What's the lasting impression for the viewer?
Psychological films generally play on people's mind. These are the films where the focus is on the in depth details of the film having an impact the way the audience look at things, constantly trying to unpick things. As a genre, thrillers aren't normally used to make the audience think too deeply about anything, maybe just the plot or who a character is. In a psychological film, it is difficult to see a clear line between what is fictional and what is non-fictional. This is because thing come across a lot more possible than they ever have. The primary reason for thrillers is to thrill, entertain and raise enigma. Looking further into sub genres, such as psychological thrillers, the secondary purposely made more obvious. There are plenty films that mix psychology and thrillers for a sub genre. Films such as Taxi Driver (1976), Silence of the Lambs (1991), Fatal Attraction (1987), Memento (2000) and my favourite, The Butterfly Effect. As I have seen quite a few psychological thrillers myself, I have realised that I really enjoy this type of film. I like how they get you thinking and the sense of understanding when the film is finished, even how it continues to sometimes play on your mind after. However, I know that these films may not be everyone best interest. Some people like knowing roughly what is happening or maybe don't want to think too much about a film while watching it. I find that the more recently made thrillers are of a better, more relatable quality, due to constant new technology convergence and more fresh, current ideas. I think the more modern psychological thrillers are more relatable to a wider ranger of people as they portray more realistic features now. I have chosen to look further into The Butterfly Effect.
The Butterfly Effect
This American psychological thriller was produced in 2004 (though there are variations from other years), and was distributed internationally (the UK to Japan). On my opinion, this film is really interesting and relatable for modern people, as many tend to keep things they don't like 'bottled up'. To allow some insight into the movie, here is the trailer and a short synopsis of the film from IMDb:
"In the year 1998, Evan Treborn (Ashton Kutcher), who suffered severe sexual abuse and traumas as a boy and a teenager, blacks out frequently, often at moments of high stress. While entertaining a girl in his dorm room, he finds that when he reads from his adolescent journals, he travels back in time, and he is able to "redo" parts of his past, thereby causing the blackouts he experienced as a child. There are consequences to his choices, however, that then propagate back to his present life: his alternate futures vary from college student, to prisoner, to amputee. His efforts are driven by the desire to undo the most unpleasant events of his childhood which coincide with his mysterious blackouts, including saving his childhood sweetheart Kayleigh from being molested by her father and tormented by her sadistic brother. The actions he takes, and those he enables others to take during his blackouts, change the timeline in the new future where he awakes. As he continues to do this he realizes that even though his intentions are good his actions have unforeseen consequences. The assimilation of dozens of years' worth of new memories from the alternate timelines causes him brain damage and severe nosebleeds. Ultimately, he decides that his attempts to alter the past end up only harming those he cares about. But Evan realizes that the main cause of everyone's suffering in all the different timelines is himself.
At the conclusion of the film, Evan purposely travels back in time one final time to the first day he met Kayleigh. By scaring her away, he makes sure that she is never a part of his life, and thus finally succeeds in saving her life. He then destroys all of his journals and memories so that he is not ever tempted again to make any more changes. The film ends eight years in the future with Evan leaving an office building in Manhattan and passing Kayleigh on a crowded sidewalk. They alternately pause and turn after spotting and passing each other. After a moment of hesitation, Evan lets her walk away without speaking to her."
This film appears to be aimed mainly at young adults. The strong language and sexual scenes mean that the film must be atleast a 15/18, for this reason I think their target audience is 16 - 30. They show the main characters at age 7, 13 and 20+, so each age must be relatable to a certain extent. Below is a Prezi I have made showing a deeper look into each of the main characters and their representations. This should help give a reason why I think this is their target audience. The viewers must be able to understand the films concepts and I think this is the best age for it.
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