Blog made by Holly Fleet and Georgia Packham Anderson Year 12 King Alfred Media
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Introduction to Psychological Thriller
When we first decided that we wanted our film to be of the Psychological Thriller genre we had to really study what that meant. We already knew that Thrillers tend to focus on plot over character, and emphasise intense and physical action instead of developing the characters mind. Psychological thrillers do not totally comply to this in the way they emphasise the characters and plot equally, if perhaps with even more focus on the characters mind. As the word Psychological means, elements that are related to the mind or processes of the mind.
The suspense in this genre comes from within one solitary character who's character must resolve conflicts with their own minds. Usually, this conflict is an effort to understand something that has happened to them. Or the suspense comes from two or more characters preying upon one another's minds. By playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state.You don't see Characters rely on physical strength to overcome their enemies, like in action based thrillers, but instead they rely on their mental resources.
A recent film where this has been used to good effect is Black Swan where the lead character ( a ballerina) in convinced that another dancer in the company is trying to destroy her both professionally and mentally. At the end of the film you discover that the only person trying to destroy her is actually her own mind. This fits the conventions of psychological thriller in an interesting and new way. We want our film to be similar to Black Swan in the way it plays with reality and fantasy.Sometimes the suspense doesn't just come from a battle within one persons mental battle but can come from two or more characters preying upon one another's minds. By playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state.
The way a psychological thriller is usually told is through a first person narrative, making direct involvement with the characters which makes the audience able to understand the mechanics of the characters mind. We see a stream of consciousness where the narrative tries to make clear the characters mind through words, descriptions and visuals. Often in thrillers you can start the film with the history behind the story which deepens the psychological aspect of the story as the watcher is able to fully understand why the character is how they are today.
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