Group: 1st Film Shoot plan

This saturday (3rd March 2012) we are going to start filming our first shoot in Sandown park in Pembury at about 7:00 pm as we need some darkness in our shot. We will be filming, lighting and directing without actors, the scenes with actors will be shot at different times. We will just get as many shots as possible without actors required, as our actors are unavailable to shoot this weekend. We will include in this work the shot of a bullet shell dropping to the floor in slow motion on Adobe After Effects. Because the scenes we are shooting do not require actors, costume is not an issue. The props we will use will be a map, some photographs and average desk items for macro shots.

Group:Developing concept (responding to questions from pitch)

After hearing feedback concerning our pitch about our project, from our class peers, we have concluded that the following modifications to our two-minute horror/thriller opening will be made:

• Many people arose the problem that the victim of the death is supposed to be a “Satanist” like character, the problem with this is that we will need to ensure we convey this properly, we will also need to maintain a sense of her being more innocent than the murderer, as she may appear as if she deserved what she received, thus giving taking the antagonistic nature away from her and giving it to her, which would be make the opening less suspenseful.
• Many people said that murder scenes, if not shot to a professional manner, can make the rest of the scene or movie look slightly ‘tacky’. For this reason, we have concluded that we will either avoid showing the scene of the murder, alternatively, we may use shadows to substantially avoid displaying the actual murder, we feel this may also fit in with the idea of “fear of the unknown”.
• Due to the previous point, we have decided to use a gun as the choice of weapon for the murderer, as opposed to using a knife, this is not only because a gun would leave less evidence than a knife, thus complying with the narrative, but also, for us to convincingly use a knife would be extremely hard.
• Many spectators of our pitch presentation pointed out that it may be hard to achieve birds-eye views without the use of professional equipment, to counter this, we have decided to use a small step ladder of which the person operating the camera can stand on when shooting the shot, in addition to this, we may also use some sort of camera rig that will allow us to extend the reach of the camera operator.

However, a number of our ideas were strongly reinforced by our peers feedback:

• Firstly, most people praised the idea of the use of juxtaposition between the girls earlier and latter state, specifically, she is first shown to be innocent, then later shown to actually be a Satan worshipper. People liked the idea that at first it looks like the killing is simply unreasoned, but when she is shown to be a Satan worshipper, the killing is still not justified, but at least a motive is clear; which is that the man is mentally unstable and believes that God wants him to commit these acts of terror.
• Secondly, our peers praised the idea that the use of binary opposition is used differently to that of other movies. While in many of the movies that we studied as inspiration for our project such as such as "Seven" (Fincher, 1995), in these films, the antagonist recieves little prevelance for the first half of the movie, however, we are doing the exact opposite and by making the antagonist the main character, thus he recieves more prevelance that any other character.
• Unarguably, the most highly supported point that we presented in our pitch, was the integrated text that we deciced to incorporate. The text that we would incorporate was contradictory of that of most other films and TV shows, in that it is that not everyone is equal. This will be conveyed by the antagonistic main character, who will imply that the people he kills deserve to die, simply because they disobeyed one of the ten commandments. This will also work in a religious sense, as the bible teaches that everyone is equal, despire their actions, because it is also taught that people can be forgiven for their sins and wrong doings, this is completely contradicted and this is the integrated text we want to convey through our opening.

HCT:Technical Analysis Of a Film Opening

To Kill a Mocking Bird (Mulligan, 1962)

To Kill a Mocking Bird Title Sequence (click here)

