Video Project (Blog 7)

The first noticeable comparison between our two videos is that the writers, though they did not collaborate, both chose to interpret the joke as a horror story. This is likely because the joke itself is set in an elevator, and elevators often invoke ideas of fear and imminent death in people, possibly because they’re enclosed and inescapable.

            In any case, because we used the same location for both videos, many of the actual lines, or lines that actually exist in the frame, are the same. The lines along the paneling of the elevator interior frame and direct attention to our main characters. Many of the perceived lines, lines that do not actually exist but are imagined by the viewer, also remain the same. In the second video, The Flirtation, these perceived lines become more important because of the lack of dialog. They allow the viewer to understand the story based on where the characters are looking, and they allow the characters to have a conversation without dialog.

            Space is also used for dramatic effect in both videos. In Thursday the 13^th, the victim is murdered in the enclosed space of the elevator rather than the open space of the lobby. In The Flirtation, the video begins with the Businessman walking through the lobby, obviously in control of his environment. The video ends in the open space of the lobby again, with the Secretary leaving, now in control and holding all the power. This is the same as the ending of Thursday the 13^th. Both of the videos start out in open space to give the audience peace and AFFINITY. In the middle, the horror of the videos comes in the enclosed space of the elevator, in CONTRAST to the peaceful open space of the lobby. The videos then return the viewer to the lobby and AFFINITY is restored. In both videos, the enclosed space comes to represent danger, while open space represents peace and control.