Clayton George Wickham - final thesis

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demonstrate an advance in depiction and aesthetic technique, aside from the general
tendency to use a faster pace of editing. For example, during Janessa’s death
sequence, lasting approximately two and a half seconds, there are a total of five shots
cut together. The only significant difference in depiction is through off screen
deaths, which have an auditory resonance in the location visually depicted. One
such sequence, when Jason approaches Condor and draws back his machete before
the shot cuts to the other characters listening to the communication of the security
team on a loudspeaker, ends with the sound of Condor’s scream through the speaker
with no sound effect indicating bodily mutilation. This technique, however, can be
traced at least as far back as the sequence depicting the death of Dallas in Alien
(1979; dir. Scott), where in one shot he shines the flashlight on the Alien that reaches
for him, before the shot cuts to the crew listening to the hiss of white noise from the
broken communication link between them. This connection between Jason X and
Alien is understandable considering the narrative similarities (an outside threat,
introduced by scientific and economic profiteers, terrorises a crew on board an
expansive space ship, for example) between the two films.
Freddy vs. Jason uses unverified diegetic sound and editing more frequently
than Jason X for death sequences, balancing this method with on screen mutilation
and off screen death. There is also a notable decrease in the length of shots, resulting
in a higher number of shots per second in these death sequences. The death of the
skinny-dipping girl at the beginning of the film, for instance, contains eight shots
over the course of three seconds, an increase from the five shots in two and a half
seconds for Janessa’s death in Jason X. This increase in the pace of editing for these
sequences continues to replicate the visceral shock and surprise of either the victim
or a victimised witness, such as the death of Officer Ryan in Jason Goes to Hell.