No Country for Old Men- opening scene and coin toss scene
The first character who is introduced to the audience is sheriff Ed Tom Bell by hearing his voice in the background when the camera is showing the landscape by establishing shots. We are signed to his voice since the beginning so this in terms of spectatorship it's an alignment which is related to film form and it basically forces the audience to be with the character and has no moral elements. His voice puts him in a western landscape as we see it while he's talking and so represents "his world" and shows that he belongs there.
Introducing to Anton Chigurh as a character takes time even tho we meet him earlier, they use almost anti-alignment because we see him when the cop arrests him and walks him into the car. There is firstly used pan to switch the focus on the cop and Chigurh, then is used dolly movement which gets the audience closer to the characters and the scene, in there we see their entire bodies except head. Right after is a middle close up on the cop putting him into the car and where is again not showed Chigurh face because he doesn't face the audience. The shot, which is supposed to show us something about Chigurh is when the cop puts his "weapon" into the car however in this time we don't know what is this related to or why is it showed so it actually in this moment doesn't tell anything and Chigurh is still a "mysterious guy". The focus is more on the cop as he faces us and we follow his steps, we can say that we are alignment to him in this moment. When they sit in the car, the cop is on the light and Chigurh is in the darkness where his face is not showed. This might suggest the good-light-cop and evil-dark-criminal Chigurh. We are then given a pedestal movement where the camera moves up from the road to again show the western landscape.
Introduction of Llewelyn is the latest of those 3 characters. Right after Chigurh kills some random man is shot on Llewelyn killing an animal. Unlike Chigurh, Llewelyn is quickly introduced to the audience as it's straight framed shot at himself in normal bright lighting. He is also wearing classic western "good boy" clothes- white cowboy costume. Before Llewelyn finds the money, he sees black dog that is injured, which in terms of Greek mythology might be foreshadowing and suggests his own death. When he finds the money he is patient and careful and the audience is forced to be in alignment with his character as we have the same point of the shot. In the scene where Llewelyn talks with some man who speaks Spanish are not given subtitles with translation so this scene can be taken as one of active ones where the viewer has to think and "work" as it contains ellipses and missing elements and forces to focus on tiny details in the scene.
The coin toss scene takes place on a gas station between Chigurh and a salesman. It is Chigurh's game with his rules and where he lets victims to call the coin. The themes in here could be for example chance v fate or life v death. The salesman is clearly put into the landscape by matching colours while Chigurh is again different and doesn't fit into the western landscape. There are used matching shots and shots over the shoulder to show both of the characters and how they are positioned. Them two have a conversation however Chigurh doesn't like when the salesman starts asking questions and gives unclear answers so he makes him upset by copying his voice and words, also in that moment he decides to start "the game" and the main hint is when Chigurh coughs when the other man says that he married into the business. The salesman gets suspicious and scared and realised that Chigurh might be dangerous so in many cases he tries to shut the conversation and also distracts Chigurh by saying he has a family and lives here for ages. In this scene the audience feels alignment with the salesman and we can say maybe even allegiance which means feeling sympathy and is based on ideology and who do we want to be with, moral terms. The scene ends with them playing the game, salesman calling the coin, because Chigurh can't call it for him as it "wouldn't be fair" and salesman winning "his life". In the background we can hear the non-diegetic music which is non-visible when they play, it goes away when the coin is revealed.
The first character who is introduced to the audience is sheriff Ed Tom Bell by hearing his voice in the background when the camera is showing the landscape by establishing shots. We are signed to his voice since the beginning so this in terms of spectatorship it's an alignment which is related to film form and it basically forces the audience to be with the character and has no moral elements. His voice puts him in a western landscape as we see it while he's talking and so represents "his world" and shows that he belongs there.
Introducing to Anton Chigurh as a character takes time even tho we meet him earlier, they use almost anti-alignment because we see him when the cop arrests him and walks him into the car. There is firstly used pan to switch the focus on the cop and Chigurh, then is used dolly movement which gets the audience closer to the characters and the scene, in there we see their entire bodies except head. Right after is a middle close up on the cop putting him into the car and where is again not showed Chigurh face because he doesn't face the audience. The shot, which is supposed to show us something about Chigurh is when the cop puts his "weapon" into the car however in this time we don't know what is this related to or why is it showed so it actually in this moment doesn't tell anything and Chigurh is still a "mysterious guy". The focus is more on the cop as he faces us and we follow his steps, we can say that we are alignment to him in this moment. When they sit in the car, the cop is on the light and Chigurh is in the darkness where his face is not showed. This might suggest the good-light-cop and evil-dark-criminal Chigurh. We are then given a pedestal movement where the camera moves up from the road to again show the western landscape.
Introduction of Llewelyn is the latest of those 3 characters. Right after Chigurh kills some random man is shot on Llewelyn killing an animal. Unlike Chigurh, Llewelyn is quickly introduced to the audience as it's straight framed shot at himself in normal bright lighting. He is also wearing classic western "good boy" clothes- white cowboy costume. Before Llewelyn finds the money, he sees black dog that is injured, which in terms of Greek mythology might be foreshadowing and suggests his own death. When he finds the money he is patient and careful and the audience is forced to be in alignment with his character as we have the same point of the shot. In the scene where Llewelyn talks with some man who speaks Spanish are not given subtitles with translation so this scene can be taken as one of active ones where the viewer has to think and "work" as it contains ellipses and missing elements and forces to focus on tiny details in the scene.
The coin toss scene takes place on a gas station between Chigurh and a salesman. It is Chigurh's game with his rules and where he lets victims to call the coin. The themes in here could be for example chance v fate or life v death. The salesman is clearly put into the landscape by matching colours while Chigurh is again different and doesn't fit into the western landscape. There are used matching shots and shots over the shoulder to show both of the characters and how they are positioned. Them two have a conversation however Chigurh doesn't like when the salesman starts asking questions and gives unclear answers so he makes him upset by copying his voice and words, also in that moment he decides to start "the game" and the main hint is when Chigurh coughs when the other man says that he married into the business. The salesman gets suspicious and scared and realised that Chigurh might be dangerous so in many cases he tries to shut the conversation and also distracts Chigurh by saying he has a family and lives here for ages. In this scene the audience feels alignment with the salesman and we can say maybe even allegiance which means feeling sympathy and is based on ideology and who do we want to be with, moral terms. The scene ends with them playing the game, salesman calling the coin, because Chigurh can't call it for him as it "wouldn't be fair" and salesman winning "his life". In the background we can hear the non-diegetic music which is non-visible when they play, it goes away when the coin is revealed.
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