deliver instructions to his victims, disguising his voice as on the Billy videotapes. A flashback in Saw IV reveals that he accomplished this by speaking into a reel-to-reel tape recorder, then slowing down the playback. Often, a victim would find a microcassette recorder left for him or her with a tape already loaded in, while at other times the tape would be found separately in an envelope marked with the victim's name or the tape on its own reading "Play Me". One tape was found in John's stomach during his autopsy at the beginning of Saw IV, coated in wax to protect it against his digestive acids. Both of his apprentices, Amanda Young and Mark Hoffman, eventually began making their own microcassettes, but not always altering their voices as he did. In Saw 3D, Hoffman recorded one set of instructions on a standard-sized cassette, and another on an 8-track tape for use in a car stereo. Huntley remarked that John's voice recordings operated for a specific purpose as part of his M.O. Huntley stated that it allowed John to be present there not as "a participant or even a spectator but instead as a referee, observing the rules pertinent to that particular subject rather than salaciously enjoying the 'victim's agony'." Pig mask The pig mask is a thematic prop worn by John and his accomplices throughout the Saw film series to conceal their identities while abducting their "test subjects". As the series continues, the purpose of the pig mask is explored in detail; it is explained to be a tribute to the "Year of the Pig", the year in which John started his work. The origin of the pig mask was shown in Saw IV, revealing the first known pig masks to have been latex strap-on masks used at a "Year of the Pig" Chinese New Year festival. John had snatched them and donned one, while using the other one to hold his chloroform-soaked rag. The second mask was then used to knock out his first test subject, Cecil, by placing the mask over his head with the chloroform rag still inside. When working on the original Saw film, writer Leigh Whannell and director James Wan wanted their antagonist to have some sort of mask. After some discussion, the idea of Jigsaw wearing a rotting pig's head was chosen to symbolize his pessimistic view of the world and the disease