No Country for old Men : Coin toss scene

No country for old men is no doubt a tremendous film, and one of my favourites to date. The ' Coin toss ' Scene is fantastic, and even the inanimate food wrapper deserves and Oscar for its performance! 


The scene begins with a long shot of the open desert, with a small convenience store and gas station tucked away in one corner ( use of rule of thirds ). This shot shows the absolute desolation of the area, and gives the sense of isolation, and possibly entrapment, with nowhere to run. 


The scene is then put inside the convenience shop itself, showing the main character, and the store owner. 
The body language between the two is very noticeable. Both stand sturdy and sure of themselves to begin with. This shows almost a wild west style ' showdown ' between the two. As the scene progresses however the shop owners stance, and facial expression show he is faltering. He is confused and slightly worried about the intentions of the other character. The main characters body language shows hostility and seriousness the entire way through the scene up until the last moment.  

The shots used in this scene define the characters also. High angle shots are almost always used on the main character, to show he is imposing and powerful. The tension in the scene comes when the coin is tossed. A close up shot is used in this instance, and this adds to the intensity. The result of the toss is not shown however, and this scene genuinely gets my heart beating every time. The main character delays in telling answer of the toss on purpose to build suspense. 

The room the entire way through the scene is very dull, and the main characters face is slightly shadowed. This is a thriller convention, and adds to the mysteriousness of the main character. 

Case Study: Watchmen

Case Study: Watchmen

Institution

Name: Watchmen 

Director: Zack Snyder 

Producers: Lawrence Gordon, Lloyd Levin, Deborah Snyder

Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures, Paramount Pictures

Release date: 6th March 2009

Country: USA

Genre: Superhero / Thriller  / Action / Crime

Budget: $130 Million

Gross revenue: $185,258,983

Running time: 162 minutes 

Audience:

Many sources in magazine reviews, and on websites ( IMDb , Rotten tomatoes) suggest the main audiences for this film were middle aged men, sci-fi fans, and of course fans of the original graphic novel. Unfrotunatley there is little in the form of graphs and surveys carried out to portray this, but certainly the websites i mentioned earlier are built primarily of middle aged men. This audience does make sense in some ways, as the film is most certainly aimed at an older audience. The scenes of gore, or otherwise disturbing ones are anything but suitable for younger children. Along with the not-so-easy to follow plot line its doubtful this is the kind of superhero film that children should be watching. 

Technology:

Watchmen is one of those films which really takes full advantage of our most up to date film tech. Asides from multiple shots which would have required helicopter, scissor lifts and cranes to film, CGI played a huge part in this film. Extensive pyrotechnics and elaborate make up was used to really recreate the images portrayed in the original graphic novel. 

The most obvious use for the CGI is the character Dr Manhattan. This is a rare case of a character that is shown the entire way through a film using CGI technology. There really wasn't any other way of giving an appropriate image of what his character is supposed to be like. For the most part, this tech was used superbly and without flaws, his character looks amazing the entire way through the film. Other uses for the pyrotechnics, and CGI was ' Nite Owl's ' flying machine, which had flame-throwers and gadgets galore.  

Some of the make up and CGI really did help with some of the more gory parts of the film too. The first one that springs to the front of my mind is a prison scene where a character gets his arms cut of with a steel saw. 

Another technology which people often forget about is the sound. Sound has a massive impact on a film, and can change the entire mood for a scene. Digetic, and non Digetic sound is used incredibly well in this film, and often creates some of the most hair raising, heart racing scenes altogether. The music used really does turn this film into a real and effective thriller.

Conformities to the codes and conventions of the thriller Genre:

Throughout this entire movie, codes and conventions are met and used admirably. 

Bars are a common theme in watchmen, from simple grates to real prison bars. These help to give the sense of being trapped and isolated. 

This shot shows Rorschach behind bars in prison. This gives a sense of him being trapped, and isolated. The lighting is dim, and his face is partially hidden, giving away little of his feelings or emotions of the current situation. 

The theme of running water ( or other liquids ) is often used in this film also. In a large majority of the scenes, its raining for starters. Second, at the end of the opening sequence, blood is shown flowing from the body of ' The Comedian ' into a drain. This is a classic convention used in ' Psycho' which many people are familiar with. 

