Initial Narrative Ideas and Mood Board

Psychological thrillers can be differentiated from ordinary thrillers by the heavy focus that they hold on the unstable emotions of the characters in the film. These type of thrillers still incorporate the common elements of mystery and drama, but the emotional status is usually the main focus. In these films it is often the case that the protagonist is battling their own mind, so therefore, these movies often follow a first person narrative, in which the plot follows only one or two characters. This allows a rapport to be established between the character and the audience and allows the audience to better understand the protagonist's mind, as it is a key element in these types of films.
Typically, the key elements of psychological thrillers are:

• Reality 
• Perception 
• Mind
• Identity 
• Death
• Mystery 

Psychological thrillers also often begin with a back story in which the history of the plot is established. This is done to deepen the psychological aspect of the story as the viewer is able  to understand the character better and therefore will be more interested in their recovery/ how they will escape their current mental trauma. 

Our thriller opening consists of the the main character (character 1) slowly deteriorating from a happy, relatable young girl to a scared, vacant shadow of a person. We follow her and her best friend first through fond, treasured recollections and then later through horrid tormenting memories. In one of the later, darker flashbacks Character 1 shouts out for her friend to 'get out of my head!', conforming to the traditional narrative of this genre as the audience questions the mental state of this girl and perhaps whether her friend is truly there or not. Confusing sequences will also be used, in which the second character flashes in and out of the scene, again allowing the audience to question the existence of this character. 

This mood board visually represents some of the narrative ideas that I have had for my own production.

As shown above, the mood board images incorporate both pictures of desperation and sadness but also happy, fond memories between close friends. These pictures represent the journey of the characters as they transition from the calm and pleasant images to the more tragic and scary pictures.

The story will follow a non-linear narrative as the opening of the film will be mixture of both present and past. With the use of this particular narrative structure the story will become distorted and confusing for the audience which will allow us to create enigma and conform to 'mystery' element of a typical thriller film. This also conforms to Barthes' enigma code, as it will keep the viewer guessing as to what will happen next.   
Our opening story will also follow an open narrative in which there is no clear resolution made at the end. This is more appropriate for our task of creating an opening for a film as it keeps the viewer interested for the following story. This means that our opening does not follow any of the typical forms of narrative. For example, in Todorov's theory there is a resolution following the disruption, the disruption in this case being the mental breakdown of our main protagonist. However, in our story, this issue is never resolved nor is the full story ever revealed, therefore making room for questions and interpretation from the audience, enticing them and making them want to watch on.