Monday, July 16, 2012

Opening to O’Brother Where Art Thou?


O’Brother Where Art Thou?
Director: Joel Coen
Cinematographer: Roger Deakins


O’Brother where art thou? Starts off with an extreme wide shot of an open field. The distant tree line and sky that takes up over two-thirds of the frame represents the isolation and longing for freedom felt by the characters. The completely desaturated color gives a since of age to the film.


 The shot very slowly pans to the chain gang breaking rocks on the side of the road. The officers on the horses are close in the frame and the gun is highly visible to show their imposing and unwavering dominance. The shot is framed along the diagonal of the road and the line of the chain gang, which leads to the vanishing point. This shot gives the illusion that the chain gang goes on forever into the dusty distance. In this shot the color slowly changes from completely desaturated to a sepia tone.


 This shot a slow dolly shot framed low on the faceless prisoners and looking upwards towards the guard. This shows the dominance of the guard and the utter worthlessness felt by the prisoners.


 This is another slow dolly shot that is framed upward towards the prisoners. This is the first shot to clearly show any faces. This could indicate there true humanity is much more important that that of the law officers. This is to make the connection with the audience with the traditional “bad guys.” This shot is framed high to show the sky in half of the frame, this is to show the prisoners longing for freedom. This shot ends on a very young looking prisoner show the indifference of the law toward juvenile offenders in this age.


 This shot starts with a close up of the back of one of the prisoners, then pans to the diagonal of the chain gang. This shot show the rhythm of the chain gang together and the unity the prisoners have with one another.


This shot is a downward facing dolly shot going down the line in-between the prisoners. The chains are framed on both lines of the left and right thirds. This shot clearly represents the depression felt by the prisoners by showing the physical chains that bind them. This also shows how the prisoners are bound to one another.


 This shot is farmed low on the near talent and has a wide depth of field. In the left of the frame is the almost smiling face of a prisoner, and in the right of the frame is the stern face of a guard. This shot shows the conflicting attitudes of the two sides of opposing characters that is reveled throughout movie.


 This is an extremely low shot of the prisoners’ feet and the rocks they are breaking. This shot has a very shallow depth of field, and in the distance is a guard. This shot has a lot of dust and debris in the air each time the rocks are hit. This shot seems to solidify the rigid structure these men are living under and their hopelessness.


 This is a two shot of prisoners. This shot give a good since of the humanity of the prisoners.



This shot is almost a reverse shot of the opening shot. Although in this shot the camera is more of a tracking dolly shot in which the guard on horseback rides through, the guard’s gun is highly visible in the shot once again. The vanishing point illusion is once again used. This shot reiterates the dominance and seriousness of the guards. 

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