Within the editing
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Color: Typically the black and white coloring is used heavily in this genre in order to heighten the impact of shadows that are present in a scene. (shadows possesing connotations of mystery and danger).
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Flashbacks are ubiquitos convention in this genre as they provide an answer to a possible enigma code in regards to why the protagonist or characters are the way that they are (emotionally or physcially unstable). However, they can be missleading on prupose.
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Montages are used in this genre to convey the heightned tension or suspese a charcter might be feeling, combined with fast paced shots they provide the audience with an insight into how the charcter is dealing with their emotional or physical state (not well, in this case).
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Within the Mise-En-Scene
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Location - Often opening scenes in psychological thrillers take place in urban settings as the countryside is reserved for sticly the horror genre. They play an important role as society and modern culture is far more present in urban settings, allowing for the conflict to take place.
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Lighting - Low key lighting is the most common form of lighting in this genre simply because the audience can then extract that a character or characters live in daarkness.
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Props and costumes - Typically these aspects of this genre are either very mundane however connote a profound quantity of detail or are very befitting of the environent around them, yet they weild significance due to the framing and asthetic they posses in a given scene. (mirros showing the true nature of a character, a normal household item having great signinfcance to a characters plight, a suit that actually highlights a need for security and conformity etc)
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Within the camera cuts/shots
Shots - Horror movies tend to use either elongated, suspenseful shots that then lead to a jump scare or slanted, intimidating shots to evoke fear in the audience. For physiological thrillers these ideas stay largely intact and can be used to a greater degree due to physiological elements being involved.
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The shots also vary deeply in length, with some lasting an uncomfortable amount of time (far more than 3 seconds) or being so incredibly quick that it challenges the audience to follow where the plot is going. The lengths of these shots evoke panic and tension within the audience.
Within the sound
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Score - Due to the thriller element in this genre, the score in these films will be chilling, suspenseful and sudden. However due to this genre's hybridity, the music may also have an air of unease to them. Sometimes there will be no score at all, and the only sound present is that of ambient noises or short, sharp sound effects.
Contrapuntal sound is also a staple of this genre and evokes immediate unease in the audience.
Other music/sound - Apart from the score, other sounds will most fall into two categories. Either ambient noises, or eerie sound effects. Ambient noise can take priority within a scene to establish a suspense or emphasize a moment that induces anxiety within the audience (such as footsteps growing greater in volume).Sound motifs are also used heavily, as the appearance of (for example) a killer will usually be accompanied by short sound evoking immense fear in the audience, the same also applies to a terrifying event that has hapenned to the character before (when a character goes insane, or example).
Sound effects on the other hand will usually be quite sharp, piercing the film and causing the audience to draw back in awe or fear (like when billy the puppet is on screen, and an eerie, hollow sound effect begins to play)
What is a psychological thriller and how does it affect the codes and conventions of a film?
Definition: A sub genre that focuses on a given character's internal conflict or struggle on an emotional or physical scale.
Within the story
Misleading plots - The plot of psychological thriller films are almost never consistent. Plot twists and detached story lines are abundant in this genre and as a result of this each film is unique in this regard.
This trait means that the audience (much like the characters) will almost never experience a reliable set of events that form a cohesive narrative, and so this compliments the overall tone of this genre. (If the characters are strange in their actions and the thriller elements affect the film, the plot will act in tangent to this).
Within the characters
Self doubt - The actions orchestrated by a character will normally be visually or verbally tainted by indecisiveness. This redirects the audience's understanding of the movie, as actions taken by characters are usually supposed to guide the plot, however a character in this genre will almost never be entirely sure of a decision, thus imposing an uneasy atmosphere in the audience.
Paranoia - The characters with this particular genre will be plagued with paranoia, and this aspect of their character usually drives the conflict of the film as their mistrust of people and the environment that they occupy leads to conflict begun by that character.