Clayton George Wickham - final thesis

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Wade following him as he backs away from Jason stopping against a tree. The
percussion heavy score is dominant on the soundtrack, Wade’s voice, just
underneath it, yelling and telling Jason to stop. There are three cuts between these
shots, and the final shot, consisting of a darkly lit close up of Jason swinging his
machete toward the camera, coincides with the final note and beat on the score.
Immediately after the final note and beat, there is a swish sound of the machete
cutting through the air, a metallic grind immediately followed by a splattering sound
which precedes the image dissolving to black. All of these noises are very loud on
the soundtrack, and after this, the only remaining sound is the resonance of the final
note of the score. This sequence demonstrates not only the use of unverified diegetic
sound, but the sound creating the moment of climax for which all other sounds cease.
Additionally, this sound, preceding the fading resonance of the score and the
dissolve to black all indicate the victim’s perspective, recreating the experiential
positioning of someone who hears the sound of their death blow before slipping into
unconsciousness. With the evolution of genre aesthetics, Friday the 13 th (2009)
becomes exemplary of the increased sophistication of the use of sound and editing to
align perspective with a victim.
Aggressor Perspective
The technique of rapid editing already mentioned in the earlier analysis of
The Final Chapter, as it appears in death sequences in the rest of the film, contains
shots of a weapon entering the body, maximizing the visceral impact of the
sequences. The remainder of the sequences utilizing unverified diegetic sound for
death blows, contain fewer shots of longer length, indicating aggressor perspective,