Story and narrative

Some of the story lines which are conventional to our genre is shadows and low key lighting. These are used to create tension within the scene. Mirrors are a key part of psychological thriller which represents the inner darkness of a character. The location of psychological thriller is commonly urban and modern setting hence why the costumes the characters wear reflect it as they wear casual/smart clothing.

The soundtrack used in psychological thrillers are normally very tense to build up suspense within the audience. Silence is also used often to make the atmosphere tense. Quick camera work is used a lot in psychological thriller genre to create tension and panic and so that the audience can relate to the character. Flashbacks are a typical convention of this genre as it gives the audience an insight in the characters past and suggests a message to the audience. Black and white images are often used to enhance the shadows.

Vladimir Propp suggests that characters have a narrative function; they provide a structure for the text. He suggests that films have  a hero, villain, donor, dispatcher, the false hero, princess, the father and a helper. Propp also suggests there is a struggle between the hero and the villain. however this disorder is settled by the end of it. 

This doesn’t completely link in with psychological thriller as its more based on the emotions of a person. In this genre the hero is normally kept a mystery so it’s not as straightforward to find out who the villain is.  The function of the characters isn’t always specific and can be seen to change during the film. Psychological thrillers also have a small amount of characters to help focus on them and their emotions so you might not need all the character types that Propp is saying.