FLASHBACK - DEXTER

Below is a scene from the American TV series Dexter which features a flashback scene to when Dexter discovers/remembers how his mother was brutally murdered. It has given me inspiration/ideas for the dream sequences James experiences in our film.

                                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tQr03FMuvg (Last accessed 06/03/14)


The use of editing in this scene emits strong emotions to the audience and helps them sympathise with the main protagonist, Dexter. This is achieved through the use of quick-cutting, echoes, a melancholy soundtrack, sharp child screams, screen-flashes and the use of cutting back to Dexter to show his facial expressions/body language.

Before the flashing imagery of Dexter's past appear on-screen, the camera tracks around the main protagonist that makes him appear lost and confused. We focus on his facial expressions, this makes us connect to the character on an emotional level.

A melodic, melancholy piano soundtrack plays, further telling the audience that we should be empathising with this character.

Images of Dexter as a child pursue; quick, flashing shots of that dreadful night his mother was brutally murdered by a man with a chainsaw. Shots of his mother in pain follow including a blood-soaked corpse on the floor.

Each shot itself is made to be disorientating through the strong use of white-flashes and a handheld camera. Both which go hand in hand with the imagery on-screen.

The use of flashing imagery continues, as does the soundtrack, echoing and a child's scream (something no person/mother ever wants to witness). A child's scream is unnerving in its own right and the use of them in horror films especially, is often done in a way that makes the audience feel uncomfortable. As adults we see children as the innocent, but in horror films they often portrayed are demons. In this case however, Dexter is fragile, covered in blood and helpless. A close-up of Dexter's (child) face is shown in this sequence, probably to push the audience's emotions.

POVs of (present) Dexter looking around the empty room put the audience in his shoes and high shots of (present) Dexter make him appear small and weak.

The editing in this short sequence is quick, snappy, and focuses heavily on the use of sound to portray emotion.

I have learnt that as obvious as it is, each style of editing tends to match the pictures on-screen. For the torture scenes in our film, I have been looking at Korean films and their use of editing violence on-screen. They in fact go against the traditional, 'stereotype' of horror editing (as do many other films, not just Korean ones) for example holding on one, long-shot from the corner of a room on the action, as if the audience is a 'fly on the wall'... I will be discussing these other styles of editing at a later date.