• I have chosen to analyse this title sequence in depth because i find the techniques used are extremely effective to create an interesting artistic look. The use of rack focus and very close up macro objects is inspiring. 
• Also the way the text is fully integrated into the video and background despite not being motion tracked or hidden behind certain objects. The typography is in harmony with the motion of the picture and is not just an afterthought. It contrasts with the spherical objects and allows the text to pop out of the screen and be noticeable. 
• The title sequences narrative shows a girls obsession with a cigar box. 
• This sense of obsession and possibly devotion along with very macro shots could be very useful to our production. We could use the sense of devotion by the antagonist towards his religious clan and also reveal the titles in the second scene by the antagonists work station with a more modern approach of using adobe after effects to motion track the titles to very macro objects to further integrate the text and not make it an after thought.
• We could also portray a feeling of secrecy be hiding certain titles behind the objects and having them appear as the camera moves along. We could use a very shallow focus to effectively bring out the objects from the background
• The objects we use would be very intricate and detailed with interesting shape and form. Adding for a better contrast between the text and object and also creating an interesting look, they would be related the the religious aspect we are aiming for.
• The sound for the title sequence is very minimalist until 1:32 into the opening. before this there is no music at all, only the sound from actions taking place and the gentle humming coming from the little girl. After this it changes to a full bodied orchestra with clarinet violin and other wind instruments. Although beautiful and interesting this technique would not be helpful towards the feel we want to portray in our opening.
  
  

  Camera Techniques and mise en scéne	Shot Duration
  Camera zoom forward to cigar box opening from close up to extreme close up.	19 seconds.
  close up stationary shot of girl picking up crayon.	4 seconds.
  Extreme close up of Crayon on paper revealing the title.	4 1/2 seconds.
  Cray on paper revealing the title close up.	8 seconds.
  Extreme close up of line being draw on paper with crayon.	3 seconds.
  Twisting camera, close up of pocket watch.	3 seconds.
  Extreme close up pan over objects in the box such as coins watched etc.	8 seconds.
  Extreme close up tracked shot of pen and beads on desk	14 seconds.
  Close up of girls hand drawing animal on paper.	5 seconds.
  Extreme close up of crayon being taken causing  marble to roll away.	4 seconds.
  Extreme close up tracked shot following a marble rolling away past glasses	5 seconds.
  Extreme close up of marble hitting other marble	3 seconds.
  Close up of cigar box-vertical.	7 seconds.
  Close up of girls hand drawing wavy lines with crayon.	5 seconds.
  Extreme close up of fountain pens and marble.	7 seconds.
  Extreme close up tracking shot along.	38 seconds.
  Close up of  girl drawing animal in crayon.	5 seconds.
  Extreme close up of crayon bring dropped back into cigar box with slight zoom towards the stop watch.	7 seconds
  Close up of animal drawing in pencil crossed out and ripped. Followed by a pan down the page where the rip is.	15 seconds

CF:Technical analysis: "Run Lola Run" (Twyker, 1998)

Camera techniques and MES	Duration of shot
Static shot with black background, some sort of symbolic evil looking chime swings back and forth to hide and show the major credits including the creative triangle (producer, director, writer).  The chime has a evil devil-looking face on it.	37 seconds
Next there is a zoom into the symbol and then a pan to show where it is coming from, which is then shown to also be evil looking.  Specifically, it looks to be a small statue/monument made of some sort of stone. The monument is actually a clock but the gargoyle like features attract the audience’s attention; to subtlety create a persona of evil. Next, there is a static shot of the centre of the monument; it is a gargoyle like mouth, which is then shown to open.	20 seconds
There is then a fast pan towards the mouth of the gargoyle, when the camera is then shown to be ‘in the gargoyle’s mouth’, and all that the audience can see is a blank black screen.	8 seconds
There is then a slow fade from black, to a shot of a dark screen, compiling of a large number of people. The shot is sped up to create a sense of pace, which is later shown to be a recurring theme throughout the movie.  Many of the people in the shot are shown in a dark manner, thus giving little of their identity away, which implies a large sense of mystery, which is also a recurring theme throughout the movie. The speed of the shot sometimes slows down to focus on certain characters, displaying them via medium shots. These characters are later shown to be quite important characters. This is a form of enigma.	79 seconds
The last focused shot of a supporting character shows the person to be kicking a football into the air. The camera then rapidly zooms out to show the crowd of people in a Bird’s eye view. The people are shown to of now moved into position so that they spell out the title of the film. The camera then pans back towards the original location as the ball heads back towards the earth.	29 Seconds TOTAL DURATION: 173 SECONDS

