Sub Genre Analysis of Mystery and Psychological Thriller Conventions

Under the sub genre of psychological thriller, we are analysing the film Shutter Island. Whilst analysing this sequence, we can recognise the psychological thriller conventions are conveyed in many ways. For example, the mental and emotional states of the characters which convey their identity as people who stay in a mental institution. This again emphasises to the audience that this is a psychological thriller and leaves them confused and questioned as to why they might be in this mental state.

We are influenced throughout the film that Teddy Daniels (Leonardo Dicaprio) is on the island looking for a patient who is mentally ill, he believes that all the guards around the area are against him, however, towards the end of the film, we begin to recognise that he is there for his own mental disorder and the ''guards'' are there to help him. Teddy would be classified as the protagonist of the film as he is the lead character. The antagonist is in fact the whole ''team'' who he thinks he is working with, including the doctor, chief warden and his partner detective.

As the majority of the film is set in a mental institute, this reflects the genre of the film as the connotations of a mental institution includes the mental and emotional actions of the characters. When discussing the costume and props it is evident that there are also psychological thriller conventions. For example, the hats and long coats which Teddy and his detective partner are wearing are the usual costumes for detectives and in many psychological thrillers, detectives are involved with the situation at hand. The make up they use on the mentally ill characters can be established to emphasise an effective method for the audience to be able to recognise such characters. 

Another film we are analysing is Creep which is under the sub genre mystery thriller. This particular thriller relates a lot to crime thrillers. It focuses mostly on the efforts of the detective or private investigator in order to solve the mystery. This sub-genre looks at the circumstances of the mystery or crime itself in order to try figure out what the clues are, audiences usually take part in trying to uncover the crime. This genre thinks into the psyche of the audiences as audiences have a prime offence that they also follow as the protagonist is finding out information as well. This brings more dramatic effect to the films during the investigation in order to know what the crime is.

The storyline of Creep is about a woman called Kate who has been drinking alcoholic beverages while waiting for her last train home. However, she falls asleep and wakes up to find herself locked in the underground. She finds two homeless people and they try and help her escape. Little did they know that a mentally ill man who lives by himself in the sewers underground is out to get them. He is a murderer and that night ends up murdering the two homeless people, the man who was in charge in the office and a co-worker who followed Kate. Kate travels through the underground to get away from him   and eventually ends up killing him. She was trapped in there all night and the next thing she knows, the trains are running again and she's free.

As for the mise en scene in this film, the costumes, props and sound emphasises the fact that it is a mystery thriller. The fast music when Kate is running shows the urgency of the situation and shows us that she is in trouble. The mysterious music that begins to get louder as Kate gets closer too turning her head round the corner makes us think what is going to be there. The costumes which the homeless characters were wearing clearly showed the audience their status in the film, we could see that they were wearing untidy and unpresentable clothes.