History of Psychological thrillers

In psychological thrillers, characters often battle their own minds: they attempt to determine what is real, who they are, and what life's purpose is. Amnesia is a common plot device used to explore these questions. Character may be threatened with death, be forced to deal with the deaths of others, or fake their own deaths.Psychological thrillers can be complex, and reviewers may recommend a second or third viewing to "decipher its secrets."Common elements may include stock characters, such as a hardboiled detective and serial killer, involved in a cat and mouse game.Sensation novels, examples of early psychological thrillers, were considered to be socially irresponsible due to their themes of sex and violence. These novels, among others, were inspired by the exploits of real-life detective Jack Whicher. Water, especially floods, is frequently used to represent the unconscious mind, such as in What Lies Beneath and In Dreams. Psychological thrillers may not always be concerned with plausibility. Peter Hutchings defines the giallo, an Italian subgenre of psychological thrillers, as violent murder mysteries that focus on style and spectacle over rationality.

Certificate ratings

BBFC research and expected certificate rating for film and why
The BBFC is the British Board of Film Classification. They are an independent non profit organisation which regulates media content in the UK. They are a self/co-regulated organisation who are a trusted classification and labelling system for the UK. Classifications of films in its basic terms are the minimum age for viewers.
Classifications of films are set on the BBFC's guidelines. These guidelines are regularly updated and are the outcome of research and experience as well as public consultation.
These guidelines for age ratings are:

The people who examine the media deciding on which rating the media is look at many issues. These being issues related to discrimination, nudity, sexual violence, theme and imitable behaviour. The examiners also look at the context and the tone of the film, as this is how it makes the audience feel. These are important as they help the examiners to decide if young people e.g. under 12s can watch the film. For example: a film may be a thriller containing nudity and sexual violence, this would be given a rating of 15 due to the content and the nature of the film.

To make sure the ratings of the films are up to date, every 4-5 years the BBFC consults the public to see what the public think of the age ratings before they are released. This finding out what the public thinks age groups should be exposed to. There fore making sure that they are fitting in with the publics expectations of age ratings.

Expected certificate rating for our film and why?

The expected certificate rating for our film is 15. This is because our target audience are people aged between 16 and 25. This meaning that we are targeting an audience younger than 18 as well as older meaning that we would like a rating of 15. As well as the target audience, the content of the film we hope would also give the film a rating of 15. The genre of the film is psychological thriller, this giving it a scary context and tone to the film due to the themes put through it. Although the film has very dark and gloomy themes, there will be no nudity, sexual violence or discrimination during the film, this causing it not to be classed an 18. But in the film there will be imitable behaviour of the abduction, even though this is a feature of the film, it still makes it accessible for people aged 15 due to it being behaviour that is unlikely to be imitated as well as this being the only feature of the film that will increase the age rating.

Iconic thriller sounds

Sound effects:
Agirl screaming - by tcrocker68 from freesound.org
https://www.freesound.org/people/tcrocker68/sounds/235592/

Footsteps- by sturmankin
https://www.freesound.org/people/sturmankin/sounds/273371/

Rocking chair- by stevelalonde
https://www.freesound.org/people/stevelalonde/sounds/80473/

Heavy breathing - by under7dude
https://www.freesound.org/people/Under7dude/sounds/163383/

These are some examples of sounds you expect to hear in a thriller. The general sounds used are usually either very low or high pitched depending on the individual thriller or moment in the thriller. Many sound effects are used in thrillers to have emphasis on the situation, making the audience feel suspense and tense. As well as sound effects, there are many sound tracks used in horrors, these are normally songs which are again very low or high pitched. These songs are usually also songs which give off emotions such as upset and anger which are portrayed to the audience.

For example:

Thriller score horror scene- by memz
https://www.freesound.org/people/memz/sounds/325142/

Modular synth- by suzenako (this would be perfect to use in or psychological thriller)
https://www.freesound.org/people/suzenako/sounds/128787/

Costume planning for the male character

The characters dark attire makes him look mysterious and intimidating, as the colour black has connotations with evil emotions this showing the audience his possible intentions. This making the audience aware that he is the villain in the scene. This costume is good as it has a black hoodie but we will not be using this costume due to there only being one piece of black clothing, we want all of his clothing to be black to emphasise that he is the villain.

This picture again is black showing the mood of Damien. Again making him look intimidating, but this time the is also due to there being all black and the ripped jeans. This showing that he is from a working class background, or maybe even unemployed; this being due to the ragged look of clothes. This also giving mystery to Damien as it can leave the audience wondering why he is dressed like this or what his intentions are going to be. We hope to use this as or characters costume as we feel that this suits the character best.

This costume is another possibility due to there being all black clothing, the types of clothing also show Damien's position in the hierarchy as he is wearing very basic clothes which are associated with working class people. Again the black shows connotations of being evil, which shows to the audience his mysterious nature as well as implying his intentions.

Costume Planning for the female character

Character 1 - Laura

The audience will learn that the the girl in the opening sequence is young with a cool edgy vibe. Shows that she is well presented, taking care with what she looks like. We want this to show the audience that she is a normal average working class teenager who can afford to make themselves presentable. The ripped jeans shows he laid back personality but the boots also show that she wants to make herself presentable, this displaying that she is a normal teenage girl.

The audience here again will learn that the character is a young girl who wants to look presentable, but doesn't make much effort to do this by wearing ripped jeans and a basic jumper. Making her seem relaxed, giving her a cool laid back look and personality. The makeup here is very simplistic but effective as it shows the girls youth, without making loads of effort. Her hair has an almost beach vibe look again giving her this cool laid back look.

