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1. Psychological thriller conventions

2. Conventions
 Shadow/low-key light – they are used to add tension into a scene and sometime to show darkness side of the
character
 Quick cuts – they use them to build a tension and suspense also to show reality of the situation and create
panic, so audience can feel the same emotions as character
 Urban locations – these locations are mostly used as isolated and countryside are more associated with horror
genre
 Reality – main character has mental problem, are unstable emotionally and they are not able to recognize what
is good and what is bad or what is real and what is not
 Mostly mentally ill person in psychological thrillers focus their attention and life-style on someone or something,
they are able to commit crime to get it
 Purpose – The object for which something exists; an aim or a goal humans strive towards to understand their
reason for existence. Characters often try to discover what their purpose is in their lives and the narrative's
conflict often is a way for the characters to discover this purpose.
 Use of slow and fast editing to show the up and downs of mentally ill person
 Music in psychological thrillers also links to the scenes on the screen and mostly are very eerie and tense, they
are to build a tension and create a shock within audience
 Obtrusive & montage editing is used frequently in psychological thrillers to highlight the feelings and emotions
of suspense and tension within a scene, this is mostly used in important scenes
 Flashbacks are really often used in psychological thriller as they show what happen in the past and how this
have impact on present life
 Mind – The human consciousness; the location for personality, thought, reason, memory, intelligence and
emotion. The mind is often used as a location for narrative conflict, where characters battle their own minds to
reach a new level of understanding or perception.
 Identity – The definition of one's self. Characters often are confused about or doubt who they are and try to
discover their true identity

3. Conventional props
 Weapons – there can be find weapons. For example when mentally unstable person try to hurt their victim
 Photos – they are often used as it can show, for example obsession over the victim
Conventional locations
Urban locations such as:
 City
 Park
 Street
 Hotel
 Etc.
Conventional costumes
 People with mentally illness mostly look as normal people, they can have neat clothes and neat hairstyle. They
usually do not stand out from the mainstream.

4. Ending
 Mentally ill person is caught by police or someone who tried to find him, for example the family/friends of his
victim
 Mentally ill person is killed by his victim
 Mentally ill person kills his victim and is looking for another one
 Mentally ill person reaches his/her goals
 Person, who was persecuted by mentally ill person, recovers her/his previous life
 Victim escapes from her persecutor and back to normal life, where persecutor is still on freedom
 Etc.