No Country For Old Men by Joel and Ethan Coen

No Country For Old Men

No Country For Old Men is a 2007 "Neo-Western" Thriller based on the 2005 novel by Cormac McCarthy.

The plot is about a hunter who, after discovering drugs and a case full of thousands of dollars at a massacre site, becomes the primary target of a psychotic murderer who uses fear and an oxygen tank as a weapon.

Cast and Crew

Joel and Ethan Coen:- The screenplay directors (brothers) of No Country For Old Men.

Tommy Lee Jones:- A widely famous actor known for his roles in No Country For Old Men, the Men In Black series, The Fugitive, etc. In No Country For Old Men, he plays one of the three protagonists, a sheriff called Ed Tom Bell.

Javier Bardem:- A famous actor known for his work in No Country For Old Men, Skyfall (2012), The Sea Inside, Biutiful, etc. In No Country For Old Men, he plays one of the three protagonists and the main antagonist, an intimidating psychopathic murderer called Anton Chigurh.

Josh Brolin:- A famous actor known for his roles in No Country For Old Men, W., Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, The Goonies, etc. In No Country For Old Men, he plays one of the three main protagonists, a hunter called Llewelyn Moss.

Collateral by Michael Mann

Collateral

Collateral is a 2004 Crime-Thriller movie about a taxi driver who is taken hostage by a hired assassin and forced to take the assassin around Los Angeles to each of his targets' locations.

Cast and Crew

Michael Mann:- The director of Collateral. He is also known for his directing his others movies:- Heat, The Insider, Public Enemies, The Last of the Mohicans, etc.

Tom Cruise:- A world-renowned actor famous for starring in Collateral, Top Gun, The Mission Impossible movies, Minority Report, etc. In Collateral, he plays the mysterious and no-nonsense assassin-for-hire, Vincent.

Jamie Foxx:- A famous actor, comedian and singer-writer known for starring in Collateral, Django Unchained, Law Abiding Citizen, Ray, etc. In Collateral, he plays the short-tempered and, at first, fearful taxi driver, Max Durocher.

Jada Pinkett Smith:- A famous actress known for starring in Collateral, Scream 2, the Madagascar movies, The Nutty Professor, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, etc. In Collateral, she plays the lawyer prosecuting the head of the assassins organisation Vincent works for, Annie Farrell.

Production

Collateral was Mann's first feature film to be filmed using high-definition cameras.

The trailer for the movie demonstrates the HD cameras.

Michael Mann used Viper Film Stream High-Definition Cameras to film most of Collateral's scenes. This was the first time these cameras ever used in a major motion picture film.

Many scenes in the movie show clear evidence of the use of these cameras, e.g. any scene depicting the Los Angeles skyline and landscape.

Marianne Webb and Joe Howlett's A Level Media Preliminary Task Video Analysis

Marianne Webb and Joe Howlett's A Level Media Preliminary Task Video Analysis

The story of this video was one originally made up by our teacher, Mr. Johnson, in which two people meet up to trade money for a bag containing an unknown object.

We made sure to include all the editing techniques:-

• We created Match-On Action when my character enters the room from one side of the door and enters the room on the other side. We created this in two shots, one was of my character on the outside of the room, entering through one side of the door and the other was of my character entering the room on the other side of the door, on the inside of the room. This was meant to show the continuous action of a person going through a door into a room.

• We created an Eye-line Match when, after the trade has been made, the two people look each other in the eyes for a few seconds before the person with the bag leaves. We made this technique in two shots, with each shot showing one of the two people looking in the direction of the other person, making eye contact through the lining-up of the two shots. This was meant to show that the two people find each other suspicious and do not trust each other.

• We created a Shot-Reverse-Shot when the two people are discussing the password and the money. Every time one person talks, the camera switches to an Over-the-Shoulder shot of the opposite person to have a clear view of the talking character "over the shoulder" of the character sitting opposite and to show that the opposite person is looking and listening to the talking character. This is meant to show that the two people are conversing with having a clear view of both characters.

• We used the 180-degree Rule when the two people are having their conversation. The conversation is always shown from the left side of the two people. This was meant to prevent a mix-up from the viewer between the two talking characters.

We made sure that we used each technique accurately and with no mistakes, especially the Shot-Reverse-Shot.

Overall, I think this movie was simple and well done. I think the most positive elements of the movie were, for the most part, the editing techniques. However, we did make a continuity error when filming the Shot-Reverse-Shot. In some shots, on the table behind Joe, the table is empty, but in later shots, there is a book on the table.