Conventions of a Psychological Thriller Poster

Typically, the colours used on a thriller poster tend to be black, white and red. These colours connote blood, danger and evil which straight away imply to the audience that the film is going to be disturbing. The images used on thriller posters are mainly of the protagonist or an object that represents one of the main themes of the film; usually a close up of the protagonist which leads the audience to believe that the subject is in danger. The use of close-ups also promotes the psychological aspect within a thriller. Low-key lighting is often used on the main subject to create a sense of mystery and enigma. The background is commonly dark to highlight the main subject and to create an unsettling atmosphere which builds tension amongst the audience.

The film title tends to be in either red or white to make it stand out from the rest of the poster; the fonts used in thriller posters are usually quite simple, clean and thin; we feel that using this font type will make the poster look more professional. On the majority of the posters we have looked at when doing market research, the main title is usually placed near the bottom end of the poster. The names of the cast are usually placed at the very top of the poster, especially when there are famous actors playing the characters. This is because many people will initially look at the top of the poster and the actor may attract them to watch the film. There is often minimal content within a psychological thriller poster as the genre often revolves around enigma.

Analysis of existing posters of the thriller genre

The Box

This poster conveys many typical thriller conventions. Simply by looking at this poster, we can see that this movie is going to be quite a disturbing one. We can identify the main character, the theme and the iconography of the film.

The main subject in this poster is the protagonist. It seems as if she is looking behind her, she has a worried expression on her face, implying to the audience that she is being watched or followed – two typical thriller conventions ie. voyeurism.

Red has been repeatedly used on this poster for some of the text and also for the big strip down the middle of the image; this conveys connotations of death, violence, danger and blood – all of which are typical narratives and themes of a thriller film. 


Orphan

The use of the colour red used in this poster connotes danger, violence and blood. The font used for the main title looks like it has been written by a child in chalk, and gives the poster quite an eerie feel. This tells us that there may be something evil about the girl.

The photograph of the girl used for this poster also gives us an idea that the girl is evil. There is no light in her eyes, they are completely black which makes her look inhuman. 

The colours used for this poster aren’t typically used in a thriller poster, dark colours and shadowed images are usually used. However, they are still very dull and gloomy which creates suspense and gives the audience a feel for what the film is going to be like.

Secret Window

The image shows a close up of the main character suggesting that he is of most dominance in the film. He has a serious expression on his face and part of his face is shadowed by a window perhaps suggesting that he has something to hide and creates enigma which is a typical theme used in films of this genre. The window could also infer that he is spying on someone or something, denoting the theme of voyeurism.

The tone of the poster is dull and dark, the lack of light connoted danger, death and suspense, which are all themes associated with the thriller genre. The font used is plain, clean and in capital letters. Both the title and the name credits are red which connotes blood and violence suggesting to the audience that this is what we’re going to see in this film.

Influences

Influences

In many regards no given film has directly influenced the production of this short film. The concept was brought forward through discussion which developed and modified ideas until we had a solid platform for a film in place. However, from doing extensive research into other thriller films certain themes, techniques and patterns are visible which we will also be using to convey a certain tone within the film.  


For example:
The film 'number 23' carries a similar theme of a man driven to the point of insanity by something- in this case Jim carrey potrayes a man whose obsession with the number 23 becomes his weapon of self-destruction. This particular image from the film was chosen because it depicts not only the man's obsession, but also has a similar premise to the flash back of the asylum. This is because the current idea is to show how the tumour has driven him so insane that he has etched or written many mathematical equations on the walls of the asylum.


These thriller films all seem to carry silmilar lighting techniques which complement the film to reinforce a dark and sinister atmosphere. Low level lighting is a constant reoccurance in this sort of film and is sometimes a contanst in a certain directors films. An example of this is the Tim Burton film Edward Scissor hands. As exhibited below it is evident that Burton has used the LS to effect in this dark gothic styled room to create reinforce her vunerability. Simerily we want to create this same sense of vunerability through low level lighting when the main male character Johnny is shot in the asylum. This will hopefully help to climitise this scene to create the most impact for his death.

Soft lighting is a technique which we would like to explore within our A2 media coursework. Hitchcock uses soft lighting in his film Vertigo to suggest how he is in love with an ideological version of Madeline which doesn't exist - a fantasy. Below is a clip of Judy making her complete transformation into Madeline, note how the soft lighting gives her an almost ghost like quality which should instinctively make the audience uneasy and feel as though something isn't right here. We intend the shots of the physiarist meeting to be shot in a slight soft lighting to give that subtle indicator that something isn't right, and perhaps this meeting isn't what it seems (that he is really dead).

As Johnny's (the main male) character will be presented as a manic individual who can't retain focus, we believe it's important that we use a substantial amount of ECU's on his eye's (as shown below) to reflect the unnatural panic of his mind. This concept will also make his character more believable because the audience can gage his manic state more easily.

Slow motion on the ticking clock will also be a technique that we encorperate into our final product. As exhibited in the video below, we want to create a effect which emphasises the manic state of Johnny. This particular edit will also fiurther the cresendo effect we would like to create when the psychatrist speaks the firm and finalising line of dialouge 'Now, Focus'.