Throughout the film, as expected with superhero films, masks are commonplace. This convention of thrillers is definitely covered. Masks cover the face of the hero's, and give away little of their character making the viewer confused as to exactly what they are like, or their true intentions. This adds to the suspense a lot of the time, and really can confuse and disorientate the viewer, as a thriller should! 

In many Rorschach's scenes street lamps are used to show what kind of character he really is. He is often illuminated by street lights showing he is a good character, and underneath his crude role as a superhero, his intentions are good deep down. 

The camera work in Watchmen is always used very cleverly. It is used to make the hero's seem much more intimidating and powerful ( high angle shots ) and to make the ' bad guys ' look vulnerable and weak ( low angle shots ). 

This film is no doubt an excellent film, and conforms to the conventions of a thriller in almost, if not every way. 

Watchmen - Rorschach's rather graphic scene!

I recently re-watched the film ' Watchmen ' and found a particular scene I really enjoyed, and it also conformed to the convention of a thriller quite nicely! 




The scene is called "Dogs get put down." this scene is quite graphic but, this does add to its tense effect. The lighting is low throughout the scene, giving a veil of mystery. A red herring is also used in the form of shadow, and the camera angle gives a sense of voyeurism.  I personally love this scene, and even when i re-watch it it gets my heart going! 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45V6db9CKcc&feature=related


Unfortunately embedding has been disabled on this one, but here's the link! ^

Analysis of Thriller openings.

Gothika - 2003


Gothika's opening scene immediately gives a strong sense of what type of film you are about to watch. The first shot is of a high security prison of some kind, surrounded by cages and grates. This instills the feeling of being trapped, and unknowing of wether something is being kept in, or out. The non diegetic sound of stringed music, violins ect. make a foreboding atmosphere. As the screen lightens enough to see, a woman's face is revealed, and she is clearly distressed. This shot is a close her, with her face covering the entire screen, and looking directly into the camera, making the audience feel connected with her, and possibly giving a ( false? ) sense of vulnerability. The interviewer ( played by Halle Berry ) has make upon, and her costume is designed to make her very good looking. This is known as the halo effect ( Thorndike ) when a good looking person is perceived to have a good personality. The camera is often looking from outside the cages, making the viewer feel like they are looking in on a private situation, and not supposed to be there. This also conforms to the thriller convention of voyeurism to a certain degree.
 
                                                                             Brick - 2006

                                                 
The opening scene of 'Brick', starts with some classic thriller semiology, in the form of running water, running into a dark tunnel. This often represents life running away so to speak, and has been represented in various ways before, such as in a bath down the drain. A body is then brought into shot, bringing death into the story. A unknown character sits and looks upon the body. This begins to make the viewer wonder if this figure is responsible for the death of this person, and starts to build suspense from there.  The next scene is of a large, but deserted area, full of sharp, straight buildings and objects. A note is left for the main character, leading the viewer to believe that obviously what the note ays is private. The scene in the phone box makes the viewer realize that the main character is being watched by someone, although not necessarily a bad character. The girl becomes flustered when a black car ( signifying death or danger ) roars past, creating intimidating digetic sound. This builds suspense and anticipation, making you wonder what exactly this girls connection to the person in the car is.

The book of Eli - 2009


' The book of Eli' begins in an eerie forest, with little movements, but falling ash. The large trees symbolize bars, or cages, giving the sense of being trapped. Coupled with the empty environment with no movements, this gives a strong sense of isolation, and entrapment. As the camera smoothly pans around the forest, the non digetic sound track changes in tone slightly, as a gun comes into shot. This change in music symbolizes a significant object, building tension as the camera continues to pan around. The next thing to come into shot is a body. This instantly makes the calm forest seem like a dangerous place to be. The dim blue light also gives a shroud of mystery to the situation. The camera pans very slowly, and very smoothly giving a greater sense of anticipation.
A man in a gas mask eventually becomes visible. The covering of his face conforms to the convention of thrillers. The scene builds up a huge climax with building percussion and strung sound, then it stops, only to the sound of heavy breathing, presenting a quick anti-climax. Then a rapid motion of events is put into slow motion to show the absolute precision of his shot.

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