Psychological Thrillers
The 'thriller' genre is commonly known in film, with examples such as Taken, Inception, & Panic Room. However there are a lot of subgenres within the thriller genre itself, including psychological thrillers, such as Psycho, Black Swan, & Gone Girl. Below is an accurate description of a psychological thriller:
"a psychological thriller is a thriller subgenre that focuses on the unstable emotional or mental states of the characters, often in combination with elements of mystery, suspense or psychological horror" [1]
- Overall, we can gather from the definition of this genre that its main focuses are emotion, a character's mental state, and often incorporating mystery and suspense that puts the audience on edge to differ these elements to the drama genre. This a very accurate way of describing Double Exposure, a film with a seemingly unstable/mysterious main character, a lot of emotion, and an element of mystery before the story's dramatic plot twist. Therefore our film can definitely be defined as a psychological thriller.
- Overall, we can gather from the definition of this genre that its main focuses are emotion, a character's mental state, and often incorporating mystery and suspense that puts the audience on edge to differ these elements to the drama genre. This a very accurate way of describing Double Exposure, a film with a seemingly unstable/mysterious main character, a lot of emotion, and an element of mystery before the story's dramatic plot twist. Therefore our film can definitely be defined as a psychological thriller.
Themes & Conventions
Within my research, I explored the most common conventions & themes within the subgenre, allowing me to understand the strongest and key parts of a psychological thriller that I would need to draw the most attention to and make the most entertaining and dramatic in post-production. Below are my findings on the common themes of the subgenre:
"There are two overarching themes that tend to pop up: guilt and obsession. Sometimes, each of these themes can generally stand alone as the core of a film, but oftentimes, they are combined with a context of ambiguity regarding what is real and what is imagined." [2]
- Guilt, obsession, and ambiguity about real life and imagination. This is a fantastic relation to Double Exposure's story. Focusing on guilt and obsession, our main character is obsessively compulsive in her day-to-day seemingly perfected life, and eventually, we understand that she is feeling overpowering guilt for her actions in the plot twist of her accidentally killing her boyfriend. Lastly, one of the largest themes of our film is the mystery of what was real within the story and what wasn't, as we find out that our character has been in denial and creating her own reality in her mind. Learning from this, I knew that I needed to maintain a large focus on these three themes in the film.
- Guilt, obsession, and ambiguity about real life and imagination. This is a fantastic relation to Double Exposure's story. Focusing on guilt and obsession, our main character is obsessively compulsive in her day-to-day seemingly perfected life, and eventually, we understand that she is feeling overpowering guilt for her actions in the plot twist of her accidentally killing her boyfriend. Lastly, one of the largest themes of our film is the mystery of what was real within the story and what wasn't, as we find out that our character has been in denial and creating her own reality in her mind. Learning from this, I knew that I needed to maintain a large focus on these three themes in the film.
"Psychological and emotional stress are the engine of this subgenre." [1]
- This a more generalised description of a psychological thriller's themes, but it's extremely accurate in explaining that for a story to fit into this subgenre, the core of the plot needs to focus on emotion and psychological stress. Again, this is evident in Double Exposure throughout the film, as in moments we see emotion peak through the character's vacant expression, and her emotion becomes more overpowering as we get further into the story. I planned to hold on a lot of expression/emotion based shots in the film to really highlight this.
- This a more generalised description of a psychological thriller's themes, but it's extremely accurate in explaining that for a story to fit into this subgenre, the core of the plot needs to focus on emotion and psychological stress. Again, this is evident in Double Exposure throughout the film, as in moments we see emotion peak through the character's vacant expression, and her emotion becomes more overpowering as we get further into the story. I planned to hold on a lot of expression/emotion based shots in the film to really highlight this.
"In a classic thriller we have good guys vs. bad guys, with quite clear distinctions and the corresponding actions. And even when the antagonist is obscure or unknown, we never doubt that the protagonist is the good guy. In a psychological thriller, however, the nature of the protagonist it is often questioned, and sometimes good or benign characters become or are revealed to be monstrous." [1]
- This informative piece highlights the differences between a psychological thriller and a classic thriller, as within the subgenre, we are much more likely as an audience to question the intentions and mental state of the main character. This was very helpful in determining for me whether Double Exposure was a thriller or a psychological thriller, and as there are no clear antagonists and protagonists within the film (at least until the end), and we question who really is the 'good guy' in the film, the character types of Double Exposure are clearly that of a psychological thriller. I noted that I needed to toy with the audience in the edit, allowing them to decide for themselves part of the way through the film who they think was the bad guy and the good guy through specific angles, shot types and lengths, and pacing.
From the information above, I gathered that the generalised most common themes of the subgenre are suspense, emotion, and psychological drama. So I decided to research tips on editing to each themes' strengths.
- This informative piece highlights the differences between a psychological thriller and a classic thriller, as within the subgenre, we are much more likely as an audience to question the intentions and mental state of the main character. This was very helpful in determining for me whether Double Exposure was a thriller or a psychological thriller, and as there are no clear antagonists and protagonists within the film (at least until the end), and we question who really is the 'good guy' in the film, the character types of Double Exposure are clearly that of a psychological thriller. I noted that I needed to toy with the audience in the edit, allowing them to decide for themselves part of the way through the film who they think was the bad guy and the good guy through specific angles, shot types and lengths, and pacing.
From the information above, I gathered that the generalised most common themes of the subgenre are suspense, emotion, and psychological drama. So I decided to research tips on editing to each themes' strengths.
