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What makes PSYCHO
A thriller?

The key to all good thrillers is fear.
Thrillers use the primal fears of people to create a ‘thrilling’ movie. Fear of darkness, enclosed spaces, being alone, being followed and fear of animals such as spiders, these irrational fears are the foundation that directors build their films on.
But just as equally important are the conventions of thrillers, the basic guidelines if u like. E.g. characters, scene, setting, audio, lighting, camera work and editing.
The main characters of most thrillers is usually a woman, unless character driven behind the bad guy. Portrayed as helpless, vulnerable, small build, pretty, blonde; these are the main features of your average main character of thrillers. Hitchcock portrayed his female main character, ‘Marion Crane’, in just the same way. Small, blonde, pretty and vulnerable. The other main character and the villain of psycho ‘Norman Bates’ is shown at first to the audience as a kind, helpful man. A little on the peculiar side, which makes him seem a bit unnerving, and gives off the impression that there’s a lot more going on under his skin than he would wish to publicize. Hitchcock, using his brilliantly warped mind, built Norman from this into a twisted psychopath. Creepy and unnerving in every scene by only having to say a few words. A bird stuffing, unstable ‘man’ with an unhealthy relationship with his mother, claiming that ‘ a mans best friend is his mother’.

psycho notes

Fast stringed instruments, that’s sounds sinister, to create suspense.
The opening titles use black backgrounds and white font.
The first shot is an establishing shot to show the city, music dies down to create a sense that everything’s ok.
They show the time and date so that the audience an relate to it, shows realism.
The female character is shown as vulnerable, because she’s small and shown in her underwear.
The male character tells us he has loads of debts and once he’s paid them they will go away and marry.
Male character says how he is going away, telling us that she’s going to be vulnerable, alone at home.
Most of the shots are medium long shots, so that it captures the scene and creates atmosphere.
She is told to put the money in the safety deposit box, which she doesn’t, instead she intends to run away.
She has a head ache, makes her seem more vulnerable.
The music shows her intent.
The mirrors are like her conscience , and they are also important because people can appear in them e.g. psycho.
Boss thinks she’ at home, but sees her, the music enhances the suspense, quick loud music, stringed, she’ running away and it reflects that.
The establishing shot shows her location.
She seems anxious when speaking to the police officer, wanting to leave, makes her look suspicious.
The officer is wearing dark glasses to make him slightly disturbing, and is made to look powerful, using camera angles.
When she drives away the music makes it sound as though she is being chased/followed to create more suspense, but changes dramatically to a slower pace, that’s gentle, but still sounds sinister and edgy.
Slow long stringed notes, makes it sound sinister, creates the atmosphere.
Another shot of mirrors
The police officer pulls up, so she gets in the car, as she’s driving away she is stopped because she forgot her stuff, the police officer gets closer and closer building suspense.
When she’s driving, you can always see a car in her back window.
Non-diegetic dialogue of what’s happened, as if she’s replaying the memories over in her head. Time passes faster.
The rain makes it hard for us to see, as well as the darkness and the positioning on the lighting on her face, we can only see her and nothing around her, so something could be lurking in the darkness.
When she looks up at the only 2 light windows, you see someone walk past, a silhouette.
The man at the hotel, asks her to join him for dinner.
The camera is positioned so that you can see a mirror behind them.
You can hear ranting, it is the mans mother and the man, in the house, she stares out of the window at it, the man then shouts at the mother to shut up, then the scene is eerily quiet.
The man brings her food, then asks if he wants to come into his office, as if he’s luring her from safety, he seems kind but at the same time sinister
He says he’s not hungry, but tells her to eat, which is suspicious
The camera shows birds behind him, then he says has a hobby of stuffing birds.
He tells us that he does jobs for his mother and that his mother is his best friend.
Little things like that make him seem a bit strange, but nice at the same time, but underneath seems suspicious.
The camera shot of the man and the bird behind him high on the wall, the bird seems a lot higher than him and looks like its attacking.
“Cold and damp like a grave” … “ I hate what she has become”.
He describes a psychiatric ward as cruel, but that says his mother is gentle and harmless, he says how she needs him.
“ she just goes a little mad sometimes, we all go a little mad sometimes”. Suggests that he and his mother are a bit crazy.
Tries to get her to stay when she wants to go to bed. Making her uneasy
When she leaves he stares at her signature in the book, strangely.
Lighting effects make him look creepy in his office.
Then he goes to a wall and stares through a hole in it to stare at her. He knows that she is just about to go and have a shower.
A shot of the house, standing high … makes it more sinister.
Psychological corridors.
She’s enjoying the shower as is its washing everything away. Makes her vulnerable.
We see the door open, and a silhouette approach the shower.
When the person is stabbing her we never see the knife near the women, just the thrusting, and her screaming.

