Clayton George Wickham - final thesis

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previous films in the franchise which attempt a balance between this approach,
explicitly visualised penetration and off screen deaths. Although production
documents 11 indicate that the film was originally designed with more explicit
depictions of bodily mutilation, the final product, which has never been released in
an ‘Uncut’ or ‘Director’s Cut’ format, displays this balance of approaches. This
film, however, incorporates into this method shorter shot lengths, more densely
layered soundtracks, and an increased use of eye/camera and off-model eye/camera
positioning, as well as distinctive approaches to camera movement.
A New Beginning proves an illustrative example of how not only unverified
diegetic sound and editing work together to establish perspective, but how these
elements along with the eye/camera can do this in an effective and innovative
manner. As mentioned in Chapter 3, three deaths occur during an eye/camera or offmodel
eye/camera shot. Tina’s off-model eye/camera shot shows garden shears
plunging toward the camera disappearing out of the top of the frame, ending with a
sound to indicate bodily mutilation. After this sound there is a cut to a high angle
shot of the garden shears moving out of frame, with her lying on the ground, eyes
missing from their bloody sockets. Junior’s eye/camera is shown as he rides his
motorbike around the yard, the loud buzz of the engine, and his screaming
dominating the soundtrack, until a butcher knife swings from behind a tree from the
right of the frame, disappearing below the frame. The appearance of the knife is
11 A letter to the production team from the Motion Picture Association of America dated 8 February
1985, containing the results of an initial screening of an early cut list sixteen requested cuts, nine of
which are highlighted because they would lead to an ‘X’ rating. Bracke writes that “The film would
ultimately require nine trips to the board before it would be granted an R rating.” (MPAA letter and
quote, 134) I should point out that in the USA most mainstream cinemas will only screen films with
an ‘R’ rating or less, therefore an ‘X’ rating would result in less exhibition and a lower box office
take.