GENRE RESEARCH A2 Media

In a psychological thriller, usually a movie or a book, the emphasis is not on the plot but rather on the psychology of its characters.

Like thrillers, the danger to the protagonist is emphasized, but in the particular genre of psychological thrillers, suspense stems less

from a physical threat but rather from a mental one. The protagonist perseveres against the antagonist often because of his

or her mental qualities

HISTORY OF THE GENRE 1926: ‘The Lodger’ was one of the first British psychological thriller movies, which was made by Alfred Hitchcock,

‘The Lodger’ was a black and white silent movie with a rating of age 12, this suggests to the lack of technology this early, the film probably wasn’t as realistic so didn’t make it as scary.

1932: ‘The most dangerous game’ was produced by Irving Pichel which was about one main character who was a psychopath who escapes and slaughters people, these aspects are conventional to a psychological thriller film but as this film was made ages ago, the technology wouldn’t have been as advanced and would make it less realistic which could suggest why the rating is only 12.

1940: ‘Rebecca’ was a famous psychological thriller made produced by Alfred Hitchcock, and it was a black and white movie. The music within this movie was conventional to the genre as it builds suspense and tension. This was the first psychological film that used effective conventional music.

1941: ‘Suspicion’ this film was produced by Alfred Hitchcock and was the first romantic psychological thriller. 1954: ‘Rear Window’ was a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock about a man who stalks his neighbours and later

murders them. 1958: ‘Vertigo’ directed by Alfred Hitchcock 1960: ‘Psycho’ is a 1960 American psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. 1971: ‘Play Misty for me’ Play Misty for Me is a 1971 American psychological thriller film, directed by and starring

Clint Eastwood 1980: ‘The shining’ is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick 1987: ‘Fatal Attraction’ is a 1987 American psychological thriller film directed by Adrian Lyne 1995: ‘Seven’ is a 1995 American neo noir psychological thriller film written by Andrew Kevin Walker, directed by

David Fincher, and distributed by New Line Cinema 1997: ‘The game’ is about Wealthy financier Nicholas Van Orton gets a strange birthday present from wayward

brother Conrad: a live-action game that consumes his life and plays mind games with him. 2001: ‘Mulholland Drive’ displays After a car wreck on the winding Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesic, she

and a perky Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.

2004: ‘The Machinist’ is about a an industrial worker who hasn't slept in a year begins to doubt his own sanity. 2010: ‘Black Swan’ is about a ballet dancer wins the lead in "Swan Lake" and is perfect for the role of the delicate

White Swan - Princess Odette - but slowly loses her mind as she becomes more and more like Odile, the Black Swan

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS

The World War ll influenced the making of many psychological thriller films, during the 1950’s these films was made as the witnesses and survivors of the war reflected what happened then into their films. One example that I could use of this would be ‘The man who cheated him-self’. This film was produced by Felix E. Feist and this is about a veteran homicide detective who gets involved with murdering and slaughtering people.

The cold war, often dated from 1947 to 1991, was a sustained state of political and military tension between powers in the western bloc dominated and with the eastern bloc dominated by the Soviet Union. This effected many Authors to be inspired to write about graphic and horrible events, and made many authors to be inspired to write many psychological thrillers, thriller and horror books which was made into films just like the films. An example of one writer who was influenced by the cold war within his writing is John Le Carre.

INFLUENTIAL MEDIA TEXTS

Straw Dogs (1971) directed by Sam Pekinpah The machinist (2004) Directed by Brad Anderson Irreversible (2002) directed by Gasper Noe Memento (2000) directed by Christopher Nolan Black swan (2010) directed by Darren Horonsky Martyrs (2008) directed by Pascal Laugier Open your eyes (1997) directed by Alejandro Amenabar The shining (1980) directed by Stanley Kubrick I stand alone (1980) directed by Gasper Noe

STYLEMise-en-sceneProps: Weapons such as knifes and guns. Masks Makeup: Light and pale makeup to look ill Blood, Scars, scratches and bruises Lighting: Low key lighting: for the thriller side of things high key lighting with psychological parts which signify thinking and being alone.Location: Normal setting for equilibrium, in the disequilibrium more isolated settings and then which could lead to a mental home for the resolution or even prison.Costume: The characters would be mainly have normal casual clothing, but during the disequilibrium the main character might start to wear more tatty clothing, with rips and more dirty like they don’t care about their clothing, also the clothing would be dark and of blacks, browns and grey colours. If the resolution is that the character goes to a mental home then the charter could be wearing white clothing.

EditingFast paced Editing: This is used within a trailer to allow many clips to be shown but at the same time to not give to much of the clip to ruin the plot but just enough to interest the target audience. Shot reverse/shot: This is used to show the transition between two characters mostly when they are having a conversation. Fade to black: This is used to create darkness and mystery to the trailer, signifying death, darkness, and curiosity to think what is lurking in the darkness.Eyeline Match: This is used to show what the character is looking at, mostly within a psychological thriller it could be either a person or weapon. The transition within an eyeline match normally allows a build up of tension created due to the fact you first see a character staring at something but gradually are able to see what they are looking at.Ellipsis of time: This could be used within a psychological thriller trailer because normally throughout there is a narrative that moves forward in time, but parts could be taken out to shorten the time but so the audience can still understand what is happening in the plot.

STYLE CONTINUED

SoundVoice over: In this the thoughts and feelings of the main character are presented through a voice which allows the audience to understand what the character is thinking when he/she is maybe still and looking at something in the distance.Non-Diegetic: These sounds are normally added into the editing as sound effects, these are noises that the character cant hear themselves but the audience can, this allows the plot to not be disturbed by the added music.Diegetic Music: This sound is basically what the characters can here so this would enable the conversations to be made and the plot to make sense. Added sound effects could be added which are diegetic for example in a psychological thriller maybe slow knocks on the door, which another character could hear and change their emotion.CameraworkClose-up: To show the identity of the main character and to also allow the audience to know what emotion the character has easily which helps them to understand.Mid Shot: The audience would be able to see the mask combination with the costume so you can closely see the upper actions of the body. Long shot: To show the character from head to toe, which allows you to visualise the costume fully, and also the actions the character is making.Two shot: This is normally used to present two characters fighting, but there could also be a two shot to show one character creeping up behind another character to scare them.Establishing Shot: This is usually used to show the location and setting. This allows the audience to see where the main character is and what there intentions are.

TARGET AUDIENCEPsychographic:From the results that I got from the questionnaire to my target audience I found out the following:*Interests:• Sports• Films• Music

Demographic Gender: Male- 43% women- 57%Age: 18-32Status: Student/workersClass: Working Class

Reasons to why they are the target audience:The reason my target audience is above the age of 18 is because all psychological thrillers have a 18 and above age restriction because they can be scary and not appealing for a younger audience.

The reasons why there is the majority percentage of female viewers in the target audience for psychological thrillers is because females tend to be attracted to interesting story lines that have conflicts of the mind, this is because they involve more emotional struggles rather than physical.

What my target audience enjoy doing in their spare time:• Shopping• Going out with friends• Listening to music• Watching Films

CONVENTIONS

Mind

Death Identity

Black Comedy

Existence

Reality

Perception

One main character

Confusion

About 1 minute and a half long to 2 minutes in duration.

It shows the equilibrium and disequilibrium but no resolution

Fast paced editing

Voiceover

Non diegetic music.

Diegetic music

Conventions of a psychological thriller

Conventions of a trailer