Conventions of a Psychological Thriller

·         Overlap with the horror genre and make things more scary, link to death

·         Characters find it harder to be themselves, have to have further physical and mental strengths

·         Low Key Lighting – shadows create a fear and tension for the character

·         Out of Reality Experience

·         Death (dying and torture)

·         Mirrors

·         Darkness

·         Thrilling activity (unexplainable events)

·         Clues that go on throughout the film

·         Props such as sharp objects

·         Eerie music, even though silence can sometimes create more tension

·         Flashbacks go to a time that was better in their lives and the fear of leaving their ‘good’ side of life in such a bad way. Audience can then also learn more about the character’s

·         Black and white colouring used in costumes of the characters to show that they are in a negative and dull situation

·         Small spaces that are very claustrophobic that can play tricks on both the characters and the audiences mind

·         Titles might be used during the film in the same font and colour as the actual film title

I have already looked at the conventions of a normal trailer for all genres of film however here are the conventions of psychological thrillers and the kinds of things that the audience expects to be shown in a trailer of my genre. Some of the points are things that you would expect to see in other genres and then others such as 'small spaces' are more likely to be seen in a psychological thriller to show the audience that all events that will occur are unexpected and create paranoia.