I originally thought that the genres horror and psychological thriller were two completely separate genres all together, however, this is not entirely true because psychological thrillers are actually a subdivision of the horror genre itself. Since the psychological thriller genre falls under the horror genre umbrella, it does utilize many of the well-known horror movie conventions with being a bit more specific to some of its own conventions. I'll explain in the following....
Horror and Psychological Thriller Conventions: These two power point presentation I found at these url's (http://www.slideshare.net/arronbettley/generic-conventions-of-horror) and (http://www.slideshare.net/marine18/horror-genre-conventions) were incredible in aiding me to better understand the steryotipical and generic horror movie conventions. Here are the main points I picked up from studying these resources.
Location/Mise-En-Scene Wise: When a location manager is scouting for a place to film a horror movie, if they are following the genre's typical route, he or she or they would need to find a place that brings about a feeling of isolation. This could be a rural area in the middle of nowhere, ghost town, run down urban city, dark alley or street, or a place that through a person's prior knowledge brings about negative connotation like an asylum or a dark foggy lake. The possibilities are literally endless, but between the two power points, I found that they both highlighted the fact that if a character were placed in whatever setting the location manager chose, it was imperative that the character looked utterly isolated and alone in the setting.
A great example of this genre convention when it comes to location in horror was in the movie Silent Hill (2006). The setting takes place in a different dimension ghost town that during the day is uninhabited and covered with ash, where the main female protagonist of the movie is seen wandering around trying to find her daughter in this desolate, gray space. And when nighttime comes about, the world changes to this hellish-like work where monsters and demonic creatures exist in a dark, industrialized setting that resembles a terrifying labyrinth. Both create a sense of isolation and being alone excellently.
The Daytime World:
Nighttime World:
Also compatible with the horror film shown above, the movie utilizes a color scheme that differs for each of the two worlds, but when the real danger occurs is when the main female protagonist in the movie has to deal with the dark night world, and almost all the colors in that world are black or red in hue. This agrees with both power point presentations with how muted darker colors create a sense through color psychology of danger and fear.
I'm beginning to learn that miss-en-scene is probably one of the most, if not the most, important factor when creating a horror film, for it brings the consumer into that world of fear, and if the setting isn't just right and the color scheme reminds people of happy days, then the fear factor just won't resonate with a targeted audience.
Continuing to relate to mise-en-scene, costume design is a major factor when creating a horror movie, for the main monster or cereal killer or whatever the antagonist may be in a horror movie can become iconic if their costume design is that impactful. Costumes now that are very recognizable from horror are those from the Scream series of movies (the famous mask), the Halloween Mike Myers costume (the famous mask), and The Purge movie series face piece (the famous mask). Wait... are you seeing the same pattern I am? After further research I came to the conclusion that when it comes to a horror genre related film, it's the face or mask that the villain wears that becomes the face of a movie franchise. Every Scream movie has had that famous scream mask featured on its advertising movie poster since the first movie of the brand came out in the late 1990's. Not only have I learned that I need to put a great emphasis on figuring out what face piece I'm going to be using for my main antagonist of my film, but maybe through looking for this face piece I'll be able to create that recognizable brand look to my film that these other successful horror genre related movies have accomplished swimmingly.
Another key factor when relating to horror conventions in films is that during an intense or scary scene, the lighting techniques are quite specific. Low-key lighting, flickering lighting, natural lighting used to barely illuminate a dark area are used quite often to create a sense of suspense and mystery. This is extremely imperative when relating to the psychological thriller aspect of the horror genre as well, as the lighting truly does create a mental state of extreme suspense if utilized correctly.
View this scene from the incredible psychological thriller Shutter Island (2010)
Another genre convention the presentations mention is the use of sound techniques like stings and non-diagetic sounds in the background as to aid in the jump scare scenes or to build a sense of fear and danger. An excellent example comes from a scene from the horror movie classic Psycho (1960), specifically the shower scene in the movie. In quick summation, many sharp sounding stings are used in this scene when a woman is shown in the shower being stabbed multiple times. These stings, being accompanied by the quick camera cuts, adds an intense sense of fear that without these non-diagetic sounds would not exist.
Both power points also put a major emphasis on iconography when it comes to props and symbolism (this still relates back to mise-en-scene). When relating to horror movies that have to do with the paranormal and ghosts, oftentimes the viewer sees crucifixes and bibles plastered throughout the scenes of the movie. Here's an image from the movie The Exorcist (1973) that utilizes the typical cross as a prop/symbol in quite the disturbing fashion that relates to iconography:
(The young, possessed girl seen has a cross held in her right hand that she used to impale herself. So that crucifix was used as both a symbol and prop to induce a sense of disgust and intense fear with the audience.)
Other major symbols that could be included in a horror movie that are relevant if the movie isn't a ghost paranormal type are weapons, paintings, candles, dark rooms, etc. These symbols and props, just like lighting, are important in signaling to the viewer that something bad is right about to happen, for when in a horror movie has a consumer seen a candle flicker and not thought to his or herself, "OMG NO THIS ISN'T GOOD!" Through research I'm learning that it is little factors like symbolism, lighting, and props that when combined all together make such an impact in the horror movie genre.
Now that I have a good understanding of mise-en-scene, sound techniques, and iconography when it comes to the horror and psychological thriller genres, all I need to do now is research conventions like editing techniques, typical shots/angles/composition, themes, and character types to have a full understanding of the genre and subgenre I am studying.
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