ABSTRACT
The extreme stretching of the image achieved by mounting anamorphic lenses improperly can be combined with framing, editing, sound design, and any other techniques to amplify the overall effect of the distortion, providing a unique way to visualize a character’s severe physical and/or psychological impairment. When combining techniques in this manner, it is important they are implemented in ways that complement one another and the general idea they are expressing. A particularly effective illustration of this concept can be seen in director Ridley Scott’s dark comedy Matchstick Men, when Roy Waller, a con artist who suffers from Tourette syndrome and an array of obsessive compulsive behaviors, wakes up in a hospital bed after getting knocked out by one of his victims. The soundtrack is also distorted to complement the visualization of Roy’s condition, featuring constantly shifting levels of reverb and sporadic instances of asynchronous dialogue that at times repeat lines spoken by the detective questioning him.