Soundtrack:

• Firstly, there is a slowly increasing tone of sound in terms of the pitch, this is typical of thriller films which often do this to build suspense.
• Overlapping with this sound is the ticking of what sounds like a clock. This is a key example of an enigma code, as time is one of the most important factors throughout the movie.
• When the camera begins to show the gargoyle like clock, a number of darker and more dramatic sounds begin to play, this fits in with the theme of the gargoyle, as gargoyles and such sounds are both naturally inferred to be related to evil by the audience.
• One of the most distinguishable things about this movie is the techno-dance soundtrack, which is thought of to be very eccentric. Even at the very start of the movie when there are sped up shots of the crowds of people, this soundtrack is playing. It could be said that sub-consciously, this is setting the theme of the soundtrack for the audience, as maybe if it is played from the very start of the movie, the audience may know that it may be recurring throughout the film.
• When the ball heads towards the earth, there is again a noise of which the tone and pitch rapidly increases, again creating suspense, which ties in with the path of movement of the football itself, as it is come to the possibly most important stage in it’s path of movement; impact.

What to take away from this technical analysis:

• The first thing that is noticeable is that the duration of shots are all very long, this is typical of thriller films as it leaves the audience to ponder on what the screen portrays, thus adding suspense. This is very traditional of thriller films, but not necessarily essential, this is something we will consider when we come to filming our opening.
• I think it is now clear that for a director to properly create enough suspense to be on par with professional thriller movies, certain sounds with varying pitches and tones could be used to create the required amount of suspense.
• As conveyed by the gargoyle like features in this opening, I believe that a key part of a thriller movie opening is the use of enigma codes.
• A large variation of shots must be used in the opening to our project, as continued use of the same shot would leave the audience bored and not in a suspenseful mood, which would contradict the mood of an audience member in a professional thriller movie.
• From the use of cartoon in this opening, I believe that we may be able to incorporate the use of more than one median in our project, although cartoon may not be feasible for us to pull of, there are other medians we could use, such as the idea of portraying the credits of the film subtly, like incorporating them into a newspaper clipping or something along such lines.

GROUP: Wilderness Woods Project

• When we went on our trip in Wilderness woods in Hadlow down on tuesday 7th February we shot this film. We travelled by minibus and were accompanied by Ms. Johnson, Mrs. Fernandez and Harry Pearce as well as both media groups.
• Our trip was mostly successful as we used the track to obtain some excellent of Connor and Jake in the woods. We also included some extreme close ups of nature and other things which created a good effect, as well as tracking and panning shots, POV shots, shot reverse shot, canted angles, extreme long shots, etc.
• The shot we were most proud of was the panning shot whilst the camera was on the track, it looked great. We had trouble finding a location for our shots, as the best places were taken by other groups and we didnt want any background noise, and we walked all the way around the woods trying to find a location, but eventually we managed to overcome this and find a good location.
• We had some trouble getting the 'zombie' look right, as we wanted to go for something slightly original and different from most zombie films, and it took several takes, but eventually we managed to get the right look.

•

Group: project pitch

Below is the link to a power point presentation displaying our pitch for our two minute Horror/Thriller movie opening.

(Please view in full screen if you wish to see the text, alternatively, the text is displayed below the presentation).

http://www.slideboom.com/presentations/542499/Group-8%2C-The-Pitch-EDIT?pk=2400-6b8f-f8e8-5cd1-2e63-a086-2fe3-3065

JP: Technical Analysis of a Film Opening - Zombieland (Fleischer, 2009)

I believe some of the techniques used in this opening scene could be used to inspire some techniques used in our final production.  The slow-motion shots are a very interesting and effective technique as they draw the audience to pay more attention to the shots, showing them what the world is like in the post-apocalyptic world. For instance, the scene at the wedding shows how the infection has spanned to all areas of the world, infecting the places least expected. This is reinforced when several shots of different locations and costumes are used as they show the variety and expanse of the infection. This idea of peace being disturbed, and everyday scenes being chaotic, could be a very interesting idea to use in our final production.

