A psychological thriller can be defined as a thriller which has emphasis on the psychology of its characters and their usually unstable emotional state. Notable psychological thrillers include "Shutter island" and "Memento". I will look assess these films in order to gain an understand the forms and conventions of this genre.
Shutter Island
Brief plot description :In 1954, U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels travels to the Ashecliff Hospita for the criminally insane on Shutter island in order to investigate the disappearance of a patient.
Forms and conventions established: From watching "Shutter Island" i have learnt a lot of the forms and conventions which we must incorporate into our film, The most notable was the doubting of the protagonist's own sanity, this was a key element of the film as throughout Teddy's search for the missing patient Rachel, With hallucinations throughout the film being the focal point to make us as an audience question our protagonists' sanity until the end when it is revealed in a twist that he was intact insane and the whole search was a role playing exercise in order to get him to come to terms with his own reality rather than construct a new one in which he is the hero. This is a key element which we would like to incorporate into our film, Another key element which this film established was the extent to which enigma lays a role within the psychological thriller genre as the main focal point of our film is Teddy's search for Rachel and the 67th patient of shutter Island with the twist serving that he was the 67th patient. From a cinematography standpoint looking at Shutter Island also gave me some insight into how we can convey tone and atmosphere through aspects such as filters, within the film they use a minimal blue filter to convey the dreariness and bleakness of Shutter island, this is an aspect which i would like to incorporate into our media production.
Memento
Brief plot description: Leonard is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife, however he suffers from a rare form of memory loss which prevents him from remembering anything after the accident.
Forms and conventions: Memento similarly to Shutter Island also makes use of a mentally ill protagonist who is also trying to come to terms with his wife's murder however unlike Shutter Island our Protagonist is aware of his mental illness throughout the film and is in fact trying to counter act this throughout the film by leaving a series of messages for himself via tattoos and photographs, However this proves to be futile in many respects and actually results in him mistaking his friend for the murderer of his wife and therefore in many aspects his attempts to over come his mental illness serve to be his downfall. This is an aspect which we may wish to incorporate into our media production, another common instance between both Memento and Shutter Island is the bleak and somewhat disturbing subject matter which they deal with, this may be due to having to deal with subject matter which must test the stability of their character and therefore must in many regards challenge the audience at the same time albeit non-directly.
Filters also play a large role within the narrative of Memento with the use of black and white filter to signify a different timeline, it is clear that the use of filters from a cinematographic standpoint are important within the genre and it is an aspect which needs to be incorporated within our film to some degree.
Forms and conventions established: From watching "Shutter Island" i have learnt a lot of the forms and conventions which we must incorporate into our film, The most notable was the doubting of the protagonist's own sanity, this was a key element of the film as throughout Teddy's search for the missing patient Rachel, With hallucinations throughout the film being the focal point to make us as an audience question our protagonists' sanity until the end when it is revealed in a twist that he was intact insane and the whole search was a role playing exercise in order to get him to come to terms with his own reality rather than construct a new one in which he is the hero. This is a key element which we would like to incorporate into our film, Another key element which this film established was the extent to which enigma lays a role within the psychological thriller genre as the main focal point of our film is Teddy's search for Rachel and the 67th patient of shutter Island with the twist serving that he was the 67th patient. From a cinematography standpoint looking at Shutter Island also gave me some insight into how we can convey tone and atmosphere through aspects such as filters, within the film they use a minimal blue filter to convey the dreariness and bleakness of Shutter island, this is an aspect which i would like to incorporate into our media production.
Memento
Brief plot description: Leonard is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife, however he suffers from a rare form of memory loss which prevents him from remembering anything after the accident.Forms and conventions: Memento similarly to Shutter Island also makes use of a mentally ill protagonist who is also trying to come to terms with his wife's murder however unlike Shutter Island our Protagonist is aware of his mental illness throughout the film and is in fact trying to counter act this throughout the film by leaving a series of messages for himself via tattoos and photographs, However this proves to be futile in many respects and actually results in him mistaking his friend for the murderer of his wife and therefore in many aspects his attempts to over come his mental illness serve to be his downfall. This is an aspect which we may wish to incorporate into our media production, another common instance between both Memento and Shutter Island is the bleak and somewhat disturbing subject matter which they deal with, this may be due to having to deal with subject matter which must test the stability of their character and therefore must in many regards challenge the audience at the same time albeit non-directly.
Filters also play a large role within the narrative of Memento with the use of black and white filter to signify a different timeline, it is clear that the use of filters from a cinematographic standpoint are important within the genre and it is an aspect which needs to be incorporated within our film to some degree.
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