Clayton George Wickham - final thesis

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The sounds indicating the stabbings solidify our knowledge of the unseen events,
even if the viewer experiences tension caused by the desire to see the sources of the
sounds. Steve’s death, however, is complicated by the sudden cut to the next
sequence that occurs after he is stabbed. While his death is anticipated through
generic codes (i.e.-eye/camera, dark and rainy night, flashlight limiting the victim’s
eyesight), the sudden change of scene echoes the surprise Steve experiences as he is
being killed, causing a double perspective, beginning with the aggressor up through
the moment of the stabbing, and immediately followed by victim perspective created
through the shock and visceral impact of the edit. The edit following the boy
counsellor’s death, which was written about in the last chapter, only briefly changes
the visual point of view, while retaining temporal continuity within the sequence.
Thus, the boy counsellor’s death is not completely removed from the perspective of
the aggressor, and the edit merely contributes to the visceral impact, compounded by
the sound design without changing character perspective.
Marcie’s death is structured differently from those of Steve and the boy
counsellor. The sound is altered by three primary elements. Firstly, the music
gradually crescendos throughout the sequence, climaxing as the hatchet strikes
Marcie in the face, unlike the soft music accompanied by a sharp orchestral sting as
Steve and the boy counsellor each are stabbed. Secondly, Marcie sensing her
impending death, lets out a high pitched cry before she is killed, and this contributes
to the music’s gradual swell. Finally, the change of weapon, from knife to hatchet,
leads to the sound of a death blow of a different timbre to that of the stabbings of
Steve and the boy counsellor. As the hatchet strikes, there is a low heavy thud with a
slight crunch and squish, as opposed to the high swish and squish sounds indicating a
stabbing. This sequence also contains a larger number of shots of shorter length than