The Coen Brothers

 



No Country for Old Men, class notes. Psychological thriller.



The Hudsucker Proxy, class notes. Fantasy Thriller.



 



 

Next we focused on the numerous films directed by the Coen Brothers. The vast selection of sub-genres within the thriller genre, such as a fantasy thriller (Hudsucker proxy) allowed us to explore the features of each film and think of various ideas for our thriller clip. In the Psychological thriller, No Country for Old Men, it uses a simple motif of a coin that the 'villain' uses to threaten the innocent victim- Life or Death is placed in the hands of fate, this links to the 'Dark Night' where the joker only allows two options on which boat will survive, and which will not. This seems to keep the audience of their toes, they also start to feel empathy for the character and we are placed in their position. The Coen brothers play 'Willing Suspension of Disbelief' convention where the audience are kept in suspense about what will happen- the tension keeps building, yet this is turned on its head as the innocent victim is saved by fate. The Coen brothers use MOTIFS throughout all of their films, objects are given a meaning and the audience must uncover the secret meaning behind it, they appear often throughout the film which keeps the audience thinking and interested. This idea of motifs is one we can consider for our thriller clip- the psychological thriller 'The Woman in Black' also includes a selection of motifs throughout the film, foreshadowing danger ahead- the feet walking is used to express when the child has been possessed, the audience then immediately know the fate of the character, once this motif has begun, there is no way of stopping it, their fate has already been decided, and the audience begin to empathize with the characters as it uses dramatic irony- the audience are aware of something the characters are not. This makes us want to warn the characters, keeping us intrigued in the content of the film. Therefore when we start to plan our thriller storyboard, we could consider the clever use of motifs in our opening sequence which would stick in the audiences mind throughout. Also in No Country for Old Men, like in many of the Coen Brothers films, it starts with a voice over and establishing shots of the location and setting, however we discussed in our group that we did not feel this would be beneficial for our thriller, as it would be even more mysterious without the voiceover to explain happenings at the start.

Contrasting with the psychological thriller, the Hudsucker Proxy is in the genre of a fantasy thriller. Therefore the setting for this thriller is completely imagined- an alternative reality is created. The shots used, motifs, effects, transitions and characters all need to be carefully selected to relate to the 'Fantasy Thriller' theme, for example humour was added to this film to express how it was situated in an alternative reality. Mr Hudsucker jumps out of a window and the time it takes for him to hit the ground is prolonged- allowing the audience to remember the genre of the film. The work by the Coen Brothers is a very unique, definitive style which will enable us to gain further inspiration for our thriller clip. This research will help significantly when we start to storyboard our ideas.

Lauren Taylor.