Original Treatment

The mundane morning routine becomes a series of metaphors representing various ways serial killers put their subjects to death. This shows how seemingly ordinary acts have an underlying tension. The duality of Dexter is addressed by allowing the mundane, normal routine to represent his troubling, abnormal characteristics. We put the audience in a position where they are interpreting the world in a disturbing way; thus taking on the mind space of Dexter.

Familiar imagery takes on a new life and meaning. For example, as a razor skims up Dexter’s neck we cut in close to witness the decapitation of the course hair during his morning shave. The sequence is interrupted with quick editorial glitches that show different perspectives of the same shot. This technique emphasizes important conceptual moments and sets a disruptive tone. We see a shot of Dexter wrapping a shoelace around his finger to tighten his shoes. The wrinkles in the leather are strained as his fingertips swell around taught lace. We frequently introduce first person points of view to further engage the audience and create tense but familiar moments. A coffee grinder finely hacks up coffee beans so Dexter can slowly strain them through a French press to make his morning cup of coffee. The methodical technique of our characters hands is all we physically know of him at this point. His knife finely scrapes off the skin of an orange until the pulpy insides are exposed. The last shot is of Dexter walking out of his home revealing his normal appearance and seemingly normal life and mind – clearly this is not the case.

You will not walk away from this title with a sense of intrusive violence but, rather a sense that you have just watched an odd and sinister interpretation of something you experience everyday. Read Less