Design I Like: Dexter

The design that I chose was the opening sequence of the Showtime hit, Dexter. Dexter is a program about a man who works for the Miami Police Department as a forensic blood analysist. He leads an average life with a home in the suburbs, beautiful wife and three children. Dexter's secret however is that he is actually a serial killer. He is a vigilant who brings justice to the criminals that have, for whatever reasons, slipped through the cracks of the judicial system. I have always been intrigued by the introduction to this show, and felt that it serves the duality of his life very well.



The introduction consists of Dexter's daily morning rituals. He wakes up, shaves, makes breakfast, gets dressed, and leaves his apartment for work. What makes this so interesting is how it was filmed and designed. It is filmed almost entirely as extreme close-ups, giving the viewer an abstract look at what they are watching. Similar to when you look at a impressionist painting up close it is just blurs of color, but when you step back it reveals an image. My favorite example of this is when Dexter is opening a package of ham. All we see is this fleshy pink meat that is being aggressively cut and diced, a moment later it is in the frying pan and begins to sizzle, and we realize that he isn't murdering someone, he's simply making breakfast. Another example would be when he is tying his shoes. We see his hands lacing his boots, and then he is tugging at his shoe laces, fiercly gripping them until his knuckles turn white.

Part of the reason I love this introduction so much is that it is decieving, especially to a first time viewer. After watching it for the first time I remember thinking about how wonderfully it was created and how everything he was doing were examples of everyone's morning routine, it is simply the angles and the circumstances that give it this creepy context.

What I See: "I am a human being."

The movie I chose to analyze for my second blog was “The Elephant Man”, directed by David Lynch in 1980. The first and most obvious visual choice made by the director was to have the film shot in black and white. Although I'm not entirely familiar with David Lynch's work or his stylistic decisions, I thought perhaps this was an homage to the 1932 horror film “Freaks” by Tod Browning, which has a similar theme about misunderstood sideshow performers and the cruelty of society.

David Lynch freely used three-point perspective with most of his shots, as well as leadroom and lookspace to create a sense of balance and aesthetic throughout the film. As lead room occurs, there are several shots where the camera is being operated in a pan style, smoothly transitioning to where the main subject is moving. I also noticed the camera angles that take place throughout the film. Most people were filmed from a medium shot angle, with slow movements to other subjects, which added to the creepy sensation that they were trying to put across to their audience.

I found that the best example of three-point perspective and lookspace took place at exactly the middle of the film. During this scene, the camera switches between two angles. One is that of the main character, John Merrick having tea with his friend Frederick Treeves, and his wife. The two of them are perfectly centered on the invisible lines that make up the three-point perspective. The other shot is of the doctor who is standing by the mantle piece, on the right hand side of the frame, with lookspace infront of him, implying that he is looking at his wife and John.