No Country For Old Men (Coen, 2007)
Thriller Genre
Sub-genre: Crime thriller
Camera Techniques:
- Begins with extreme long shots to establish the scene
- The final ELS pans round to establish the characters.
The extreme long-shot pans from the right to left, to reveal the protagonist
- Jump cuts/time compression skips ahead to inside the sheriff's office.
The car speeds off into the distance, followed by the jump cut to the sheriff's office
Sound:
- There is a voiceover throughout the establishing scene.
- When the scene is about to come to an end, a minor-key tone is played for dramatic effect.
Mise-en-scene:
- Outdoors setting
- Oxygen tank raises questions in audiences' minds.
- Cop car & handcuffs show who is in authority.
The oxygen tank is placed in the passenger seat and raises questions
Narrative:- 'Bad guy' is arrested, however he still manages to cause violence by strangling the sheriff - a convention of crime thrillers because the criminals are usually seen to cause trouble even when detained.
The criminal regains his control
Camera Techniques:
- Begins with extreme long shots to establish the scene
- The final ELS pans round to establish the characters.
The extreme long-shot pans from the right to left, to reveal the protagonistEditing:
- Slow cutting rates to help establish the scene.- Jump cuts/time compression skips ahead to inside the sheriff's office.
The car speeds off into the distance, followed by the jump cut to the sheriff's officeSound:
- There is a voiceover throughout the establishing scene.
- When the scene is about to come to an end, a minor-key tone is played for dramatic effect.
Mise-en-scene:
- Outdoors setting
- Oxygen tank raises questions in audiences' minds.
- Cop car & handcuffs show who is in authority.
The oxygen tank is placed in the passenger seat and raises questionsNarrative:- 'Bad guy' is arrested, however he still manages to cause violence by strangling the sheriff - a convention of crime thrillers because the criminals are usually seen to cause trouble even when detained.
The criminal regains his control
Unfortunately it's not a particularly achieveable clip in itself because of the kind of location it's set it, but it still highlights some interesting thriller conventions. For example, I definitely agree about the general convention that criminals tend to cause trouble even after being detained - possibly showing powerlessness of the law? The voiceover is also very effective in establishing the protagonist and there are also many things set up in the opening sequence that could potentially be used to exapnd the overall narrative, such as the oxygen tank.
ReplyDeleteAnother thriller I've looked at is 'V for Vendetta' (McTeigue, 2006): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhT4B4-OITs. Like the opening sequence you posted, it also focuses around a voiceover which establishes the protagonist. Another thing I noticed is that the opening sequences for both these set up a running theme that is referred back to throughout the film. For example, in 'V for Vendetta' it is the concept of the idea living on in spite of it's creator's death. In 'No Country for Old Men' the voiceover talks about the confusion surrounding the killer's reason for his actions and this sets up almost a 'topic' that the rest of the film discusses. I think that this could be seen as an important convention in thrillers.
I will disagree with Dom's point here, as the location of the title sequence can be almost anywhere, not necessarily in the countryside. However, the props used in crime thrillers are often expensive and inaccessible to students such as ourselves.
ReplyDeleteAn alternative thriller I looked at was 'The Fast and The Furious' (Cohen, 2001):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqV7QHNlU38
This is another thriller that uses expensive props, and this film has an expensive location - closed roads with stunt drivers and a shipping yard. Also, it seems that a story that is hidden from the audience is already in full flow; in 'The Fast and The Furious' a lorry jacking happens within the first two minutes, seemingly placing the audience right in the middle of the plot.
Great comments, Dom and Matt cut the second paragraph of each of your comments and post into the blog, embed the clips and then everyone can have a look
ReplyDelete