                 
The soundtrack used is ‘For whom the bell tolls’ by Metallica, which is used effectively as it heavy metal is usually related to violence and disorder, and is used perfectly with the shots of chaos and disorder, making it very synchronous, matching the scenes. The sounds that should come from the shots, for instance breaking glass, are muted and only the music can be heard, making the chaotic feel that the world has turned to hell even stronger.

Camera Technique and Mise-en-Scène	Shot Duration
Low angle shot of man being thrown off ledge by zombie in orange suit.	5 seconds.
Close up of zombie spitting out black liquid.	3 seconds.
Medium long shot of woman in pink being chased by zombie.	3 seconds.
Long shot of man with sign reading ‘The end is near’ being attacked by three zombies.	2 ½ seconds.
Extreme long shot of man in suit running away from two zombies and a burning car.	4 ½ seconds.
Close up of riot police hitting zombies with their shields.	3 seconds.
Long shot of zombie bride attacking groom at wedding.	2 seconds.
Mid shot of man smashing window with crowbar with zombies chasing him.	3 seconds.
Long two shot of businessmen in suits running from stripper zombie.	8 seconds.
Long shot of zombie tackling man in safety gear working on bottom of a car.	3 seconds.
Medium long shot of man and child running from five zombies.	2 ½ seconds.
Medium long shot of man running away from long-haired zombie.	2 seconds.
Wide angle long shot of flaming zombie chasing man in fireman outfit.	6 seconds.
Mid shot of man in cream suit firing gun towards screen with zombie in background.	4 ½ seconds.
Medium long shot of zombie diving into car windscreen.	6 seconds.

GROUP: Storyboard

GROUP: Treatment

Our film is a horror / thriller hybrid set in modern-day downtown Pembury, with our main character in the opening sequence being the antagonist, a mentally unstable man in his mid-20's, who is part of a small, secret religious group who organise killings of people who have commited sins. It will include him killing a young woman by a street lamp on a dark road, leaving several religious symbols as a mark of his organisation. There will be a shot of the antagonist standing over the dead body of the victim under a solitary street lamp on a dark road.
               The title sequence will follow with several macro shots with motion tracked titles. Maps and enigmatic objects will be shown, revealing some of the plans and previous attacks from the organisation. It will show previous and planned murders, and snapshots of the victims will be put in envelopes by the murderer, to be opened by police later on showing the organisation to be shady and slightly psychotic.

GROUP: Concept Development

         Narrative:

• The main idea for our opening sequence has developed quite a lot since initial ideas. We have settled on the idea of a hybrid between the genres of Horror and Thriller. The idea is that the antagonist has some kind of mental issue and commits murders to people that have sinned or done wrong in some way. He is part of a small secret religious organisation of people who follow familiar practises. The antagonist sends pictures of the victims in the post to the police after killing them.- we thought this would create quite an interesting disturbed feel and gives the antagonist the sense of mental instability and an outcast from society . 
• Our first scene will be a landscape shot at night, this will be stationary and a gun shot will sound. The camera will then cut to slow montage edit of a woman dead on a road, similar to that of 'Brick'. This montage clip will also include a birds eye view of the woman on the floor, she will be in the centre of the frame and there will be religious symbols and markings etched into the road around her body which will have relations to the religious organisation he is part of and will also trigger enigma codes. There will be a prop that the woman is holding. This could be some drugs or blood stained into her hands relating to the sin she may have committed and also creating enigma. The camera will then pan up to a man standing under a street lamp which will be the antagonist. His face will be unidentifiable and he will be putting a gun into his pocket so the audience links the gun shot to him. He will then walk over to the woman on the floor and take a picture of her. 
• There will be a freeze frame shot of the picture he has just take which pans out. When the camera pans out of the photograph the man will be in a room. The next minute will be a fast paced montage edit in the style or Kyle Cooper of certain things such as a map which different locations marked our with pictures of people that are possible victims, macro shot of his desk and equipment, Putting the picture of the woman he has killed into an envelope and writing a police inspectors name on the front, taking pills possibly and other strange things that can be put into this extremely past paced scene. The scene will end with a knocking of a door. The camera then cuts to black and the title appears..we have not yet finalised our choice of typography.

