top of page

This is my little brother, Tate, German Project. 

​

While I didn't film anything this week that was my own personal short film I did Direct, Shoot & Co-Edited this with my brother.

​

My brother Co-Edited, Wrote & Made the Music for the project.

​

I didn't understand what they were saying during the whole shoot but it was fun. We had gotten bikes from our friends house and biked all around Manchester to find good locations for the project. 

​

It took us 3 hours to film and we had gotten 52 takes then we had to edit it down to 3 and a half minutes. It took an hour to edit. The camera work could've been better and the dialogue be louder but in the end Tate said the video went really well in the class.

​

We had gotten very good bloopers to share below: 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Movie: No Country for Old Men (2007)

Scene: "Coin Toss"

No Country for Old Men is the Academy Award Winning film Written & Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy.

 

NCFOM tells the story of violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong and more than two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.

​

One of the most famous scene in the movie (and of all time) is when Anton Chigurh (played by Javier Bardem) goes to a Texaco Gas Station to pick up some gas and get a quick snack. 

​

He goes inside to ask a Gas Station Proprietor (played by Gene Jones) how much is the snack and the gas. The snack is 69 Cents and asks about the gas but never gets an answer.

​

What follows is a tense scene after the Proprietor remarks "Well, I seen you was from Dallas." 

51U1qJ70-ML._SY445_.jpg

Dialogue: The film won for Best Adapted Screenplay and the interactions between the two start off slow and in small sentences. But over time Anton begins to ask questions in bigger sentences in a mono-tone voice. The Proprietor begins to get confused as to why he's being asked so many questions and he soon realizes in his worried voice that there's more to Anton than him being just some average customer. 

​

Questions: The questions go as follows (broadly); why's it your business? Will there be anything else? Is there something wrong? Wrong with what? What time do you close? You don't know what you're talking about, do you? What time do you go to bed? You live in that house out back? Live here your whole life? did you marry into this shop? And finally... What's the most you've ever lost in a coin toss?

​

The Toss: The Coin Toss is what causes the suspense in this scene. Anton throws the coin up in the air, catches it, then puts it on the table. Anton asks for the Proprietor to call the coin. They didn't make a bet on anything. But based on the annoyance in Anton's voice, it seems to be that Anton hopes to kill this man if he gets it wrong. Proprietor... Without knowing... Bet everything in his life. 

​

The Win: The Proprietor wins. The coin was heads up. 

​

Cinematography: The film was shot by Roger Deakins (and he'd get nominated for his work on this film) and the scene only has 4 shots in the whole thing. One outside to set-up where they are, a shot on Anton, a shot on Proprietor and a shot on the coin on the table. You don't need any extravagant shots to set up and shoot a scene to add suspense to it. 

​

Lighting: There is no light needed for this scene considering that the whole scene features a bright sun in the middle of the summer to show where the characters are... Nowhere in sight. 

​

Music: Music can be heard for only a few seconds. When the Proprietor calls the coin and it's revealed he won. The music quickly fades out telling you that the intensity of the action has finally ended and Anton is ready to move on on his journey. 

​

Directing: The Coen brothers do an excellent job at crafting a suspense scene that doesn't need guns, music, screaming and whatever is used in an action blockbuster. They use silence and small dialogue between two characters to set up the coin toss which can lead to either death or relief. 

​

Acting: Gene Jones as the Gas Station Proprietor and Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh have great chemistry with each other in this scene. What starts off as small talk from a worker to a customer turns into something more. 

​

Conclusion: I believe this scene signifies that anything could happen to you anywhere. You could be mining your own business then he could be approached and asked questions about your life. Which could lead to a deadly ending. This doesn't happen in real life, though... But in fiction it does.

This film is in the top 250 best movies of all time on IMDb and has won 157 awards with another 132 nominations. 

​

Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen

Based on the Novel by Cormac McCarthy

Screenplay by Joel & Ethan Coen 

Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem & Josh Brolin 

No Country for Old Men.jpg
no-country-for-old-men.png
WebSlides-Aug2017_NoCountryForOldMen.jpg
v1.aDsxMTMxNztqOzE3ODY1OzEyMDA7NzAwOzQ2N
bottom of page