Analyzing Trauma Representation Through Editing in Sharp Objects

[00:00:02](WHISPERING) Don't tell Mama.

[00:00:09]♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ MICHAEL ZAK: Sharp Objects, based on the GIllian Flynn novel, is an uncomfortable look into the darkest aspects of trauma.

[00:00:36]A murder mystery that favors character insight over a familiar procedural plot.

[00:00:41]A cinematic experience built on reaction shots.

[00:00:44]Reaction shots let us experience a moment twice; first when we see something happen, and then when we see a character react to it.

[00:00:54]Sharp Objects is driven by Camille and her reactions.

[00:00:57]Where she goes, we go.

[00:01:00]-Where she looks, we look. -(SOBBING) What she feels, we feel.

[00:01:07]Reaction shots are the best thing we've got to get into the character's head.

[00:01:11](ENGINE STARTS UP) ZAK: Or are they?

[00:01:14](INDISTINCT YELP) Trauma means you can't escape your memories and thoughts.

[00:01:18]But would you translate thoughts into a film?

[00:01:21]The obvious solution would be to use a voice over, an internal monologue... BIGGER THOMAS: Maybe everybody's blind.

[00:01:27](CHUCKLING) Even me.

[00:01:31]ZAK:...especially since it's very prominent in the book the show's based on.

[00:01:34]Instead, Marti Noxon and the writing team decided to create a narrative with strong perspectives.

[00:01:41]To bring this ambitious vision to life, the director Jean-Marc Vallée and his team used the one tool that's unique to cinema... Editing.

[00:02:01]ZAK: As Camille opens up about her childhood, we're shown brief flashes of her memories.

[00:02:05]The thoughts are silent and unexpected, both detached and grounded in the moment.

[00:02:10]Maybe I should have.

[00:02:12]ZAK: Because thoughts don't make the world go away; they exist on top of it.

[00:02:18]These thought cuts are an intimate insight into Camille's mind.

[00:02:22]Often, it's messy, mimicking the way we think.

[00:02:25]Fears, memories and urges rolled into one.

[00:02:28](CAMILLE PANTING) (MOANS SOFTLY, SIGHS) ZAK: The show goes deep into the thought process, one thought triggering another, layers of cascading memories that always point back to the present.

[00:02:44](WATER RUNNING) Camille also reacts to her own thoughts, just like we sometimes question why a particular image popped into our heads.

[00:02:56]She might smile when it's a nice memory... ZAK:...but sometimes, thoughts take over, mercilessly connecting the dots and painting a horrifying picture.

[00:03:16]A terrible realization that washes over Camille.

[00:03:19](BABY CRYING) ADORA CRELLIN: God has given me another sick baby.

[00:03:24](CRYING CONTINUES) ZAK: Aside from thought cuts, we also get a disorientating blend of memories and hallucinations.

[00:03:34]A constant state of déjà vu made possible by intricate editing patterns.

[00:03:40](CHOKING) ZAK: Camille's past becomes almost tangible.

[00:03:43]-(CHOKING CONTINUES) -M-- Ma-- Mama!

[00:03:45]Mama!

[00:03:48]ZAK: An out of body experience, past collapsing on the present.

[00:03:54]Camille's trauma cuts deep.

[00:03:56]She can't escape her past and it still haunts her, like a ghost.

[00:04:00](WHISPERING) It's not safe here for you.

[00:04:04]ZAK: It all feels like a waking dream.

[00:04:08]Or a nightmare.

[00:04:09](GASPS) ZAK: Reaction shots and thought cuts are a way to bring us close to Camille.

[00:04:16]We inhabit her mind and experience the story mostly through her perspective.

[00:04:20]The director wants us to be in the character's head.

[00:04:23]And being in someone's head is not just seeing what they see, it's also hearing what they hear, and how they hear it.

[00:04:33]♪ (MUSIC VIBRATING) ♪ Because perspective is not just about the visuals.

[00:04:39]If Camille falls asleep listening to music and an earphone falls out of her right ear, we lose that channel.

[00:04:46]Sound mix is key to make us feel like we're there with the characters, inhabiting the same spaces, experiencing the same things.

[00:04:53]Even if it's tinged with paranoia from all the whispers.

[00:04:56]-(INDISTINCT CHATTER) -(WHISPERING) WOMAN: ZAK: As much as filling the space with schizophrenic voices, sound design can be as effective when removing elements of reality.

[00:05:20]The gruesome murder triggers an overwhelming reaction in Camille.

[00:05:24]The world shutting down around her, the sound closing in.

[00:05:30](ECHOING BREATHS) (THUD) We're treated to anxious soundscapes, unnerving rumblings of a car engine, mimicking the feeling of a panic attack.

[00:05:42]Rising and dropping in a nauseating fashion.

[00:05:44]Can I talk to Curry?

[00:05:46]WOMAN: Sweetheart, what is it? Are you okay?

[00:05:48](CAMILLE EXHALES) I just really... (SNIFFLES) WOMAN: Sweetie, you're scaring me.

[00:05:55]ZAK: But it can also have a liberating quality, a mind on ecstasy.

[00:05:58]♪ (HAUNTING MUSIC PLAYS) ♪ ♪ (MUSIC STOPS ABRUPTLY) ♪ ZAK: Most of the time, the director and his team don't just resort to layering artificial sound effects on top of the environment.

[00:06:08]Instead, they use what's already out there and amp it up.

[00:06:12](TRAIN HORN BLARING) We've got fans, cicadas, AC units, and some more fans.

