Codes and Conventions of Psychological Thrillers
Low key lighting is often used in psychological thriller to create a dark, tense atmosphere. They are mostly set in modern urban locations, with lots of people around. This is an effective technique because it makes the audience wonder where the story/danger is going to come from. Camera movement and editing is often fast pace, this is done to build tension and panic amongst the audience to reflect what is happening on screen. Enigma is used frequently in thrillers in order to capture the audience's attention. A question or dilemma that the target audience can relate to is introduced and then played around with and resolved or left unresolved. To catch the audience's attention and entice them, directors may use sub genres to suit the intended target audience taste. For example, horror thriller, pyschologcal thriller, comedy thriller ect. Thriller regularly coincide with mystery stories, but are differentiated by the structure of their plots. Thriller take place on a much grander scale - the crimes that must be prevented are serial or mass murder (such as 'Se7en'), terrorism (such as 'Unthinkable'), assassination, or the overthrow of governments. Jeopardy and violent confrontations are conventional plot elements. A thriller climaxes when the hero finaly defeats the antagonist, saving others lives and his own.
