked her to attack her daughter

USE, DEVELOP AND CHALLENGE GabriellaEwelina

Close up are used to show Grace’s facial expression. Through this audience can notice that she doesn’t know what is going on.. She is very confused in this situation.

Gesture (such as touching head) shows that she try to focus and to discover what is happening.This happen a lot in psychological drama, as mostly character with mental problems, doesn’t know

what is going around them.

Body language is a convention, as show that she try to resolve situation by destroying everything. This is normal in psychological drama as people, who has something wrong with their psychological , can

really quickly loose their control and become aggressive