Directors Statement

Directors Statement

The scenes I chose were specific to me and what I felt I could potentially give in terms of depth and a disparate perspective to that of the Coen Bros. Obviously, I didn't realistically want to change much but I felt I could certainly add and tweak parts of the scene ever so slightly to add to the tension and atmosphere of it.  

Casting

With casting for this production I unfortunately fell into a pit of despair as my actors dropped out. However I was able to, in the end recruit a member of the class and a fellow actor which coincidentally was his friend! They definitely didn't fit the part for the first scene however in the second part of the sequence I definitely felt the appropriation was nearly there and his aesthetic also. 

(Alex Miguel)

Location

As spoken about in one of my previous posts, my prime location had unfortunately not allowed me to shoot in so I had to make do with a kitchen and try to attempt to transform it aesthetically like a shop. My initial target though was to have the shop sequence filmed in a shop across the counter/till area, and if this would have been possible I believe the quality and authenticity of the whole scene would of gave the whole sequence much more life. 

However, being dealt that blow made me think how to approach the kitchen with it's difficulties of resembling nothing of the sort of a shop, I tried everything in my power to make it as authentic as possible. 

Costume Design

My costume design was specific for my main protagonist, the character Lleweyn, played by my friend and actor, Alex Miguel. I wanted to replicate the same sort of aesthetic as was captured in the original film. I felt I did that. 

Sound Design

Sound was one of the technicalities in where the thought process was much deeper and meaningful, I wanted to try an make the audience feel as if they were behind the counter in the shop scene, and with Lleweyn in the hotel suite. As in the original there is purposefully a lack of sound which is extremely effective, so I just wanted to experiment and see if I could create just as much atmosphere with sound, than without. 

I chose to use dog sounds and police sirens in the hotel suite scene to add to the undertone of the scene and give it more fear and intensity, as I did not want at any time throughout the sequence for there to be some sort of let up from the tension. I wanted constant, relentless tension being built up for the dramatic finale. 

Camera Operation

With the camera I wanted certain shots extremely close up as these specific scenes at times are awkward and immensely tense. For example I wanted CUs of Anton Chigurh eating the nuts, as it creates an uncomfortable watch for the audience as the entire sequence is evoking such a response, it compliments the scenes nature

. 

This is where I wanted to really to add my own perspective, by using the close ups, going further into the action and involving the audience more to emerge them in the scene. 

Mood/tone/visual style

What I wanted to portray was nothing to disimilar to the original piece, stark contrasting characters with vast amounts of tension and suspense created through all four of the key elements. Colour wise, especially in the hotel scene I wanted to keep it dark, low lit lighting, very isolated and confide. This was all again to add to that hostile tension build up, to make it all seem very authentic.

Editing

With my first scene, I chose specifically to build from slow steady pacing, gradually speeding up with the context of the scene and it's tension rising dialogue. This choice was to reinforce the scenes tension an uneasy atmosphere within the space. I again chose to do this in the second scene of the hotel, going from slow to fast paced. There was a specific edit I decided to use to entwine the scenes with which was a match cut, I'm not fully convinced it work nor am I too sure on the exact reasoning behind it other than my aspiration to use it ever since watching 2001: A Space Odyssey an how successful that was.