2. What Is Genre?
• The genre of an artistic work (i.e. a film, song, piece of
literature) refers to the category it falls into based on it’s
style.
• Each genre is defined by specific qualities and follows
certain guidelines to create the desired atmosphere.
3. My Chosen Genre
I have chosen to analyse the PYSCHOLOGICAL
THRILLER genre.
A Psychological thriller, like all genres, is expected to contain certain themes in order to create an
intense, dread-inducing atmosphere. Common themes are:
• With a psychological thriller the conflict is through the mind, skills, and wit of main
characters, reversing the more normal thriller “plot over character” expectations i.e. a
psychological thriller reader needs to understand the character, character can (sometimes) be
slightly more important than plot
• Life and death is constantly on the line, especially at the climax, though more danger is
presented to the protagonist’s mental state than their physical one.
• They often follow a theme of life, death, existence, reality, perception or purpose.
• Both the perspectives of the villain and the hero are shown, sometimes to confuse the
audience of who is playing which part, and the story focuses around their actions and mind
sets.
• Set in an isolated environment/confined space.
• Often uses themes that the audience will likely associate with some part of their life in order to
disturb (i.e. clowns and dolls are associated with childhood, and is a common theme in
psychological horrors and thrillers)
5. The Shining
• The leading character’s mental state is what drives the film. (Jack’s
change from father to madman is what turns him into the antagonist.)
• Suspense is built through keeping the characters in a confined space.
• Set in an isolated environment.
• Imagery is very powerful. The movie relies less on full blown horror than
it does on interpretation of the scenes that show Jack’s insanity. (i.e. the
scene in which blood is pouring out of the elevator.)
• The perspectives of the other characters are important too, as their
mental state is also important to the film. When we see supernatural
happenings in the film, such as the scene in which Wendy discovers
many corpses in the ballroom and a bloody-faced ghost, we don’t
entertain the idea that it may be a real ghost, as we would in a horror
film, but instead are lead to believe that it these are the character’s
hallucinations.
6. HARD CANDY
Hard Candy creates a psychological atmosphere through:
• Lighting. The lighting changes with Hayley’s mood. At the beginning of
the film, the lighting was rather light and cheerful, but it very suddenly
switched to blue undertones and grays to convey the sudden turn of
events.
• Misleading camera angles constantly creating the impression that Hayley
is about to be caught, creating a heightened feeling of suspense.
• Although the setting is not very isolated. An impression of claustrophobia
and loneliness is created as there are only two actors throughout the
entire film, and they do not leave the house where it is set.
• There is a constant theme of conflict between the two characters.
7. SAW
There is a lot of debate on whether or not SAW is a horror or psychological thriller
series, but looking at the details, its clear that SAW’s plot is incredibly psychologically
driven:
• A constant theme that is shown throughout the film ‘how valuable is life?’ The
scene in which a man – an insurance agent – must choose who’s life to save – a
perfectly healthy but otherwise unremarkable young man with no friends or family
to speak of, or an old woman dying of cancer who is intensely loved by many
people.
• Jigsaw targets seemingly innocent people, who are revealed to actually be very
selfish and arrogant, people who would choose themselves and their money over
their family or friends.
• Impossible choices are another running theme. Jigsaw will often ask his victims
“How much blood are you willing to shed to stay alive?”, after which the victim will
be forced to do something horrible to themselves in order to live. (i.e. a cop is
forced to plunge her hand into a cup of acid to receive a key that will save her
life.)
• Jigsaw uses a clown like puppet as a persona of sorts, and nothing disturbs
people more than horror that reflects their childhood.
8. SEVEN
Opening credits of SE7EN
• Low key lighting
• Several close ups of the man’s
hands using objects (restricted
camera) gives the audience
only an impression of what’s
going on. Creates a sense of
mystery.
• Flashes between images
quickly – disorients.
• White text on black background
– sharp, harsh and usually
associated with horror.
9. Reflection
From my research I can conclude that it is vital for my opening credits to
create a sense of mystery and suspense for the reader.
I should use certain themes of childhood to disturb my audience, perhaps
by shooting in a park with young children. I should attempt to disorient
(though not overly so) my viewers by using obscure close ups of objects
and scenery, and restrict the camera so that they don’t have a clear idea of
what’s going on, only an impression.
There should be little to no music (if music is used, quiet, disturbing
melodies are ideal) but ambience from the location to provide a melancholy
effect (i.e. rain/children playing/fire burning)
The lighting should also be low key, possibly with greyish undertones to
convey hopelessness and unease.
