Editing Natural Born Killers (section)

=== Filming ===
[[Principal photography]] took 56 days to shoot.<ref name="Director" /> Filming locations included the [[Rio Grande Gorge Bridge]] just west of [[Taos, New Mexico]], where the wedding scene was filmed, and [[Stateville Correctional Center]] in [[Joliet, Illinois]], where the prison riot was filmed. In Stateville, 80% of the prisoners are incarcerated for violent crimes. For the first two weeks on location at the prison, the extras were actual inmates with rubber weapons. For the subsequent two weeks, 200 extras were needed because the Stateville inmates were on [[lockdown]]. According to [[Tom Sizemore]], during filming on the prison set, Stone would play African tribal music at full blast between takes to keep the frantic energy up.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> While shooting the [[Point of view shot|POV scene]] wherein Mallory runs into the wire mesh, director of photography [[Robert Richardson (cinematographer)|Robert Richardson]] broke his finger and the replacement cameraman cut his eye. According to Oliver Stone, he was not popular with the camera department on set that day.<ref name="Director" /> For the scenes involving rear projection, the projected footage was shot prior to principal photography, then edited together, and projected onto the stage, behind the live actors. For example, when Mallory drives past a building and flames are projected onto the wall, this was shot live using footage projected onto the facade of a real building.<ref name="Director" /> An alternate ending was filmed but not used, in which Mickey and Mallory are shot dead by [[Arliss Howard]]'s character.<ref>{{Cite web|last=LONGSDORF|first=AMY|date=August 2, 1996|title='NATURAL BORN KILLERS' DIRECTOR'S CUT PILES ON CARNAGE|url=https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-1996-08-02-3107369-story.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629194723/https://www.mcall.com/|archive-date=June 29, 2021|access-date=2021-02-09|website=mcall.com|language=en-US}}</ref> Stone decided against using this ending because he believed "the 1990s were a time when the bad guys got away with it".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cormier|first=Roger|date=2015-09-24|title=13 Fascinating Facts About Natural Born Killers|url=https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/67549/13-fascinating-facts-about-natural-born-killers|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123044723/https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/67549/13-fascinating-facts-about-natural-born-killers|archive-date=January 23, 2021|access-date=2021-02-09|website=[[Mentalfloss.com]]}}</ref>

The famous [[Coca-Cola]] polar bear ad<ref>{{Cite web |title=Coke Lore: Polar Bears&nbsp;– Advertising Case History |work=The Coca-Cola Company |url=http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/coke-lore-polar-bears |access-date=20 October 2010 |archive-date=October 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022015144/http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/coke-lore-polar-bears |url-status=live }}</ref> is seen twice during the film. According to Stone, Coca-Cola approved the use of the ad without having a full idea of what the film was about. When they saw the completed film, they were furious.<ref name="Director" />

==== Visual style ====
''Natural Born Killers'' was filmed and edited in a frenzied and [[Psychedelic art|psychedelic]] style and features both color and black and white cinematography, as well as animation (directed by Mike Smith),<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://vimeo.com/89966738 |title="Natural Born Killers" (Animated Scenes Excerpt) posted by ACME Filmworks on Vimeo |date=March 24, 2014 |access-date=January 1, 2021 |archive-date=June 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629194714/https://vimeo.com/89966738 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://vimeo.com/157490497 |title=Natural Born Killers Animation by FFAKE ANIMATION on Vimeo |date=March 2, 2016 |access-date=January 1, 2021 |archive-date=June 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629194715/https://vimeo.com/157490497 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.acmefilmworks.com/directors/mike-smith/ |title=Mike Smith{{!}}Acme Filmworks |access-date=January 1, 2021 |archive-date=July 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200718084844/http://www.acmefilmworks.com/directors/mike-smith/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and other unusual color schemes and visual compositions.<ref name=qa /> Editing of the film lasted  approximately 11 months, with the final film containing almost 3,000 cuts (most films have 600–700).<ref name="Director" /> The film also employs a wide range of camera angles, featuring [[Dutch angle|Dutch tilts]] prominently throughout, with the camera rarely angling along a horizontal field of vision.<ref name="mayhem">{{Cite news |last=Bell |first=Chris |date=March 14, 2017 |title=Mayhem, murder, and movies: the saga of Natural Born Killers |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/mayhem-murder-movies-making-natural-born-killers/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181126140116/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/mayhem-murder-movies-making-natural-born-killers/ |archive-date=November 26, 2018 |website=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]}} {{subscription required}}</ref> Film scholar [[Robert P. Kolker|Robert Kolker]] notes that the Dutch angle's employment in the film is "the visual equivalent of a profound dislocation, a loss of object constancy, the slipperiness of subjectivity itself."{{sfn|Kolker|2000|p=66}} Kolker comments that, unlike such films as ''Bonnie and Clyde'' from which ''Natural Born Killers'' draws influence, "from the very beginning...&nbsp; the viewer is forced into a dual situation, neither one of which allows easy access to the main characters. One situation, continued throughout the film, is a kind of rhythmic attention created by a startling flow of images. Stone builds his visuals on unexpected linkages and disorienting juxtapositions within the shots and edits."{{sfn|Kolker|2000|p=65}}

Because the film is thematically preoccupied with media, Stone sought to implement visual elements of popular television into the film's visual tableau:<ref name="tv">{{Cite web |last=Rosenberg |first=Howard |date=August 31, 1994 |title=Stone's 'Killers' Shoots Wide as TV Critique |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-08-31-ca-33276-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190930080304/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-08-31-ca-33276-story.html |archive-date=September 30, 2019 |access-date=September 30, 2019 |website=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref> "It had never quite been done before&nbsp;– a mixture of stocks and styles. I was influenced, I have to say, by [[MTV]] and some of the styles I saw in the early '80s and '90s on television. But no one had tried that style over the course of 90, 100 minutes."<ref name=qa /> Commercials which were commonly on the air at the time of the film's release make brief, intermittent appearances as well.{{sfn|Kolker|2000|p=67}}

Concurrent with Stone's preoccupation with television as both a visual and thematic reference point, portions of the film are narrated through parodies of popular television series, including a sequence presented in the style of a sitcom about Mallory's [[dysfunctional family]] (titled ''I Love Mallory''), a parody of ''[[I Love Lucy]]''.<ref name="problem">{{Cite web |last=Bramesco |first=Charles |date=August 26, 2019 |title=Natural Born Killers at 25: the problem with Oliver Stone's hit film |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/aug/26/natural-born-killers-problem-oliver-stone-hit-film-25-year-anniversary |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830142942/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/aug/26/natural-born-killers-problem-oliver-stone-hit-film-25-year-anniversary |archive-date=August 30, 2019 |website=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> In the film's final montage, splices of real-life television news coverage of various criminal cases of the time are included, such as the [[O. J. Simpson murder case|O. J. Simpson case]], the [[Lyle and Erik Menendez|Menendez brothers]], and the [[Tonya Harding]]/[[Nancy Kerrigan]] incident.{{sfn|Muir|2011|p=336}} Film scholar [[John Kenneth Muir]] notes this inclusion as an "exclamation point" concluding the film's thesis: "It seems to say, 'Welcome to the tabloid-TV culture of America in the 1990s, where crime pays and pays well.'"{{sfn|Muir|2011|p=336}}