There are three types of third-progressions: diatonic third-progressions, third-progressions

using borrowed chords, and chromatic mediants.

If you are in the key of C major, lets say, you have some options for diatonic third
movement.. an example would be C maj - A min, another example would be E minor - G
major, etc. The examples are numerous. Those are all within the key of C major.
To get a more extended tonality available, one can use borrowed chords. This makes all of the
chords of C minor and major simultaneously available within the key of C. So you can have
third-progressions using borrowed chords like C major - Ab major, or C major - Eb major, or
Ab major to F major, etc. Of course you can also borrow chords from phrygian mode (or
other church modes for that matter), making progressions like F - Db major available in
minor or major. (You can of course use any sort of progression with borrowed chords, not just
third-progressions, but it is the third-progression that is the current topic of discussion)
However, you will also find third progressions that do not fit into either the class of diatonic
third progressions or third progressions with borrowed chords. For instance, in the key of C
minor, the progression C minor to Ab minor. Ab minor doesn't fit in either the key of C minor
or C major. Therefore, it is third movement, but that third movement is neither explained by
diatonic movement within the key nor by borrowed chords from a parallel mode. That type of
third movement is called a chromatic mediant. C major (or C minor) to Eb minor, within the
context of the key of C, would be another example.
So how do you use these three types, musically?
They are arranged in order of stability.. Diatonic third-progressions are obviously the most
stable. They rarely disrupt the sense of key.
Third progressions with borrowed chords expand on tonality a bit more. You can usually use
them without disrupting the sense of key. The first example given by dannthr above
demonstrates this.
Third progressions with chromatic mediants are the most disruptive to tonality. They will
throw off the sense of key quite quickly. Therefore, it is hard to work them into the A section
of themes, or other sections where tonal stability is desired, because you quickly modulate
into some foreign place. dannthr's second example shows this.
An example to go against this of course, is the C minor to Ab minor chromatic mediant third
progression, which is the same as the one that opens the Imperial March by Williams (I may
be transposing the original here). There, Williams employs a chromatic mediant progression
that does not disrupt the sense of key. There are a few reasons for this:
- While Ab minor is neither diatonic to C minor nor C major, its constituent notes are all scale
tones of C, if you misspell it as Ab-B-Eb.
- Williams moves from C minor to Ab minor and back to C minor. The neighboring function
of the chord, immediately returning to its starting tonic, limits the tonal disruption created.
- The voice-leading is smooth
One can accomplish the same thing with, for instance, the progression C minor - Eb minor G major. Both C minor and G major are normal chords, with Eb minor being the the

chromatic mediant. Being sandwiched between those two more normal chords limits its
disruption to the key in the same way as the Williams example.
Some chromatic mediants were used in the late romantic era within the context of a key,
taking on functions within that key. In major, these are III and VI (i.e. In C major, you may
find A major or E major in such music). In minor, these are bvi (the imperial march example)
and bii (i.e. in c minor, you may find Ab minor or D-flat minor in such music). Those usages
expanded upon, but did not throw away, the tonality that was established. Those particular
romantic-era instances are sometimes called altered chords rather than chromatic mediants,
since those may be approached using progressions other than third-progressions.
Note that when I said above, 'disruptive of the sense of key', I did not mean that necessarily
as a negative - it is a balance. The expanded color palette provided by the use of borrowed
chords and chromatic mediants is found in all types of film music. In some cases, such as
thematic statements, you will likely want to limit your disruption to the prevailing tonality
(i.e. if you do use chromatic mediants in a thematic statement, it would be an isolated
occurrence that would be preceded and followed by diatonic or borrowed chords that possess
a strong function in that key, and by extension would have a functional aspect itself). In other
cases, such as transitions, you may want to go a little crazier with the chromatic mediants,
and let them take you off into strange places. Then you settle down for a little while, and then
modulate again, etc. It's all about balance and compositional design.