"Execution" (2007) - design and reception of a non-mainstream death row movie

On this page I will present SOME information and discussion on my final thesis. Consider it as a kind of diary, although I don't know whether I will constantly post here or not... --Bastian Martens 22:42, 6 August 2008 (CEST)

"Execution" (2007) - design and reception of a non-mainstream death row movie

Introduction

I'm writing my final thesis on a death row movie simply called "Execution", a film which I haven't seen and won't see unless the producer manages to get it published on DVD before the end of november. What is most important about this film is, that is different from the films we've seen in the seminar Present US-Cinema and the Death Penalty. Therefore, I'll try to find out what is different about this film...

Collection of thoughts and ideas

Here I will collect any unassorted thoughts, ideas and questions on the issue, until I manage to incorporate these thoughts, etc. into other parts of this page.

Diary

Here I will try to give some information on my progress, although I might cancel the idea if it gets to disquieting. ;-)

until now: I've made up my mind about the general direction of this thesis and found some ideas to get started with. I've (superficially) browsed the films homepage and watched the YouTube films on it. Most important: I got into contact with "Execution" producer Steven Scaffidi and he offered his help. This will hopefully give me some new insights, especially on his ideas concerning the design of the film. We'll see what he's got to say... I've also written mails to some people who hosted screenings of the film.

04/08/2008: written next mail with a lot of questions to Steven Scaffidi and received his answer within a few hours! Most interesting about that:

• He agrees on his film being considered as non-mainstream, but thinks that ALL death row movies, even 'Dead Man Walking', are non-mainstream.
• While talking about stars, success of a movie and uniqueness he compared his film to 'Blair Witch Project', which worked without any famous stars but still was very successful due to its uniqueness. I had thought about that comparison but didn't expect to hear it from the producer himself in the first place!

I also got a short reply by Dr Loraine Gelsthorpe of Cambridge University, who I had asked about the screening and the audience's response.

06/08/2008: started reading Guest, David: Sentenced to Death - The American Novel and Capital Punishment. --> He writes about the DP's representation in fiction. It should be easy to transfer or expand some of his ideas from novels to movies.

05/09/2008: done a lot of reading about movies, movie reception, wrong assumptions when analyzing films; watched some movies again and completed a list of possible criteria Death Row Movies seem to share (see below); written some more mails to Steven Scaffidi...

On the thesis itself

Preliminary structure

1. Introduction

2. The development of Death Row Movies

3. “Execution”

3.1 General information – “This is as real as it can get”

3.1.1 Content

3.1.2 from first contact to screening – the process

3.1.3 From actors to characters

3.1.3.1 A true convict

3.1.3.2 A true prison warden

3.1.3.3 A true prison priest

3.2 Design

3.2.1 Script?!?

3.2.2 Awareness of genre features (Breaking with Hollywood conventions?)

3.2.3 Intentions

3.2.4 The idea of the screening

3.2.5 www.executionfilm.com and other online presentations

3.2.6 Voices of actors

3.3 Reception

3.3.1 www.executionfilm.com and other online receptions

3.3.2 Public reactions (TV, newspapers…)

3.3.3 Meta-reception

4. Conclusion

I'm still re-thinking some of the titles...

Progress

to be continued...

Links

www.executionfilm.com

Execution at IMDb

Interview with Billy Moore at guardian.co.uk

Interview with Billy Moore at voice-online.co.uk

youtube playlist on "Execution" includes trailers, interviews and scenes from the movie.