:40 to 1:55
No Country For Old Men is
a violent and telling film about how badly men’s haircuts can get and what it
can do to a man’s psyche. The scene I chose from the film offers a significant
number of film techniques to showcase suspense. In the moments leading up to
the scene the viewer sees Sheriff Bell contemplating entering the building,
knowing the killer could be in there as he sees the key hole blown out, a
signature of the criminal. This contemplation
is seen through a back and forth of look down and look up shots, from the key
hole to Sheriff Bell’s face at a medium shot. There is then a revealing cut,
showing the killer Anton Chigurh waiting in the motel room ready to kill if he
is caught, the viewer barely sees the killer but knows he is there lurking.
Then next cut is to the keyhole form the perspective of Anton, all he sees is
the lights of the car shining through. The scene cuts to a medium close up shot
of the Sheriff who has made his decision on entering and then quickly cuts to
the sheriff taking out his gun from the holster, making the viewer aware that
he has intentions to kill if necessary. This shot is intriguing because the
viewer sees both the sheriff doing this action and his shadow performing the
same act, mirror shots and multi-layer action. It then cuts to the action and
shadow but from a front and side angle. This leads to the establishing shot of
the scene, Sheriff Bell enters the motel room and the backlight of his car
creates a silhouette, as he stands in the door, surveying the area. Sheriff
Bell takes a step into the motel room, so his silhouette moves as well and the
camera cuts to a medium close up of Sheriff Bell. Camera pans with Sheriff Bell
as he views the room after first entering, at the same time we see the sheriff’s
shadow. The camera is interestingly enough panning horizontally but at downward
slope, seeing what the sheriff is seeing which is where the light is hitting. Sheriff Bell has viewed the rom, we get a
medium close up of his reaction to what he sees. The shot cuts from
Sheriff Bell to see what he is staring at, the camera is cut to a look at/look
down shot to a pool of blood in the carpet leading the viewer to assume someone
is gravely hurt. This shot of the Sheriffs feet and the pool of blood is a low
camera height and reveal. The camera then cuts to a Locked Down Shot, the camera
is steadily focused on this scene but the Sheriff is walking out of the shot
going into a different shot. The viewer at this point knows the Sheriff is in
danger and thus frustration is built because the Sheriff is leaving the scene
and the viewer cannot guarantee or even witness his safety. The
camera does not cut at this point, but there is a Fill, Reveal, Frame shot in
which the viewer sees Sheriff Bell moving into another door but as he does his
shadow and body is obscured by the darkness. Perhaps one of the most
significant attributes of this scene is the lack of sound. There is no sound to
emulate suspense. The tension the viewer feels is due to lack of sound and the
realism that it entails. The viewer hears the same thing that the Sheriff hears
and that the criminal hears, which creates enough tension, there is no need for
artificial sounds to make you feel something. The snippets of sound that are heard
are of the gun leaving the holster, and the creaking of the door as the sheriff
opens it, awry noises that build up the intensity. What this scene in No
Country For Old Men does best is build tension, and emotionally invest the
viewer. Through the dramatic cutaways, the lack of sound, the different shots,
the viewer understands that the Sheriff is risking his life and until the end
you do not know if he will make it out.
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