Before I start my script, I want to ensure that I have the main components of a psychological thriller down so that I am staying true to the genre. Based off prior research (Genre Research), I know that psychological thrillers must include suspense and emotional connections via the protagonist, but I want to gather more research as to how I can strengthen those elements and make them clear throughout the piece.
Below I am highlighting the main objectives I found throughout my research, and how I want to incoorporate them into my piece.
Rule #1: Perspective
In order to engulf the audience into the story being told, I found through my research that it is important to have the story told through the perspective the main character/protagonist. Once the protagonist is identified, it is important to exploit the emotions that they are feeling, or more specifically, have them portray emotions that the audience can identify with and relate to, such as guilt, fear, anxiety, sadness, joy, etc. In regards to my short film, I know I want to main character to feel frustrated and angry with their surroundings, since they are tired of being watched and no longer want to be monitored for their every move. I want to focus on their frustration, but throughout different scenes, explore how that frustration was first reached, perhaps stemming from fear or anxiety of the situation.
By focusing on that emotion or select few emotions, it is crucial that I tie them with a flaw that my character poses, which in this case, the flaw is my main character's observative nature. No one in this film wants them to be obersavtional or curious, and the fact that they are is what gets them into trouble.
Rule #2: Illustrate the Perspective
One of the examples mentioned while I was doing research was Macbeth and how one of the characters, Lady Macbeth, constantly washes her hands due to her increasing guilt. Actions, tied with dialogue, allow for the character's feelings and perspective to become more clear to the audience. In other psychological thrillers, a prop I've noticed that is constantly used to represent a character's inner feelings has been a mirror, such as in The Machnist and Spencer. I recently watched Spencer one weekend and I noticed alongside the usage of a mirror to illustrate Diana's feelings, cinematography was also used to demonstrate how Diana felt anxious and highly caustrophobic in the environment she was forced to be in. By using continous close-up shots to follow Diana, her anxiety and insecurities became more prevelant and unfortunetly, relatable, Despite being a biopic, the film wasn't really about her life, but rather how she felt, and I want to capture the same idea in my short film. On the surface, my short film is about the main character being constantly watched and followed in a society where entertainment is valued more than reality, but I also want to tie in the emotions of the main character, and have the plot be driven by their perspective.
Rule #3: Locate the Problems of the Plot/Character
Even though the problems of the main character take place in their head, where those problems stem from also need to be presented. According to my research, someone, such as the antagonist, or something has to be causing the problem for the main character, and because of their interference, the internal conflicts of the protagonist are able to occur. In my short film, those watching the protagonist, as well as those compliant with the rules established in this society are causing the main charracter to feel isolated and frustrated with the circumstances they are in. I found one short film on YouTube called Windblown, and the problem stems from the fact that Beth, the main character, lost her brother. Thus, as she experience's grief, she begins to visualize him as if he were real. Through the visualizations, we are able to see how she processes grief, and how she is unable to separate reality from fiction. Hence, her grief (emotion) stems from her brother's death (problem).
I also found that it is important to make the audience care about the main character, but the catch with my short film is that the audience is actually who my protagonist is upset with, since they "keep watching", so how do I make my audience care? My idea was to lead the audience on, make them think that those interrogating the main character (they are never shown on screen) are the villans, and then lead to a "plot twist" where the audience's active participation is revealed.
Next Steps?
Now that I've gathered key pointers on how to write a pyschological thriller, I'm hoping to get started on the script and figure out a set of of characters. As of right now, I only have the protagonist and the interviewer, but I haven't given them names yet. Therefore, I'm hoping to establish the characters, and get started on writing the opening for the short film!
Sources I used for research:
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