Clayton George Wickham - final thesis

157
disappears below the frame, a jagged metal wall fixture dripping with blood can be
seen where Linderman was. The camera pushes in to show this in extreme close up,
before cutting to a long shot of Linderman falling on the floor from the left of the
frame to the right of the frame, before cutting back to the blood dripping off the
fixture. This sequence of eight shots lasts nine seconds, with the length of the shots
gradually decreasing toward the climax of the sequence. This fast editing, again,
recreates the shock of a victimized character in the sequence, but the low angle shot
of Kia, indicates a perspective alignment with her, as opposed to Linderman or
Jason. In this way, the sequence depicts Kia’s surprise at witnessing the death of
Linderman, and by reserving the sound indicating bodily mutilation until the point
where the metal fixture leaves Linderman’s body as opposed to presenting it when
the fixture enters the body, the film is designed to instil the viewer with the same
surprise. Through these examples, Freddy vs. Jason represents a simultaneous
culmination and innovative development of the Friday the 13 th franchise’s sound and
editing aesthetic relative to a third person perspective. In this way, the death
sequences not only shock in terms of visceral impact, but also unsettle the viewer by
creating no basis for expectation, thereby resulting in a tension created through
consistent unanticipated perspective placement.
Series Development and The Case of A New Beginning
At this point, I would like to turn my focus onto A New Beginning, a film
with a particularly sophisticated aesthetic palette, in order to consider the
relationship between unverified diegetic sound and editing and their use in the
rendering of perspective. A New Beginning uses both of these elements, working in
conjunction, within the majority of its death sequences. This differs in part from the