Conventional Music and Sound in a Psychological Thriller

Conventional Music and Sounds

In psychological thrillers, a scene can be changed and adapted by the sound effects or the diagetic/non-diagetic sounds. In the 2003 psychological thriller Identity, when a pivotal scene occurs the sound behind the shot that can be heard is intense rain and thunder. The weather is pathetic fallacy. The rain paired with the situation that the characters are in the rain can be portrayed as quite a negative element which creates an overall negative tone to the scene and film in general. In the scene, we have a big reveal. After the dialog of the big reveal is spoken, if the news wasn't a big deal enough, they add the element of thunder. Thunder especially, like rain, in the scene can be depicted as a negative feature. Especially since 15% of the world's population have astraphobia. 

On the other hand, the music can vary from subtle to intense. This can depend on the scene and what the story is trying to show to the character and to the audience at a certain time. If a character was the have a sudden epiphany but in a more positive way, then the music may be intense but soft maybe using light percussion with stretched out and elongated notes. This would give a feel of realisation but not as serious. If the epiphany is a more pessimistic discovery then the music might be sharp, loud and quite high pitched. Violins may be used in such circumstances.

Here we have an example of the music in a generic thriller film, Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adapted novel The Shining. Although this film is a psychological thriller much like ours, the music is stereotypical for a thriller film. The music is very subtial and the diaglog is a lot louder than the music, intentially so that you focus on what is being said as this is a pivotal moment in the film itself. The fact that the music is behind the scene is to almost force the feeling of aprehension and nervousness to what is to become of the characters. The music is high pitched, almost sharp to the ears and if focused on quite unbareable. The effect that this has on an audience member forces the feelings that something isn't quite right and the fragmented volume is to show the instability of the characters, therefore practically implimenting the way you should feel.

A film that has one of the most recognised scores in cinematic history is a film deemed controversial for its time in 1960, is Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. The film has become a universal motif for movie films falling under the same catagory. The score was written by Bernard Herrmann.

The score for Psycho is a prime example of the use of how violins and the overall high pitched sound regarding music and soundtrack can add the tone and implicate the goings on in scenes. They create and complete the mood of the film and can almost force you to feel intense, on the edge of your seat and nervous.
The first video shows the fact that not that much was shown in the actually death scene although conventions of a murder were shown such as the knife. The music created an intense action packed impact, thus completing the scene.

Although on the other hand the music may be a mixture of both, examplified in the first attack in the 1975 film Jaws. The main score from Jaws is now another one of the most recognised soundtracks in history. Jaws has a complete mixture of sounds as begins with a deep, low tone and then makes dramatic changes between extreme low pitch and extreme high pitch. This adds the element of mystery and almost a fragmented and panicked overall feel. This related to the feeling of the character/s in the scene in which the score is used and creates an overall thrilling tone to the film.

In conclusion, the music is an essential part of a film and can completely change and advance the film. The music that we would like to use in our film needs to incorperate and consider the elements and qualities that would successfully lead the film into the psychological thriller and create and project the right atmosphere to the audience.

We would like to create powerful yet thought provoking music for our film. From the research that we have conducted we have deduced that the correct instruments would be:

• A piano: This is because this instrument has a strong sound which represents the seriousness and harsh nature that our film is going to portray. This instrument is alsoeffective to use as it can be manipulated to create deeper and powerful sounds but also light, soft and almost jagged to represent a crazed and fragmented mentality.
• Percussion: The use of percussion could be effective on our behalf as it can be effective particularly when there are moments that prove a moment of epiphany for the character Kyle. Percussion, much like the piano, can be used strong or soft which again we can use to our advantage.