NCFOM: Key Scenes
Coin Toss:
(Timecode: 20:21)
- High angle establishing shot with Texaco sign: co-incides with Western conventions, desert setting, lifeless, the sound (e.g. the wind) -> similar to a saloon
- Shot reverse shots
- The camera slowly zooms in closer towards the shopkeeper as the tension builds -> slow tracking-in shot
- Shots: medium close-ups to begin with -> tighter on Chigurh than the shopkeeper originally
- Framing: Chigurh on right hand side & off-centre, Shopkeeper centre frame with window behind him -> character alignment: Chigurh is unbalanced as he's not centre frame, he's peripheral and marginalised, an outsider, also shows he has the power to move
- Character alignment: empathise with shopkeeper, fear for him -> also magnetically drawn to Chigurh as his powerful
- Moral code to Chigurh through the coin toss, lets the shopkeeper live
- Imbalance: Chigurh moralistic but leaves everything to chance -> can link to framing
- Lack of music -> builds up intensity in the scene
- Back & forth dialogue, lack of pauses, quick energy -> Chigurh = very literal with his words, no small talk
- Non-diegetic minor key music towards the end of the scene
- Costume: shopkeeper -> shows an average, ordinary man, lumberjack shirt, redneck wear, braces -> shows his an American working class man. Chigurh set apart -> anonymous to surroundings -> his hair cut, clothes etc
- Start to align with shopkeeper when he becomes intimidated by Chigurh
- '12 nooses' behind shopkeeper, looks like he is being lined up to be killed by Chigurh so its surprising for the spectator that he survives
- The music & tracking shot start at the same time -> tension building, making the spectator become more involved as literally getting closer to the characters, more of a personal investment in this scene
- Significance is given to an inanimate object (the coin)
- Chigurh = twisted sense of morality
Dog Scene:
- Cut aways to the mountain & hills
- Shot size smaller after every cut away -> goes from establishing shot to a medium/long shot of the people on the hillside -> distancing (alignment) with the characters -> increases tension
- Fast pace editing heightens the tension, cut aways to the car increase tension as spectator sutured into the scene
- Uses horror genre tropes, off-centre framing to see the space behind the people
- Slow tracking-in shot bringing us closer to Moss when he hides under the car
- Extreme low-key lighting creates a sense of danger and uneasiness -> highlights unclarity as to whether Moss escapes
- Track behind shot -> another convention of horror genre
- Static charge connotes danger -> pathetic fallacy
- Static shots distances the spectator from the violence into safety -> encouraged to watch it from an outside perspective -> confounding the spectator's expectations -> constantly asking questions how your looking at this film
- Sound = diegetic sound of Moss' breathing + the pursuing truck -> persistent and menacing
- Takes place at pre-dawn: lights of truck look demonic -> has a demonic presence
- Setting = isolated, propelled into sense of danger for Moss
- Shot reverse shots heightens suspense -> brings danger closer -> compresses time & makes it feel shorter -> scene quickly gets light
- Nebulous presence of henchmen pursuing Moss -> look like silhouettes -> shot in long/extreme long shot from low angle -> increases sense of alienation -> menacing floodlights of truck
-
Introduction to Moss:
- First shot: PoV of deer -> introduced to the audience as a hunter/predatory -> becomes prey later in the film -> reversal of character role
- Shallow depth of field, extreme close up = next shot of Moss -> shows concentration -> character alignment
- Both Chigurh & Moss say 'can you hold still' before shooting -> a connection between them? -> difference in character alignment is Moss killing a deer and Chigurh killing a person
- Darkness (from storm clouds) coming towards Moss
- Blue Jeans, chequered shirt, cowboy hat etc = clotheing
- Scene has a dustiness to it
- Moss hiding his tracks -> instilled into him after his days in the military -> don't like to leave a trace
- Setting = desolate, arid landscape
- Chooses to inhabit empty landscape
-
End Scene:
- Low angle at funeral: proximity between Carla Jean and the grave foreshadows that she's going to die, costume emphasises this; in black and arrives from funeral -> connotes foreshadowing of death
- Lack of men at the funeral, could represent that all the husbands have died. Women sidelined throughout the film, underdeveloped
- Exterior of the house + Suburban Street where Chigurh crashes: looks like a horror film, elements of the horror genre, isolated
- The interior design of the house is quaint and homely, contrasts previous settings in the film
- Diegetic sound of Carla Jean's footsteps -> increases tension
- The lingering shot of the neck curtains: shows there has been a break-in -> Kuleshov effect -> PoV shot
- The over the shoulder shot shows Chigurh is continuing with his journey -> relates back to the use of shot-reverse-shot in the coin toss scene
- Lighting in the bedroom just misses Chigurh, his positioned in the shadow -> nightmarish figure in the background
- Carla Jean shot at a very slight low angle
- Closer alignment with Carla Jean, shot closer to the camera than Chigurh who's still lurking in the camera
(Rest of End Scene notes on Zara's blog)
(Timecode: 20:21)