         Locations:

• We are considering using a generally isolated area for the murder to comply with typical conventions of horror and thriller movies, so that the audience can infer the genre of our opening.
• We liked the idea of using mist to create an eerie scene that is mysterious and gives quite a cold feel, this also creates the idea that the victim may be unaware of the antagonist location, creating more of a fright due to the audiences association with the unknown.
• For the murder scene we thought of two possible locations. We thought of having an isolated road with a single street-lamp, as this would provide enough light to film in whilst still keeping a lot of negative space. There would still be small amounts of light which would be good as we don't want to reveal the antagonist too much.
• The second location would be a secluded house. Specifically we would be using a bedroom with a desk for working at- This is where all of our macro and title clips will be shot. 
• The antagonist will be wearing a black suit and shirt, this is so the audience identify his quickly at the antagonist as we found in our research of openings this is commonly the case.
• Our murder victim will be dressing in casual brighter clothes to contrast the blood with her costume and also portray her as innocent which is common in films of similar genre.

CF: Opening sequence Analysis

"Law Abiding Citizen"  (Grey, 2009)

• This film is clearly a thriller, but one would not be able to make this conclusion solely based on the beginning of the opening, but the latter events of the opening make it clearto the audience that this film is almost a typical thriller. 

• The start of the opening does not meet many (or any) of the typical conventions held by a thriller movie, there is happy music being played via the radio, as opposed to the conventional thriller music which would be part of the score, and would normally build suspense, and therefore would also build fear for the audience. 
• However, as soon as the burglars enter the house, the persona of the scene immediately turns into that of a thriller; this is made to be rather obvious by fulfilling the audience’s expectations of a thriller film, such as a rapid build of suspense.
• This ‘rapid build of suspense’ takes place when the female character is slammed into the glass shelving unit, or more drastically, when she is stabbed, this leaves the audience wondering “is she okay, or is she seriously harmed?”. 
• The text, to start, does not conform to characteristics of a thriller in terms of the protagonist character, who is shown to be playful and looks rather harmless when sitting next to (what can be inferred to be) his daughter. 
• Unlike other typical thriller films, where the protagonists are often shown to be skilled in combat, but the protagonist here is defenseless when the crooks attack him and his family. 
• So, in this aspect of how the film both conforms and disagrees with classic conventions and characteristics of a thriller film, you could infer that the creators of the film are simply trying to amplify the fact that the events in the film are happening to ordinary people, which creates a sense of realism, which naturally builds any suspense or fright that the audience have, this effect simply proves that the film is a thriller movie, and although it may have some unexpected events that do not correspond with other movies in the same genre, it is definitely a thriller movie.
• Mise en scene is used in this seen to describe the emotions of the characters, which personally, I think is done to not only reinforce the idea that this film is a thriller, but also adds to the story. The characters are shown to be wearing very casual clothes, this would imply that they are ordinary people and are not supernatural, famous or rich. 
• The mother and daughter are shown to be wearing almost matching jumpers, many viewers would see this as ‘cute’ and therefore would create more sympathy for the characters when the audience sees the taking of their lives. This relates to the story, as much of the future events in the film are about the man avenging the death of his family, thus there is a motive. 
• A major theme of this film opening is shock, in that there is a very large contrast between the chilled out family time which then suddenly becomes a time of desperation and manic, in that they are being robbed and harmed by burglars. The picture below shows how young, harmless and innocent the girl is, this allows the audience to relate to her father's anger when she is taken by the burglars at the end of the opening scene.