thriller conventions

Thriller

Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more-powerful and better-equipped villains. Literary devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively.
Thrillers often take place wholly or partly in exotic settings such as foreign cities, deserts, polar regions, or high seas.
The heroes in most thrillers are frequently "hard men" accustomed to danger: law enforcement officers, spies, soldiers, seamen or aviators. However, they may also be ordinary citizens drawn into danger by accident. While such heroes have traditionally been men.

Thrillers often overlap with mystery stories, but are distinguished by the structure of their plots.

In a thriller, the hero must thwart the plans of an enemy, rather than uncover a crime that has already happened. Thrillers also occur on a much grander scale: the crimes that must be prevented are serial or mass murder, terrorism, assassination, or the overthrow of governments. Jeopardy and violent confrontations are standard plot elements. While a mystery climaxes when the mystery is solved, a thriller climaxes when the hero finally defeats the villain.

In thrillers influenced by film noir and tragedy, the compromised hero is often killed in the process.

Ominous or monstrous element has become common to heighten tension.

Many thrillers involve spies and espionage, but not all spy stories are thrillers.
Thrillers may be defined by the primary mood that they elicit: fearful excitement. In short, if it 'thrills', it is a thriller.

Sub-genre

Action thriller - In which the work often features a race against the clock, contains lots of violence, and an obvious antagonist. These films usually contain large amounts of guns, explosions, and large elaborate set pieces for the action to take place.

Conspiracy thriller - In which the hero/heroine confronts a large, powerful group of enemies whose true extent only he/she recognizes.

Crime thriller - This particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal(s) rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasize action over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, and double-crosses are central ingredients.

Disaster thriller - In which the main conflict is due to some sort of natural or artificial disaster, such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, etc., or nuclear disasters as an artificial disaster.

Drama thriller - In which the story consists of the elements of a thriller and drama film. These films are usually slower paced and involves a great deal of character development along with plot twists.

Eco-thriller - In which the protagonist must avert or rectify an environmental or biological calamity - often in addition to dealing with the usual types of enemies or obstacles present in other thriller genres. This environmental component often forms a central message or theme of the story.

Erotic thriller - In which it consists of erotica and thriller.

Horror thriller - In which conflict between the main characters are mental, emotional, and physical. What sets the horror thriller apart is the main element of fear throughout the story. The main character(s) is not only up against a superior force, but they are or will soon become the victims themselves and directly feel the fear that comes by attracting the monster's attention.

Legal thriller - In which the lawyer-heroes/heroines confront enemies outside, as well as inside, the courtroom and are in danger of losing not only their cases but their lives.

Medical thriller - In which the hero/heroine are doctors or medical personnels working to solve an expanding medical problem

Political thriller - In which the hero/heroine must ensure the stability of the government that employs him.

Psychological thriller - In which (until the often violent resolution) the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical.

Spy thriller (also a subgenre of spy fiction) - In which the hero is generally a government agent who must take violent action against agents of a rival government or (in recent years) terrorists.

Supernatural thriller - In which the conflict is between main characters, usually one of which has supernatural powers. This type of thriller combines tension of the regular thriller with such basic horror oriented ingredients as ghosts, the occult, and psychic phenomenon; the supernatural thriller combines these with a frightening but often restrained film. They also generally eschew the more graphic elements of the horror film in favor of sustaining a mood of menace and unpredictability; supernatural thrillers often find the protagonists either battling a malevolent paranormal force or trapped in a situation seemingly influenced or controlled by an other-worldly entity beyond their comprehension.

Techno-thriller - A work that usually focuses upon military action, in which technology (usually military technology) is described in detail and made essential to the reader's/viewer's understanding of the plot.

Most thrillers are formed in some combination of the above, with horror, conspiracy, and psychological tricks used most commonly to heighten tension.