- High angle establishing shot with Texaco sign: co-incides with Western conventions, desert setting, lifeless, the sound (e.g. the wind) -> similar to a saloon
- Shot reverse shots
- The camera slowly zooms in closer towards the shopkeeper as the tension builds -> slow tracking-in shot
- Shots: medium close-ups to begin with -> tighter on Chigurh than the shopkeeper originally
- Framing: Chigurh on right hand side & off-centre, Shopkeeper centre frame with window behind him -> character alignment: Chigurh is unbalanced as he's not centre frame, he's peripheral and marginalised, an outsider, also shows he has the power to move
- Character alignment: empathise with shopkeeper, fear for him -> also magnetically drawn to Chigurh as his powerful
- Moral code to Chigurh through the coin toss, lets the shopkeeper live
- Imbalance: Chigurh moralistic but leaves everything to chance -> can link to framing
- Lack of music -> builds up intensity in the scene
- Back & forth dialogue, lack of pauses, quick energy -> Chigurh = very literal with his words, no small talk
- Non-diegetic minor key music towards the end of the scene
- Costume: shopkeeper -> shows an average, ordinary man, lumberjack shirt, redneck wear, braces -> shows his an American working class man. Chigurh set apart -> anonymous to surroundings -> his hair cut, clothes etc
- Start to align with shopkeeper when he becomes intimidated by Chigurh
- '12 nooses' behind shopkeeper, looks like he is being lined up to be killed by Chigurh so its surprising for the spectator that he survives
- The music & tracking shot start at the same time -> tension building, making the spectator become more involved as literally getting closer to the characters, more of a personal investment in this scene
- Significance is given to an inanimate object (the coin)
- Chigurh = twisted sense of morality
Dog Scene:
- Cut aways to the mountain & hills
- Shot size smaller after every cut away -> goes from establishing shot to a medium/long shot of the people on the hillside -> distancing (alignment) with the characters -> increases tension
- Fast pace editing heightens the tension, cut aways to the car increase tension as spectator sutured into the scene
- Uses horror genre tropes, off-centre framing to see the space behind the people
- Slow tracking-in shot bringing us closer to Moss when he hides under the car
- Extreme low-key lighting creates a sense of danger and uneasiness -> highlights unclarity as to whether Moss escapes
- Track behind shot -> another convention of horror genre
- Static charge connotes danger -> pathetic fallacy
- Static shots distances the spectator from the violence into safety -> encouraged to watch it from an outside perspective -> confounding the spectator's expectations -> constantly asking questions how your looking at this film
- Sound = diegetic sound of Moss' breathing + the pursuing truck -> persistent and menacing
- Takes place at pre-dawn: lights of truck look demonic -> has a demonic presence
- Setting = isolated, propelled into sense of danger for Moss
- Shot reverse shots heightens suspense -> brings danger closer -> compresses time & makes it feel shorter -> scene quickly gets light
- Nebulous presence of henchmen pursuing Moss -> look like silhouettes -> shot in long/extreme long shot from low angle -> increases sense of alienation -> menacing floodlights of truck
-
Introduction to Moss:
- First shot: PoV of deer -> introduced to the audience as a hunter/predatory -> becomes prey later in the film -> reversal of character role
- Shallow depth of field, extreme close up = next shot of Moss -> shows concentration -> character alignment
- Both Chigurh & Moss say 'can you hold still' before shooting -> a connection between them? -> difference in character alignment is Moss killing a deer and Chigurh killing a person
- Darkness (from storm clouds) coming towards Moss
- Blue Jeans, chequered shirt, cowboy hat etc = clotheing
- Scene has a dustiness to it
- Moss hiding his tracks -> instilled into him after his days in the military -> don't like to leave a trace
- Setting = desolate, arid landscape
- Chooses to inhabit empty landscape
-
End Scene:
- Low angle at funeral: proximity between Carla Jean and the grave foreshadows that she's going to die, costume emphasises this; in black and arrives from funeral -> connotes foreshadowing of death
- Lack of men at the funeral, could represent that all the husbands have died. Women sidelined throughout the film, underdeveloped
- Exterior of the house + Suburban Street where Chigurh crashes: looks like a horror film, elements of the horror genre, isolated
- The interior design of the house is quaint and homely, contrasts previous settings in the film
- Diegetic sound of Carla Jean's footsteps -> increases tension
- The lingering shot of the neck curtains: shows there has been a break-in -> Kuleshov effect -> PoV shot
- The over the shoulder shot shows Chigurh is continuing with his journey -> relates back to the use of shot-reverse-shot in the coin toss scene
- Lighting in the bedroom just misses Chigurh, his positioned in the shadow -> nightmarish figure in the background
- Carla Jean shot at a very slight low angle
- Closer alignment with Carla Jean, shot closer to the camera than Chigurh who's still lurking in the camera
(Rest of End Scene notes on Zara's blog)
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