• The director may be doing this to strongly implement the full story into the heads of the viewers, as many films can be slated by both critics and normal movie-goers for not fully explaining the doings from the characters in a movie. The camera shots and composition mainly consist of close ups and eyeline matches, here, camera shots are being used in the same as mise en scene, in that it is being used to convey emotion. 
• Obvious examples of this include the scene where the criminals inflict pain upon the defenceless family, while the lady is shown to have a look of pain and fright upon her face, the male looks very scared and in pain after being stabbed, but as soon as his family is shown to be attacked, he loses this look and a look of aggression, anger and bravery becomes clear on his face, the significance of this, is that is shows the audience the man’s love for his family, which is all relevant to the future events in the film, which as I previously stated, are about avenging the death of his wife and child. 
• As per many thriller movies, this opening uses sound for a number of reasons, with the most important being to add to the build of suspense. One of the most dominant sounds in the opening sequence is the shouting and cursing of the criminals, this makes their presence in the scene greater and more domineering, as they have taken control of the environment (in this case, it is a house). 
• It is very conventional for thriller movies to use violins in certain dramatic sequences, often songs from the score of the movie may be played in some of the more important scenes such as the opening, at these times, there is very little noise, and basically all that the audience can hear may be these violin sounds played in what seems to be a minor scale, these sounds are generally sad, which corresponds to one of the themes in this scene, which is death, which is brought on by the murder of the male’s seemingly innocent family. 
• Non-Verbal language is another factor used by the actors to represent their character, the protagonist, as I previously stated is shown to be playful, this is represented by his facial expression when sitting with his daughter, he is laughing which conveys him to be innocent and light-hearted, which is juxtaposed with the immediate aggressive non-verbal language of the criminals which consists of them simply attacking this family, thus showing the audience that they are ‘bad guys’.

• The picture above is another example of non-verbal language, the female character displayed in the picture has no dialogue at this point, yet the actor is conveying an extreme sense of fright by using a facial expression.

“Shooter” (Fuqua, 2007)

• The structure of the narrative in this movie is not conventional of thriller movies (or thriller conspiracy movies in this case), but the same structure is not rare in other movies of the same genre. The movie starts with an event on which many of the latter events are related to, but these events are not directly after, but several years down the line. 
• The audience are shown in relevance to the protagonist’s journey over a number years, starting with a drastic event, the audience are then shown how the protagonist is, after a few years down the line. Specifically, he is shown to be living a more isolated life, thus implying that he may have been emotionally scarred, which shows the extent to which he shared a friendship with the other soldier at the first minute of the film.
• The major themes in the narrative in the opening of the film is hardship and comradery, the two men are shown to have all odds stacked up against them, which is a recurring theme in this film, which mainly consist of the protagonist being framed by the government, thus there is no one that can really help him but himself, this is a conventional theme in conspiracy thrillers.
• There are several forms of alienation employed in this sequence. The most effective in this scene is how the two lone soldiers are fighting against what is almost a small army. Naturally, this causes the audience to see them as an ‘underdog’ in this battle, which therefore makes the viewers, want them to be the victors in this battle. 
• Essentially, the director is alienating the audience into figuring out who the protagonists are, and who the enemies or ‘bad guys’ are. Tension is created by the director by the use of music, the sounds used in the music are similar to that of “Law abiding citizen” in terms of instruments, but more major scale sounds are used, which are generally heard to be more optimistic. 
• The persona of the scene is heroic due to this music, which creates suspense as the audience may begin to want these protagonists to prevail and survive due to their heroic state, thus the viewers will be kept on the edge of their seats by the sheer suspense of the situation. 

• The picture above is a wide angle (almost panoramic) shot of the environment that they are in, it suggests how big the enemy is that they are up against, compared to the size of their force (of just two men). It shows how big the area is, and how little they are in comparison, which makes it look more unlikely that they would win the battle that takes place in this scene, this simply amplifies the heroic persona that the protagonist has.
• Social groups are not generally conveyed in this scene, as it is a scene consisting of soldiers. However, much can be inferred of the character’s social groups. The two American soldiers both have similar appearance (excluding their costume which is of a military nature), they both have short sharp haircuts, and both look physically capable judging by their physiques. 
• But the giveaway that they are of a similar or the same social group is conveyed through dialogue, their talk of home shows them to be close, thus implying that they have spent a lot of time together which makes it clear that they are amongst a mutual social group (even if it does consist of mainly colleagues).
• There are a number of ideological discourses conveyed throughout the scene, firstly, the dominant discourse conveyed is that the American soldiers are physically fit, and good looking men, which is a discourse created by the American film industry, there are also challenging ideologies conveyed though, such as that of the enemy that they are fighting. 
• The opposition in the battle are soldiers in a country which looks quite secluded (such as that in the scene), there is a discourse that such countries that do not have a large population or are not economically successful will not have expensive technologies, especially in battle, but this is challenged by the large amount of advanced weapons that they utilize throughout the scene as well as the helicopter, despite of whether or not this ideology is valid in real life, this is used in the film to make the opposition look more powerful, thus lowering the odds of the two lone soldiers winning the battle, which makes them look more heroic when they survive the fight.

