No Country For Old Men analysis

No country for old men begins with an opening sequence of vast landscapes, just straight on, establishing long shots. The landscapes are just plain and desert looking , with isolation the first thing coming to mind as you cannot see anything or anyone else then these vast landscapes. The place where these shots are based are somewhere like Texas in America. The land looks exhausted and the voice that is the only sound that is heard, is reflecting this. The person speaking over the top is speaking in a monotone american voice, talking about another man, this makes the audience question who the person is speaking about and who they are giving a sense of mystery to the start, yet in a different way to typical thrillers. The shots show time passing, yet everything stays the same and it all just connotates no life and despair to the audience. It also shows the audience the scale of where this movie is taking place, which is yet again giving off a sense of isolation.

Shot two. This is a long shot of the man being led to the police car by the policeman. This shot confuses the audience as from the vast landscapes it just pans onto this shot. It is a shot from behind and uses the rule of thirds as the man and policeman are the along the centre of one line and the vast spaces and road is the centre of the other line. This makes the audience focus on the mysterious man being escorted to the police car and the emptiness to their side. The outfit the police man is wearing looks like a sheriffs outfit and the car looks old, therefore giving clues that maybe this was set quiet a while ago. The amount of shadows present give off a sense of mystery as we also cannot tell who the man is, as he's blacked out.

Shot 3. This is a medium shot just above eye level. We can see the shadowed figure in the back of the police car, the fact that he's shadowed could be connotating the sense of evil or danger, whilst when the "sheriff" gets in the car he's lit up. so a sense of good and evil are present. Not only does the shadowing of the criminal give a sense of evil but also a sense of mystery and suspense as the audience are waiting to find out who this man is. Yet again there is no story, leaving the audience confused, or any sound except the diegetic sound that's already present.

Shot 4. Shot four is a close up of the detective speaking on the phone which zooms out to show what will happen. At this stage the audience finds out a little more of the story, of how the criminal has a weapon and this is backed up when the criminal attacks the sheriff. The full focus is on the sheriff whilst the criminal is out of focus, yet again hiding the identity of the criminal, leaving the audience in suspense. The fact that the attack is unexpected makes the audience uneasy, and how the killer sneaks up on the sheriff whilst he's oblivious, yet the audience can see what is going to happen, giving the sheriff a sense of naivety and vulnerability.

Shot 5. This shot is a birds eye view long shot of the killing taking place. Yet again the sense of good and evil are present with the killer shadowed, and the sheriff lit up. The main focus of this shot is to show the struggle that happens and the calm and concentration in the killers face and body, like he's determined not to let the sheriff live, the saying " like a lamb to the slaughter" come to mind when looking at this scene as everything was so unexpected. There is no noise except the sheriffs shoes against the floor, really adding to the sense of the struggle.