Sophia Studies Media!: Finding the Right Match

In my last blog post, (A Work in Progress: Short Film Concept) I elaborated on the concept I wanted my short film to focus on, but I was having trouble deciding on what genre I felt best fit the idea. After going through a list of possible movie genres , I found that "psychological thriller" best represented my short film, and here's why:

Overview: What is Thriller and How Does it Coorlate?

I decided to start my genre research by first defining thriller, and the overall characteristics this genre has before diving into the psychological sub-genre. The main takeaway from a thriller is that it always has an emotional purpose, and should always emit a feeling of suspense. With my short film, I felt that the suspense could be found in the unraveling of "who" exactly is watching the main character as they are being interrogated, and if they eventually escape the cameras. I also felt that the suspenseful aspects of the short film matched the main character themselves, as according to my research, the protagonist should be individualistic and isolated from the forces or people they once trusted. In this case, the main character of my short film is learning to not trust who's watching them, as well as the people forcing them to behave in front of the cameras. My protagonist questions the lifestyle posed to them, and thus their need for escape and attention to the reality of their situation makes their actions suspensful and engaging.

hehe pun intended :)

Along with suspense, thrillers also contain a variety of specific tropes, such as plot twists, paranoia, cliffhangers, unreliable narrators, etc. In reference to my short film, I felt that some of these thriller characteristics matched my concept, especially the use of plot-twists and cliffhangers. The plot-twist that would occur in my film is the discovery of "who" is watching, which would be the audience themselves. Throughout the film, it would be unclear that the characters are referencing the literal audience, but as the fourth-wall breaks become more consistant and clear, that message will start to unravel. As for the cliffhanger, the ending of my short film will have the main character tell the audience to "keep watching", and the film will abruptly end. Meanwhile, the audience will be left to wonder what happens after the main character reveals this.

Why Psychological?

When looking at the main themes of a psychological thriller, the characteristc that struck me the most was the perception of reality. In psychological thrillers, reality is explored as an idea, and the characters are put in positions or scenerios where they have to determine the truth within their narrative. I found this to be similar to a postmodernist concept we learned in class called "absolute truth", as it too explores alternative truths and how they are perceived. In my short film, the main character knows that the reality they live in is fabricated, but sold to viewers as the truth. Knowing this, the main character wants to dismantle the alternative truth and highlight reality, yet there are forces trying to stop this.

While the environment the main character is placed in is dystopic, thus giving the short film dystopic traits, the story isn't focused on the society itself, but rather the main character's attempt to break from this society and bring attention to what's "behind the curtain", so to speak. The setting itself is only pushing the development of the main character foward, and aiding in telling their version of the story. Hence, my main focus is to highlight the emotional response of the main character to their surroundings, rather than the functionings of the society.

In order to portray the story and narrative of the main character, I plan on using specific film characteristics of the psychological thriller, such as flashbacks. Throughout the short film, two "timelines" will be taking place, the interrogation/interview, and then the main character's life within the society they are in. The second sequence of events (the MC's life within the society) will include the bulk of the story, and explain why they are being interrogated/what led them to their breaking point (the interrogation). Hence, the flashbacks will be moments leading up to the interrogation, and present the full perspective of the main character.