Clayton George Wickham - final thesis

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One demonstration of the variety of experiential positioning in Jason Goes to
Hell can be demonstrated through one of the earliest eye/camera shots. After Jason
has been blown up, the security officers close off the area for examination. This is
seen in extreme long shot from an eye/camera. In reverse shot, we see Duke, the
bounty hunter, watching from this position. This shot cuts to another initially
unidentified eye/camera shot wandering through the crime scene. The eye/camera
approaches an officer talking in a relaxed manner to the woman used as bait in the
investigation. This shot is designed to highlight the characters as potentially
vulnerable. The relaxed posture of the characters reveals their lack of concern to a
threat, and the noisy, crowded surroundings become a potential camouflage for a
character with sinister intent. However, the officer then turns to address the
eye/camera saying, “Good shooting Mahoney, now clean up all this shit, huh?”
Mahoney has not been introduced as a character until this point, and does not reappear
in the film. This sequence places Jason Goes to Hell as a film in the franchise
that re-introduces the eye/camera as a device to be used to create identificatory
disorientation.
Jason X contains a more consistent design with regards to the eye/camera,
but still varies distinctly from Jason Goes to Hell. With one significant exception,
the eye/camera does not inhabit characters as violent action occurs. Instead, Jason X
alters eye/camera shots between those of stalking or searching and vulnerable
passivity, evenly divided between Jason and other characters.
The opening credits appear over images representing the inside of Jason’s
brain, both in physical and abstract ways. Aside from extreme close ups of brain
matter and blood vessels, sparks of electricity, fire, and images of people and events
are shown. The image tracks backwards, blending into a representation of Jason’s