• The picture above shows the unity of the two characters, they are both very physically close to each other, but the way in which they look to be relaxed in each other's company despite the possibly life-taking situation, shows that they have a close relationship, which is later confirmed in the film.

“No country for old men” (Coen bros., 2007)

• The target audience of this film clearly consists of a more mature audience, a film that will not be seen by many small children, and gives parents, adults and other older people the chance to see a film that is not glorified by ‘Hollywood’, and instead conveys a real persona of grit. 
• As a British male teenager, I interpret the film in a way that may be unique, many teenagers to more troubled cultures in Britain may be able to relate to the film, in that a large theme is violence and drug culture, these are both present in British culture, these teenagers may see this and relate to it on a personal scale.
• The protagonists are portrayed by Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem, who at the time of release of the film were not exactly the biggest stars in the film industry. The film also features Tommy Lee-Jones who is a much bigger star, the reason that the casting team may have cast Jones in the supporting role, is to reel in movie-goers who may just go to see the film, because of the fact that Jones is in it. 
• Due to the relatively low nature of this film ($25 million), two actors who were not massively famous were hired to portray the roles of the main characters, this is because there is a correlation between how much an actor may want to be paid for a film, and how famous they are. The film was produced by Paramount Vantage; which is the speciality film division of paramount pictures (Viacom is it’s parent company).
• Vantage purchases, produces, distributes and markets films with a more “art-house” feel. This means that although the film was dealt with by an industrial company, it gives off a persona that would match that of an independent film. 
• As part of prints & advertising number of strategies were use to market the film, in Britain, the radio station XFM ran daily drive time on-air promotions across it’s London, Manchester and Scotland stations. They sent one of their team into the streets, styled as the character Moss. Listeners (consumers) could listen to the clues and had to find the man on the streets who was holding the briefcase of cash that can be seen in the movie, if they could find him, they would win a large cash sum. 
• Other typical methods were used to market the film, such as trailers which were shown on YouTube and over the internet, but due to the relatively low budget of this film, their was little TV advertising, and the television advertising that did take place was not broadcast at peak times due to the astronomically large amounts of money that it would cost.
• The institutional context of a relatively low budget is evident in the movie itself, a lot of isolated locations are used, this naturally implies that there was little money to create any actual scenery of environment, thus the audience naturally gains the idea that the film is more independent than industrial.  Something that shows the independent persona of this film is,  the picture below which shows how the producers decided to use an already existing location, as oposed to what other movies would do, which would be creating a set, which would clearly be more expensive, and would be a concept which would more likely be seen in a ultra-high budget Hollywood blockbuster.

• The picture displayed above, shows how isolated the environment of the film really is, this is conventional of thriller and horror movies as it implies that no one can help the main characters from the trouble that they have got them selves into, this applies to this film, as the protagonists cannot simply go to the police, as their own activities are also illegal.
• Another major aspect of "No country for old men" is that use of symbolic images. The image below, shows the criminal washing his hands of the blood of the man who he just killed, you can also see that he has escaped his handcuffs which represent authority. The fact that hey has broken away from his handcuffs shows that he is a "loose cannon" as their is nothing to stop him for carrying on committing crimes, this is a recurring theme in the movie, as one of the thoughts that the audience will continue to have throughout watching the film is "why has he not been subdued by the authorities?".