This will show the audience that the character is a young girl who is a student, as well as showing that she is working class. This look gives her a laid back vibe, showing not much effort being put into the outfit wearing a baggy jumper and ripped jeans. This showing her chilled personality and outlook towards life; also showing her commitment to her education due to looking like she could be attending school/college.

The top picture will be our costume as we want to give off a young edgy vibe to the girl as well as showing a personality to her in contrast to the other main character, the villain.

Analysing costume within films of the psychological thriller genre

The following images are taken from the trailer of shutter island, they show different costumes that are relevant to our sub-genre, of which is psychological thriller.

Inspectors

The costumes that these two characters are wearing suggest that they are undercover, the costumes are dark in colour and this suggests that they are trying to blend in and do not want to be given any attention. This shows the sub-genre as they are dark in colour, dark clothing is usually used in psychological thrillers and are expected shades to be seen on characters that are in films of this sub-genre. This image helps to show the narrative as it is clear the two character are looking for someone or something and this is emphasised through the way they are dressed. The image is creative as both characters are dressed in similar clothing and gives the audience the impression that they have the same intensions. However the character on  the left of the screen as you look at the image is dressed in a dark waste coat and dark coloured tie, this could suggest he is of higher importance or is a villain himself. This would link to our opening sequence as we could have both the crazy Ex boyfriend and the new boyfriend dressed in clothing that is the same but with small differences to show how they both care for the girl but the clothing can emphasise the differences between them through the clothing they wear.



Old Lady
In the image the woman is dressed in old shabby clothing, this suggests to the audience that she is an elderly person, possibly in a retirement home or in a hospital. Again, the lady is dressed in dark clothing but the clothing has some colour to it this shows that within the psychological thriller sub-genre that she is a victim in the film. It could also help to portray her helplessness within the film. The clothing could help show the narrative as the matching colour scheme shows her mental state and could suggest she has a mental condition where everything in her life has to be the same not different. The screenshot is creative as she almost blends in with the flowers and the grass and this could show that the lady is one who always falls into the background as is forgotten about. This could work in our opening sequence as we could have flash backs of the Ex boyfriends past and show him being neglected and forgotten about like the lady in the image.



Police officers
In this image the characters are dressed in police uniform, this shows that they are important characters with high authority as they are dressed in uniform. It shows our subgenre as they are most likely hero's in the film and help to sort everything out. This is relevant in a psychological thriller as there is usually crime and the police officers are heir to stop the crime. The clothing helps to show the narrative as it suggests that something bad is going to happen in the film for police officers to be needed in the film. The image is creative as it almost mirrors the shot of the two detectives earlier on in the trailer of the film. This suggests that the film has a lot of similarities throughout and this could also link to the mental state of the old lady.  This could work for us within our opening sequence as we could have a character dressed as a police officer to help find the missing girl.

These images are taken from the film black swan, the costumes they are wearing help us to understand what kind of costumes would be a good fit for our opening sequence.

Dressed Up
In this image the characters are dressed in black suits, in our genre this typically shows that they are important and high class people. In this image the girl in white stands out against everyone else in black this also gives the audience the impression that the girl is the main focus in the frame. This would link to our sub-genre as the thing that is not right or different stands our against the rest when in the presents of other people or other tings. The dark suits connect to our sub genre as they are typically the colour of most clothing on thrillers. This image helps to show the narrative as it shows the girl getting everything she wished for. We could use something link this in our sub genre, we could show the girl escaping from the kidnapper and being reunited with her friends and family.

Ballerina
This image gives the impression that the girl is innocent as the white ballet dress suggests this it also indicates that the girl is a victim.  This links to the sub genre of psychological thriller as the audience would be expecting to see a character that is a victim and suffers either because of another's mental state or their own. This helps show the narrative as the girl dreams of being a ballerina, everything is perfect but the fact that the girl is slightly misted over suggests that not everything is as it seems. The image is creative because the girl is centre of the frame, suggesting that she is the most important. The feathers on the dress make it become almost life like and realistic. However, the white dress and white feathers contras with the darkness within the title. We could use something like this in our opening sequence but the opposite way round, we could dress the kidnapper in dark clothing and have him against a light coloured background with lights and mist to cloud over him.






Black VS White
In this image we can see that two contrasting colours have been used for the costume of the girl. This would be relevant to a psychological thriller as it shows both the outside perception of the girl with the white costumes and the black costume is a symbol for the mental state of the girl, showing that the girl is almost like two different people. This image shows the narrative through the costumes as the contrasting colours represent the mental state if the girl and the two sided personality that the girl has. The image is creative as it shows the contrast of personalities and two contrasting colours that are both associated with different feelings and emotions. We could use this in our opening sequence by having a split screen with both shots being of the kidnapper with the black representing the way people view him and the white or a light colour the way he thinks people see him or even how he thinks he appears to everyone who is around him.

These images are taken from the film gone girl and they also have costumes in them that could be used in our opening sequence.                                                                                                            

Casual clothing
The clothing on this character is again dark in colour and quite dull, this fits with the usually seen costumes of characters in psychological thrillers. The costume fits with the genre as it is very casual, this make the character blend in with everyone else around him. Also showing his class and status within society. This helps to show the narrative as it shows the character isolated and standing day dreaming as is he is looking foe someone. The image is creative as it can show the mental state of the character as he is alone and the clothing is very simplistic.

Mise-En-Scene

The following images are our interpretation of different characters based on the costumes, hair, and makeup.