2. TYPICAL NARRATIVE
In psychological thrillers the narrative is usually very complex which involves many
enigmas that people have to try and solve and they have similar conventions to thriller
and horror. Often they are stories about a person trying to resolve a problem such as in
Shutter Island which involves a person trying to resolve a problem whilst also finding
themselves. This is shown also in The Sixth Sense because the little boy has to learn to
cope with a problem that he has whilst trying not to go insane from it. In The Lazarus
Project it is a man who is taken to an asylum (similar to Shutter Island) and has to try
and find out why he’s hallucinating. This shows that in psychological thrillers often people
are trying to resolve there own problems.
3. ICONOGRAPHY
In Psychological Thrillers I wold expect to see lots of shadows because they are very useful for
creating enimgas, this is used a lot in Shutter Island because it creates the creepy atmosphere of the
mental asylum. There are usually lots of confined spaces and restrictions on where people can go as this
means that they are trapped, this makes the atmosphere much more tense as in The Lazarus Project
as the main character is stuck in the ‘Prison’ area and is unable to leave under threat of death. Often
running water is used especially through rain which is in Shutter Island because they are surrounded by
the sea and it rains a lot and this naturally causes people to get nervous as it creates tension.
4. CHARACTERS
The typical characters which people would find in a psychological thriller would
be a detective or alpha male because they often get tormented because people get
nervous when a main character and a ‘dominant’ male gets bullied because it means
that they are powerless. Often there is a woman in there life and a child because
having a family makes the character much more vulnerable. An example pf a film
which involves this would be Shutter Island which has a man who hallucinates about
his wife and in The Lazarus Project where the man is trying to get back to his wife
and kids.
5. CAMERAWORK, SOUND
LIGHTING AND EDITING
Often there is low key lighting, especially found in Shutter Island they use this often
because the darkness creates lots of enigmas as the shadows cause enigmas to be made. The
camera work involves lots of extreme long shots and establishing shots because people can look
at the scene and it means people can try to get to know the surroundings so they are in the
characters shoes. There are often lots of diegetic sounds because that way the characters are able
to establish their surroundings much better and also the audience become much more established
with the characters but also there would be a lot of non-diegetic sound e.g. music because the
slower paced music in a minor key creates the tension which Psychological Thrillers aim to make.
Often there is minimal editing involved in the actual film because often the steadicam and the
minimal editing makes the film much more minimal and raw which means that people get
tension because it means they feel more like they are in the characters shoes.
6. LOCATIONS
Often the location of psychological thrillers is in places such as
mental asylums as the films often are made around a character is
mental so they fit in around the surroundings, this is used in the case
of Shutter Island and The Lazarus Project this is used because it
means the character is surrounded and enclosed in an area usually
with people who you would not desire to be around.
