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Natalie Portman as Nina Sayers
Black Swan (2010)

A “psychological thriller” is a thriller sub-genre that focuses on the unstable emotional or mental states of the characters, often in combination with elements of mystery, suspense or psychological horror (the last one, in my case). As a thriller sub-genre, it’s permeated by tension and suspense, often surprising the reader with twists or different angles on the same problem. It can contain elements of terror like dread, anxiety and fear, or elements of horror like revulsion, trauma and shock.

Some features of Psychological thriller characters are:

* In classic thrillers, there's a clear distinction between the good guys vs the bad guys, in action as well as thoughts. Even if the antagonist is elusive, the audience will never doubt that the protagonist is good, however in a Psychological Thriller, the nature of the protagonist it is often questioned, and sometimes good or benign characters become or are revealed to be monstrous.

* Character and state of mind are extremely important in a psychological thriller. The writer will often have to have a good understanding of human psychology. The emotional and mental developments of characters in a psychological thriller must always be plausible and believable, even when they are outrageous (such as a child becoming a murderer) or come as a surprise (such as the protagonist being revealed to be insane)

Amanda Seyfried as Chloe Sweeney
Chloe (2009)

* The most common types of narration chosen to create psychological suspense and maintain tension and emotional stress, are stream of consciousness and deep first person POV. The main aim is to erase the barrier of the story from the audience and plunge them deep into the character's terrors.

*The most common themes it touches upon are philosophical or psychological in nature, such as identity, honesty, determinism, fatalism, sanity, dualism, and the exploration of the darker sides of the human behavioral motivation. It’s less aimed at direct entertainment, and more at provoking thought and shifts in understanding of the human mind, often making the audience question their own lives.

*With a psychological thriller, the conflict is through the mind, skills, and wit of main characters, reversing the more normal thriller “plot over character” expectations i.e. a psychological thriller reader needs to understand the character, character can sometimes be slightly more important than plot.

*Characters shouldn’t succeed in their actions using physical talents or efforts, but rather using their mind, wits or smarts.

* There are Life and death situations and certainly at the end or denouement, but this could well involve death or danger to the mind or intrinsic identity or values of the hero rather than a physical threat.

Guy Pierce as Leonard Shelby
Memento (2000)

* Cinematographic elements are also very important in a Psychological thriller/horror. some include:Low level lighting- shadows to create fear/tension.
Quick edits & changes in camera angle- increase the feeling of fear and shock. Often used during significant scenes.
Music(Diegetic and Non-Diegetic)- high tension, eerie, silence.
Flashbacks- time disorientation confusing the audience or showing the past to give an insight into why the characters are the way they are.
Black and white colouring- increase effectiveness of shadows.
Claustrophobic spaces- entrapment of the mind, planes or house.
Font/colour of title- may be written in a certain way to emphasise the theme of the film.

This is our initial Narrative Arc from our pitch. this outlines what we basically want to do , if our project was a full scale movie.

Here is the moodboard documenting our narrative arc for the whole movie. It follows a basic 3 act structure: Exposition (beginning), Development( middle/climax) and Recapitulation (End/Denoument).

From our pitch, we outlined that the story is centred around a group of mentally disturbed or disabled people, with two characters as our main protagonists. Originally we intended to show all 4 characters' double nature, but based on feedback from a control group, we decided it would be much more effective to focus on one character's double, then the group as a whole, rather than all 4 at the same time.

This is our full Narrative Arc, documenting how the story should move, if this were a full scale movie. Here, we followed a simple 3 act structure, with several plot devices such as Inciting incidents, rising action, falling actions and the Denouement. From this, we can pick certain moments to include in our teaser trailer, without giving the ending/most exciting bits away.

List of all points:

EXPOSITION:

In a deserted tunnel, four characters with severe mental disturbances are drawn to one another, forming a group. All of these characters have normal personalities and a murderous/dangerous alter ego, the boundaries of which, are firm.

INCITING INCIDENT:

As time goes on, two of the characters emerge as the leaders of said group, acts of violence are becoming more frequent and more public. The boundaries are beginning to break within their minds.

RISING ACTION:

One person now feels that this double life they are leading is destroying their health, relationships and their life, and try to leave the group. Internal conflicts rise within, and boundaries are now permeable.

CLIMAX:

One person is killed by another member, this is done in full exposure, as the boundaries drawn within their minds is broken, no longer applicable to them. The eyes of society and the law order a witch hunt to exterminate them from society.

FALLING ACTION:

The remaining members of the group try to convince themselves that killing/murder/disobedience to normal societal rules is the only way they can be accepted and validated. Their alter egos are now being seen within their normal lives, inciting panic across the town.

DENOUEMENT:

The leaders are no longer able to differenciate their alter ego from themselves, they have fallen into a state where they re deemed monsters and freaks of society. Even more violent and destructive acts occur until their eventual imprisonment n a mental institution and /or deaths.

My character's general looks fall under the 'Skinhead' aesthetic; a title given to an early punk style of clothing in Britain; as opposed to mods who could afford the latest fashion trends, skinheads were often of the working class; typically wearing Dr. Martens, plaid shirts, suspenders, and boot-cut jeans.
My character most-likely suffers from some form of depersonalisation, or dissociative identity disorder. After researching, I found a good description of what my character should be going through, which were symptoms of Dissociative Identity Disorder:

"Dissociative identity disorder is characterized by the presence of two or more distinct or split identities or personality states that continually have power over the person's behavior. With dissociative identity disorder, there's also an inability to recall key personal information that is too far-reaching to be explained as mere forgetfulness. With dissociative identity disorder, there are also highly distinct memory variations, which fluctuate with the person's split personality.
The "alters" or different identities have their own age, sex, or race. Each has his or her own postures, gestures, and distinct way of talking. Sometimes the alters are imaginary people; sometimes they are animals. As each personality reveals itself and controls the individuals' behaviour and thoughts, it's called "switching." Switching can take seconds to minutes to days. When under hypnosis, the person's different "alters" or identities may be very responsive to the therapist's requests." - Web MD

People with dissociative identity disorder may also find themselves experiencing headaches, time loss, and doing things they would not normally do, such as being outwardly violent, though they feel as if they are compelled to do it and have no choice. Whilst 99% of the time, this disorder comes as a result of childhood trauma or neglect, I feel as though this should be subverted with my character, and instead, they have chosen to detach themselves from a violent/obscure side of themselves which has always been present; for example, when they were younger they would do things like picking the wings off butterflies or pull the heads off small birds, once told this was extremely unnatural, they buried it deep within themselves, though as they could not control their urges, they eventually developed the disorder, and whenever they go out killing, they experience a time loss where they do not remember what happened.
The image of someone smoking is more like a 'symbol' of how they vent or cope with their issues. Rather than smoking, the character will go out and kill to satisfy the 'needs' of their other identity; the bloody images representing this violence.
When not experiencing time loss, they are fully aware of the acts they commit, and understand that the majority are extremely morally wrong, though their second identity is the complete opposite; they have a love and even fascination for violence, blood, and gore, and will by any means do what they must to experience it.

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