Types of music - psychological thriller research

Music in psychological thrillers is a key tool to setting the tone of a film in its introduction. The pieces of music tend to use augmented or diminished chords to create a sense of tension or emptiness, and the tempo of the pieces is almost always slow, providing a hypnotic feeling of unease.

Bjork - All is Full of Love

I chose this piece of music because I felt it was suitable both stylistically and thematically for the mood I wanted to create. Firstly the song opens with with a major 5th chord, which is traditionally considered very stable and resolved, but then quickly creates a slow "trill" using a Minor 2nd intonation. Minor 2nd is famously one of the most sinister sounding chord intonations available (used famously in the Jaws theme) and the combination of this stability with instability creates a tension that I thought was perfect for my opening. Then once the chord pattern begins it again begins quite typically, with the Tonic of the chord being a stable pattern, but then an unusual amount of time is spent on an augmented Dominant chord, creating a beautifully unsettling feeling that was perfect for my film.

Finally, I thought the refrain "All is full of love" took on a sinister implication when paired with the images of stalking that I will be showing in my opening, and this would create an unsettling effect on the viewer.

Apparat - Goodbye

I chose this piece because it has a persistent bass drum pedal throughout, and uses a backbeat convention to create a propulsive feeling that would pull the viewer through the scene. The song also uses lots of atonal noises to confuse the listener into not knowing which key they are in. The chords start stable but become gradually more dissonant and augmented as the song progresses. Finally, the vocals enter, and the timbre of the vocals is altered to have very little treble, creating a sinking feeling in the listener that is perfect for my introduction.

Finally, the repeated lyric "goodbye" takes on a sinister meaning when paired with the theme of stalking within my opening.

A Perfect Circle - Vanishing

I chose this piece because it has a different mood to the other two choices, but still would fit perfectly with my opening. The tempo is higher than the other two songs, but it still uses augmented chords to create an airy mood, and the refrain of "Disappear" is overtly threatening when considering that we are going to be looking at things through the eyes of our killer.

The piece also has a percussive quality in the introduction that will pull viewers into the scene, and the syncopation of the main hook (the "ppear" in disappear") creates an unnusual rhythm that will put the viewers off balance as they watch the scene unfold.