Suspense
When learning about the best ways to edit a film to highlight the suspenseful moments and draw the audience into this, I found a great article that provided tips on this:
When learning about the best ways to edit a film to highlight the suspenseful moments and draw the audience into this, I found a great article that provided tips on this:
"Tip #1: Give You Character Breathing Room
For deeply suspenseful editing, try giving your characters a few extra seconds of screen time. Create a slow, methodical pacing in your scene, showcasing close-ups.
If you are in the process of revealing an important plot element, or simply establishing the anxious nature of the character surrounding their situation, allow the shot to linger before cutting away. The longer you hold on your character, the more anxious the audience will become when the stakes get high." [3]
- This was very insightful for me, and was kept fresh in my mind for post-production. Within the script, I envisioned that a lot of suspenseful moments would linger, but I wanted to make sure that that would come across in the visuals of the film, so I planned to hold for as long as necessary on the most uncomfortable and suspenseful moments.
- This was very insightful for me, and was kept fresh in my mind for post-production. Within the script, I envisioned that a lot of suspenseful moments would linger, but I wanted to make sure that that would come across in the visuals of the film, so I planned to hold for as long as necessary on the most uncomfortable and suspenseful moments.
"Tip #2: Time Your Reveal
Suspense in film is based around the anticipation of an upcoming event, and how the story unfolds in the attempt to get there. As you decide where to place your reveal, allow your cuts to build without becoming too hasty." [3]
- Attached to this tip, the article provided an example of slow suspense scenes that are well timed with music to provide intensity, along with making the 'reveal' moments to be even more shocking, in The Dark Knight:
- We can see from this that the visuals start at a slow, uncomfortable pace, and in-line with the music track picking up it's intensity and pacing, the cuts of the scene speed up and intensify with it. Allowing for the audience to become more unconformable and nervous before the reveal moment of the character's shockingly disfigured face.
Although there aren't any moments within Double Exposure that are as visually shocking, this was great advice for me in remembering to let a scene build to a revealing moment - such as scene 19's death scene, starting slow and building to an argument that cuts faster and faster (without missing out on any content), before a jolting, shocking moment where Dan falls and hits his head with a WHACK!.
Drama & Emotion
As the dramatics and emotion of a story-line often tie in together, I researched the best ways to heighten the emotion within our film in post-production:
"The most dramatic and enlightening moments often happen very quickly, which means that if we leave them at their original tempo in our timeline, they probably won't have as much of an impact on the audience as they should.
That's where temporal decompression comes into play. Once you've identified the most emotional moments in your scene, you can artificially add time between spoken phrases in order to make every word more impactful. Essentially, you're creating dramatic pauses to amplify each and every word, which gives the audience time to digest and ponder what is being said, automatically giving it more dramatic power." [4]
- This differs largely to suspenseful moments, as typically suspense either stays at a slow, uneasy pacing, or slowly picks up the pace. But the tip above states that to heighten emotion and drama, the pacing needs to have a continuous flow but allowing for a character's reactive moments. This had me making large considerations of which moments needed to heighten the most suspense (a lingering shot: "what's he going to do?!") and the most emotion (flowing, expressive cuts: "everything he's saying is clearly hurting her more with each word").
Learning about these themes and the ways to play to their strengths was extremely helpful for incorporating into my own editing techniques, and since conducting this research, I have made sure to incorporate all of these tips and considerations to really strengthen the film.
Short Film Editing Tips
As Double Exposure is a low budget short film, I found it to be helpful to conduct extra research into editing tips within these types of productions as well as just psychological thriller editing tips.
In the first article that I found, professional Editor Misha Tenenbaum answers 'Do short films require a specific approach to editing?'
A: "Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency.
When editing a short film constantly remind yourself that you’ve only got between 5 and 10 minutes before your movie needs to be over. If the scene, shot, moment, isn’t great, get it OUT.
Another form of efficiency is the story arc. Make sure that every story line pays off, meaning if you suggest something it needs to come back again sometime during the film in a changed way." [5]
- This advice definitely highlights how important it is to only use the strongest scenes, moments, and shots of the film, as the length of the film is much shorter than a feature. So I made sure to remember that although I wanted to linger on suspense and highlight each powerful moment, I couldn't allow any scenes to drag within such a short time frame. This also flags up how important it is for the Editor to be quite brutal with removing parts of a film, as the Director may be very attached to certain scenes or shots. But if they don't work for the film, then I need to take them out and help the Director to understand why that strengthens the overall film.
Lastly, I found a guide on helpful considerations to make when editing a short film:
- This advice definitely highlights how important it is to only use the strongest scenes, moments, and shots of the film, as the length of the film is much shorter than a feature. So I made sure to remember that although I wanted to linger on suspense and highlight each powerful moment, I couldn't allow any scenes to drag within such a short time frame. This also flags up how important it is for the Editor to be quite brutal with removing parts of a film, as the Director may be very attached to certain scenes or shots. But if they don't work for the film, then I need to take them out and help the Director to understand why that strengthens the overall film.
Lastly, I found a guide on helpful considerations to make when editing a short film:
- "Start strong
- Simplify your message
- Add drama and predictability
- Repetition increases impact
- Experiment with background and movement
- Effects can be fun, but be careful
- Match imagery with music
- Utilize local sounds
- Audio can speak for itself
- Create original title cards
- Incorporate humor
- But don't overdo the humor
- Don't over-rely on voiceovers
- Work with external footage" [6]
- I was aware that each of these tips would apply to individual, specific scenes and moments of the film, but I made sure to keep them in mind when approaching all aspects of post-production.
This research was very effective in helping me to define and further understand Psychological Thrillers and their themes and conventions, as well as understanding just how heavily the subgenre and it's typical content conventions connect and relate to Double Exposure. Along with gathering up a lot of extremely helpful editing tips to strengthen the film that have been very useful during post-production and are making the film more and more professional and exciting.
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