Initial Idea

The initial idea of our five minute short film was to in the setting of a physiatrist meeting have the main character (male) tell the physiatrist and the audience of his decline into insanity from the development of a tumour- a tumour which acesses the mathematical side of the brain and therefore in short boosts makes the person have mathematical insights. This would be presented through a series of flash backs which served the purpose of getting to know the character and therefore becoming emotionally involved. This character speaks of how he was then commited to an asylum because of his mental state. It becomes apparent that the phycaratrist is trying to unlock a memory of some sort that the man is trying to supress through his expectant dialouge. A flash back then brings the audience into the asylum cell where we see the character is on the floor with obvious equation scrapings on the cell walls. As the camera slowly closes in on the man it becomes apparent that he is dead, and perhaps commited suiside. We plan to have some sort of camera match between this moment and the man in the phcartrist meeting to emphasise his realisation that he is really dead. This will hopefully leave open many questions such as 'is the phcastrist actually God in human form making him realise his past before he can move onto the afterlife?' or 'Is the entire meeting a figment of his imagination?'. We also intend to use a soft lighting effect throughout in this meeting to imply subtly that something is wrong, and the audience should feel uneasy about the entire situation.


Tone of short film


The tone which we wish to convey in this short film has three different stages. In the opening of the film we intend to show the main characters manic state through having POV shots (as seen in picture on the right)-this will be a fast edit to show his unnatural levels of unconcentration. As the phyciatrists voice will be more of a background noise that he isn't particually paying attention to, other random objects that make small noises in the room will be his focus. For example the sound of a clock ticking may be his main focus of sound and sight for a moment, and that may suddenly change to the phcaratrists pen. This is all to create a very panicked tone which will immediatley put the audience out of their comfort zone.

The tone will switch to one of a more relaxed and anticipatinal atmosphere as the flash backs of the characters decline begin (the second stage of tone so to speak). This is so the audience can focus and get a coinnection with this character. They have seen him in is manic state, now they need to see how it happened...this may develop a sense of emphathy towrads him-especially when he is committed to a mental asylum.

The tone then shifts again once it becomes known to the audience and the character that his is actually dead. It will be a tone of confusion and sorrow as the other two stages have built up to this moment of doom for the character. The fact that there is no happy ending, or resolution for this character brings with it the upsetting thought that when he and the audience thought he was seeking advice from the phyciratrist, when actually it was just to reveal the horror of his death.

Equipment

Below are images of the equipment wanted to use throughout the filming process, and ultimately what we did use:

The snap shot on the left shows a piece of lighting equipment we plan of using for the filming in the studio. We think this we increase a warmth of atmosphere and therefore make the scene feel more realistic.

The snap shot on the right shows the tripods we plan on using throughout the filming process. Unlike the big lighting equipment, the tripods are relatively mobile, which means that they can be of consistent use throughout.

The snap shot on the left shows a piece of studio lighting equipment which we would like to use for the psychiatrist scene. This will hopefully (alongside others) give the room a good base for lighting which we can then expand upon in post-production.

The snap shot on the right shows all the equipment in the positions we intend them to be placed. Note how bare the studio looks without the aid of lighting, which would have been a much bigger problem to tackle in post-production.

The snap shot of the right shows the set we will be filming in with the lights on. Note how in comparison to the image above, the mood of the room has become a lot more atmospheric.

The image on the left shows this concept of a lighting bubble in which we are going to film. It will be important for us to keep the cameras pointing away from this so the audience are led to believe that the lighting is all but natural.

 

The image on the right shows the studio lighting in effect which the actual cast in place. This was a good way of gaging anything that may need to be re-positioned for the actual shoot.

The reason we chose this lighting was due to the effect that was created - the lights gave a warmer feeling to the set rather than the original lighting invoked a cold atmosphere.   

Audience feedback - film posters

By looking at these results, we can see that having a film poster as an ancillary product is important as it can be used as a platform to get people to watch a film. We discovered that actors influence people to go and watch a film. If they see an actor that they are a fan of on the poster, this could be a factor in their decision to whether or not they watch the film.
We made some layout changes as a result of this feedback; we did initially have our title at the top of the poster but we decided to place the actors names at the top instead. Even though they are not well-known actors, if some of their fans were to see the poster, this couldinfluence them into watching the film.
This feedback allowed us to gain insight of what our target audience wanted to see on the film poster and we were able to establish common trends. The feedback we gained from our target audience enabled us to produce a more successful and professional final product.

Locations

 

Our fist location will be set in a psychiatrists office, this will be for the first scene of our film. Our aim for this room is to have it looking very clinical and minimalistic in order to achieve a dream like sense to the location. This will reflect the state of mind of the character as this scene is possibly his subconscious.

We aim to have only the basics in the room, there will be a coffee table, one sofa, a chair and a clock, this will draw more emphasis to the characters themselves especially Johnny's manic state of mind. This scene will be the basis for most of the film as the whole film will occur in this room however, there will be flashbacks which will not occur in this office. This picture reflects the type of atmosphere we aim to create. We will shoot this in the studio as it has white walls and is virtually empty, filming in the studio will also allow us to create the lighting that we need which will be extremely light to add to the sense that this is an illusion or a dream.



The second location is in an office where the lead character will be rifling through draws trying to find paper, this will be a typical office location, it will have the usual conventions of an office; desk, chair, computer etc. We are using a Solicitors office to shoot this in, the reason we chose this location rather than re-creating an office in a studio is due to the fact that we wanted it to be realistic as possible. The fact that Johnny is going through draws in someoneelse's office emphasises his decline into insanity.

While Johnny is in the asylum he is in solitary confinement, we will shoot these scenes in a barn which we believe will resemble this solitary confinement. The barn lets through shards of light, we think this will be ideal as the scene has to be very dark only slightly lit. Also, think that this location has an eerie sense to it so this will help us re-create tension.




Finally, there will be one more location which will be Johnny's house, this is where the murder takes place and also where he awakens from his "dream", these scenes in one of our own houses so it can be more realistic. There will be a scene in the a living room where Johnny kills his girlfriend and another where Johnny wakes up so he is in his bedroom. The lighting will be dimly lit to give the sense of  a flashback of a dream it will also have a slight blue tint when we plan to edit it on premier pro.