Codes and Conventions of a psychological thriller

Themes: 
Psychological thrillers and to follow certain themes which builds up to creating the narrative of the story, for example:

• Reality
• Death
• Innocence
• Existence
• Purpose
• Mystery
• Drama
• Makeup

The major sub-genres of psychological thrillers, help develop the plot of the movie, shaping the characters' personality. 

Conventions of A Psychological thriller: 

• Black and white colouring- to increase the effectiveness of shadows/ mysterious effect 
• Low key lighting - creating a sense of tensions and fear
• Soundtrack/ music- louder when the tension is high 
• Flashbacks- time disorientation  to confuse the audience/ showing the past of a certain characters making the audience understand the character
• Claustrophobic spaces- entrapment of the mind/ showing the struggle of a unstable character
• Quick edit and change in camera angle- builds emphasis of certain clips in the trailer, increases fear usually in high tension scenes
• Props/ Mirrors- Used to portray the use of reflection of a characters inners self and a representation of 'the dark side' of certain characters 
• Binary opposites- good vs evil

Characters in psychological thrillers:

• Usually presented as 'normal'
• awkward characters/ anxious/ hiding something 
• scary/ mysterious characters
• violent/ abusive
• Incapable of controlling there minds- slashing out

Typical Mise en scene in psychological thrillers: 

The location in a psychological thriller is very important, as the majority of the scenes are set in modern places and urban cities. House/ mansion/ school would be common conventions of where a psychological thriller would be set.