[00:06:20](FANS WHIRRING) Ambient sound plays a big role in developing Camille, creating a hostile environment that overwhelms and swallows.

[00:06:31](PIGS SQUEALING) We're so used to Wind Gap's loud ambient noise that when it's gone... it's almost as unnerving as when it's on.

[00:06:44]The director is committed to full immersion.

[00:06:46]If we can hear it, they can hear it too.

[00:06:50]It brings us closer to the characters because we feel like we're there with them.

[00:06:53]♪ (SOFT PIANO MUSIC PLAYS) ♪ This is especially true for music.

[00:06:59]When was the last time you watched a film that has no original score, uses exclusively music for characters themselves to put on?

[00:07:07](ENGINE REVS) ♪ (ROCK MUSIC PLAYS) ♪ Each character is defined by their musical choices.

[00:07:20]-Or lack of. -ALAN CRELLIN: ZAK: They're in control of what's playing.

[00:07:27]The songs reflect their personalities and the way they feel, whether it's a way to vent... ♪ (ROCK MUSIC PLAYS) ♪ ZAK: A way to suppress and block out feelings of guilt, or a means to escape.

[00:07:46]AMMA: ♪ (MUSIC PLAYS) ♪ ZAK: Music is a glue that binds us together, the trigger that brings about memories and feelings.

[00:08:07]It's a way to look within, to process our emotions.

[00:08:16]No wonder that Led Zeppelin in the show is considered inscape music, a word with two meanings.

[00:08:23](READS PROMPT) A part of Alice that Camille still holds onto.

[00:08:28]An escape within, an inward look.

[00:08:34]♪ (MUSIC STOPS) ♪ But just like the nested memories in the dollhouse within a house, there's yet another layer to the show.

[00:08:42]Editing and sound design aren't only used to portray the internal state of the characters.

[00:08:47]As much as they look at themselves, often there's someone else watching them, too.

[00:08:53]CONGREGATION:...Temptation and deliver us from evil.

[00:08:56]ZAK: In Sharp Objects, Wind Gap is a character in its own right, a town defined by its secrets and silences.

[00:09:03]RICHARD WILLIS: I can handle it.

[00:09:05]CAMILLE: ZAK: The toxic environment where appearances are more important than truth.

[00:09:20]ZAK: In Wind Gap, no one is safe from gossip.

[00:09:26]ZAK: Everyone's watching everyone.

[00:09:28]RICHARD: Hey.

[00:09:30]ZAK: Even the fan in Adora's bedroom... a silent witness to abuse.

[00:09:35]In most cases, it's peeping and eavesdropping, a feeling of seeing something you shouldn't have.

[00:09:42]There's a voyeuristic quality to the way the scenes are set up.

[00:09:45]We often start from a point of view of someone observing in the distance.

[00:09:48]Their perspective guides where we look.

[00:09:51](HORN BLARES) Well, isn't this a shit ton of stupid?

[00:09:56]ZAK: Coupled with reaction shots, we filter the events through the eyes of spectators.

[00:10:03]ADORA: ZAK: It provides a deeper understanding of the characters.

[00:10:08]They're constantly reacting to what's happening around them.

[00:10:10](CLAMORING) ZAK: This is achieved using an editing concept: Eyeline.

[00:10:17]If the character looks to the left, we're guided to see what they're looking at.

[00:10:23]Eyelines in Sharp Objects drive everything.

[00:10:26]We're naturally drawn to looking at people's eyes when we talk to them.

[00:10:29]The same thing goes for watching films.

[00:10:31]It's the eyes that we focus on and by extension, we focus on what those eyes are looking at.

[00:10:36]WOMAN: ZAK: We stumble into the scenes and cover them with Camille, wherever her gaze takes us.

[00:10:42]MAN: ZAK: Sharp Objects takes the concept of eyelines to dizzying heights by casting a web of looks and reactions as a tool to set up a scene.

[00:10:53]It's a way to connect characters.

[00:10:57]Reinforce themes of the show... ZAK: and ramp up tension.

[00:11:07]The eyes are guiding the cuts.

[00:11:09]It's all about perspective.

[00:11:12]♪ (MARCHING BAND MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ Jean-Marc Vallée's signature directorial and editorial style manifests itself in all aspects of the show.

[00:11:27]The choice of camera lenses that feel more like human vision, and creating thematic connections using match cuts... to the way scenes are intercut in surprising ways.

[00:11:43]It's the story of a fractured mind, told in a way only cinema can, teasing us with splinters of information and brief flashes of memories that make up Camille.

[00:11:55]The show takes non-linear storytelling to the extreme.

[00:11:58](DISTORTED YELLING) ZAK: And makes it personal.

[00:12:03]ZAK: The end result is a show that takes its time, letting us feel the harsh hangover daylight... and ominous nighttime.

[00:12:12](GASPS) ZAK: It's atmosphere over plot......focusing on Camille, not the murders.

[00:12:20](MUFFLED SCREAM) ZAK: Sharp Objects is uncomfortable, suffocating, and sticky.

[00:12:29]It puts us in the head of a person who's experienced unimaginable trauma and asks us to explore their thoughts and memories.

[00:12:36]It's a challenge.

[00:12:39]But that's what makes it so worthwhile.

[00:12:41]It's a unique proposal, a truly bold exploration of storytelling and empathy through editing.

[00:12:47]A show packed with "blink and you'll miss" details, that rewards a closer look.

[00:12:53]So put your headphones on.

[00:12:56]♪ (MUSIC PLAYS) ♪ And dive in.

[00:13:11]♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