Sound
The 'coin toss' scene opens with a long shot of the gas station. There is diegetic sound in the background of gentle wind blowing, although we cannot see it, we know it's there because the 'Texaco' sign is squeaking rustily, indicating it is moving because of the wind. This faint wind blowing sound can be heard throughout the rest of the scene, whilst the characters are talking. The is also a distant helicopter sound at the beginning that disappears quickly. All these sounds combined with a background of silence throughout the scene create a very distant, isolated and desolate setting for the scene, therefore indicating that the victim will be helpless at the hands of the villain.
The next sound presented in this scene are the footsteps of the character Anton Chigurh as he is walking across the floor towards the gas station counter. This is also diegetic sound because although we cannot actually see his feet, we can see him moving. His heavy footsteps indicate he is wearing big boots, signifying he is possibly a bad character, strong, and as would be common in that area of America, a labourer of some sort.
Chigurh open the conversation between him and the gas station attendant by saying 'How much?' His short, blunt, to the point and slightly rude question is spoken in a very deep voice, coarse and rough in strong American accent, although the dialect is unspecified. This hints that he is a villain because that is the type of voice we associate with bad characters. In contrast, the gas station attendant's voice is a lot weaker, slightly feeble, and accented with a strong southern American accent. when placed with Chigurh's harsh voice, we know instantly who is the villain and who is the victim. It also indicates that this scene, if not the whole film is set in southern America
There is no other sound occurring while the characters are talking, which focuses all of the audience's attention on what they are saying. Chigurh flips the coin, which makes a significantly loud ringing noise. This is to draw attention to the significance of the coin, as it is the most important icon in this scene, as the gas station attendant's life depends on it. Because the noise is so defined, it makes us wounder what would have happened if the coin landed the other way up. It also brings a lot of tension to the scene as so much is dependant on it.
Just when the gas station attendant is about to call the coin, there is extremely faint, suspenseful music played, the only non-diegetic sound in the scene. This is added to create suspense when the attendant can 'stand to win everything', the tensest time of the scene, and as there is bare minimum other sounds during the scene, it is very effective.
Well done, Alana. You raise some excellent points and explain them in detail. Try to be consistently look at connotations and not denotations, such as: "squeaking rustily, indicating it is moving because of the wind."
ReplyDeleteConnotations;
ReplyDeletewind blowing- Isolated, desolate, alone, rural; as in a built up area there are less spaces for wind to pass through, emptiness.
Rusty squeaky sound- old, barren, unkepmt, this sound would also be often found in horror films, to indicate something is not looked after and desterted, therefore creating a spooky, hair raising feeling.
Lack of sound- lonliness, cold, isolation, something wrong; as when we are in a situation where we cannot even hear birds, we tend to percieve it as things not being quite right.