Genre Study- Psychological Thrillers

Psychological Thriller film

Typical target audience of the genre

Due to the possible complexity of these films, psychological thriller films are usually targeted, across global markets, as adults in their early and mid-20s. Psychological-Horror thrillers (Cross-genre) are aimed at young adults 13-18.

Genre conventions – both within content and production techniques

Content

• Fast Moving Plot
• Violence is often utilized to build a tense atmosphere around the narrative
• Possible fight & chase scenes
• The protagonist is often immoral or an anti-hero who bears good intentions or is in danger
• Deals with character's internal conflicts
• Common themes include death, reality, identity, existence, purpose, crime
• Modern films often depict an unjust society which the protagonist works against
• Employs suspense building and diffusion techniques to keep the audience engaged
• Utilizes irony to create suspense (By letting the audience know something that characters in the storyline do not).
• Fast paced editing
• Charged with symbolism
• Utilizes non-diegetic sound (eerie music) to emphasize the building (or diffusion) of tension in scenes. May also use silence to accomplish this.
• Thought the film may seem predictable, it’s usually the complete opposite due to heavy plot twists.
• Films often kill off (or pretend to kill off) the main character
• Soundtrack tempo usually begins slow and low and builds up to a higher (not always faster) pitch by the end.
• Little to no comedic relief
• Openly depicts weapons and blood
• Employs low-key lighting to aid in building suspense
• Dark color palette (especially in the protagonist’s costuming)
• Employs focus pulls to shift attention in important scenes (Can help build irony)
• Close-ups and extreme close-ups of protagonists are usual
• The use of angles to show a character's dominance (or lack of) symbolically
• Settings are usually urban and mundane
• May leave the audience with an imminent doubt at the end

Production:

• Average or even low filming budget. Some films may receive a bigger studio budget, but it will be far lower than action/adventure and drama/romance
• Extremely rare to create a sequel(s) (No sequels)
• Sets are not elaborate, as Mise-en-scène elements are meant to represent normal mundane situations, implying that the events in the film could unravel in real life.

Institutional conventions – narrative image, marketing, etc.

Narrative Image: Psychological thrillers are meant to excite the viewer via suspense; therefore, their

trailers appropriately convey the tone of the film and strive to leave the viewer with a need to see the movie in order to “connect the dots” of all the different scenes quickly flashed in the trailers. The narrative image often utilizes the same suspense techniques the film, by choosing arousing soundtracks for trailers, and low-key lighting for posters. Psychological thrillers do not usually need a sequel for further character development with similar plots (like action) and usually do not gain enough momentum for creating a spin-off to then utilize the source material to keep audiences going back. However, the studios don’t intend to build a franchise out of psychological thrillers in the first place; rather, they’re intended to be a nearly seasonal hit.

Marketing:

Studios advertise psychological thrillers by paying to air the film’s trailer. This promotion is able to reach the prime target market directly, the constant appearance if the trailer in daily programming serves as a reminder for audiences that they should watch the film. For the younger demographic of the target market, airing the trailer builds anticipation which they often share with their friends on social media or in person. While word-of-mouth is a big part of reaching the younger demographic, it truly excels in the older demographic. Adults in their late 20s are often married and working, they most likely don’t have spare time to watch TV daily; therefore, a film recommendation from a friend is highly valuable, especially if the recommender falls in the same demographic as them.

Movie theaters filter the previews they show before each movie, normally categorizing them and showing the trailers to their target markets, this helps market the film among action lovers as they are more inclined to make plans to watch the upcoming film because they are already in the  “mood” for action (Because they are about to watch a thriller).

Film samples within the genre

Film #1: The Gift

The Gift is a 2015 mystery/thriller film directed by Joel Edgerton which earned a 92% on rotten tomatoes. IMDb sums up the narrative as “A young married couple's lives are thrown into a harrowing tailspin when an acquaintance from the husband's past brings mysterious gifts and a horrifying secret to light after more than 20 years.” The film’s dark theme and plot twists are indicators that it is a psychological thriller, the narrative is twisted and the events that occur certainly have the audience at the edge of their seats. The film’s use of irony helps enhance the suspense, as the audience is aware of the disturbing facts most of the characters don’t know. Unlike other thrillers, the protagonist is not fighting against society, rather against his past, which now haunts him. The lighting shifts throughout the movie, telling audiences when suspense is approaching; the poster, copies some of the genre’s lighting techniques by having the antagonist standing in front of a completely black background, as he is lit with a dim profile light. The trailer, along with the soundtrack, started slow and built up to a fast-paced ending, just as it’s expected for the film to do so. Like many psychological thrillers, this film left the audience with a burning question about the plot, one that remains unanswered as the studio has no intention to produce a sequel.

Film #2: Psycho

Psycho is THE psychological thriller, its director, Alfred Hitchcock, is considered the father of the thriller genre and a master of suspense. The film was groundbreaking in its suspense building techniques, which have now become the norm for all psychological thrillers. Scenes such as the murder of the presumed main character halfway through the movie exemplify one of the conventions of the genre. In that scene, one can hear nondiegetic sound that helps build anticipation & suspense, and the iconic revelation of the antagonist (Norman Bates) in dramatic lighting that hides his face leaving only his outline visible to the audience. Hitchcock is the pioneer of psychological thrillers, and 1960’s Psycho is the embodiment of the genre.

Other Psychological Thriller Films:

• Black Swan
• The shining
• American Psycho
• The sixth sense