For this assignment, I chose the Coen brother’s film, “Fargo”. The DP on this film was Roger Deakins, who I think is a very good cinematographer. I chose a 2 minute sequence of a scene about thirty minutes into the movie. The setup is that the two men have kidnapped a women who is in the backseat, and they are taking her to a remote location. The tags arent on the car, so the cop pulls them over. From here, the story begins to spiral out of control.
The scene begins with black, and then a Paul Bunyan statue appears. There is a pan down from a low angle of the statue, a slow and drawn out pan that is signifying dark events that are about to occur. It is dark outside, but the statue has a high key light on it. We then go to some shot reverse shot and OTS shots of the main character driving. These are done from the backseat, and the scene is dimly lit. This is giving the scene an edge or a nervousness of what is to come. They then use a medium shot to show a cop pull up in the rear window with his lights on. There is somewhat of a short depth of field as the lights on the police car are soft as he approaches. Once the cop is at the window, suspense is brought it. In the medium shot, we cannot see the cops face until the end, as his midsection takes up the center and right thirds of the frame. Steve Buschemi occupies the left third. This scene is lit using the cops’ flashlight and some fill light in the back. There is also a power position shot as we see from the cops POV a camera looking down at Buschemi, as in the cop authority looking down at the subjects. As Buschemi is attempting to talk his way out of the problem, we see several profile shots of the characters, all looking nervous in dim light. These close ups are conveying the tension in the situation. This shows that they are in trouble and are apprehensive about what is to come. The cop, in the same section of the frame, leans his head in and we see the man’s face for the first time, thinking the suspense may be over. The camera is in the passenger seat for this as we look across Buschemi, who is driving the car. We see Bushemi’s partner then reach across screen, just his arm, from left to right and grab the cops head and repeatedly bangs it on the window. There is a quick cut to a gun, and then from outside at the cops former POV we hear the shot and see the head get hit by the bullet, killing the cop. This is done on a medium shot that crams all three faces into the shot. There is then a CU of Buschemi, looking very nervous, and a shot reverse shot of the passenger. The gun is in the foreground of the passenger, the gun is soft, but is showing us that this is what happened. This guy pulled out this gun and killed a cop. Next is a medium shot from outside the car. Buschemi is just to the right of center with the dead cop, and their car and the cop car occupy the left and right third of the frame respectively. This is when we see a different light set than what was in the car. Before it was dark and dissonant, just the flashlight and some fill. Now the scene is lit a bit more even though we are outside in the dark. Even with the light the cop and Buschemi are dark, almost silhouette. cars have their headlights on, lighting the area around them and some of the snow. Buschemi drags the corps around the cars and off the road, lit with the headlights.
This whole scene, and movie, has a dark feature to it with the lights and the Coen Brothers and Deakins use the blackness of night, the white of snow, and the red of blood to contrast well together. And as always, the shots are very aesthetically pleasing. NOTE: my image grabs are in the reverse order of how they happen. so start at bottom image and work up. also, this was not the end of the scene just the end of how far i did the analysis.
The scene begins with black, and then a Paul Bunyan statue appears. There is a pan down from a low angle of the statue, a slow and drawn out pan that is signifying dark events that are about to occur. It is dark outside, but the statue has a high key light on it. We then go to some shot reverse shot and OTS shots of the main character driving. These are done from the backseat, and the scene is dimly lit. This is giving the scene an edge or a nervousness of what is to come. They then use a medium shot to show a cop pull up in the rear window with his lights on. There is somewhat of a short depth of field as the lights on the police car are soft as he approaches. Once the cop is at the window, suspense is brought it. In the medium shot, we cannot see the cops face until the end, as his midsection takes up the center and right thirds of the frame. Steve Buschemi occupies the left third. This scene is lit using the cops’ flashlight and some fill light in the back. There is also a power position shot as we see from the cops POV a camera looking down at Buschemi, as in the cop authority looking down at the subjects. As Buschemi is attempting to talk his way out of the problem, we see several profile shots of the characters, all looking nervous in dim light. These close ups are conveying the tension in the situation. This shows that they are in trouble and are apprehensive about what is to come. The cop, in the same section of the frame, leans his head in and we see the man’s face for the first time, thinking the suspense may be over. The camera is in the passenger seat for this as we look across Buschemi, who is driving the car. We see Bushemi’s partner then reach across screen, just his arm, from left to right and grab the cops head and repeatedly bangs it on the window. There is a quick cut to a gun, and then from outside at the cops former POV we hear the shot and see the head get hit by the bullet, killing the cop. This is done on a medium shot that crams all three faces into the shot. There is then a CU of Buschemi, looking very nervous, and a shot reverse shot of the passenger. The gun is in the foreground of the passenger, the gun is soft, but is showing us that this is what happened. This guy pulled out this gun and killed a cop. Next is a medium shot from outside the car. Buschemi is just to the right of center with the dead cop, and their car and the cop car occupy the left and right third of the frame respectively. This is when we see a different light set than what was in the car. Before it was dark and dissonant, just the flashlight and some fill. Now the scene is lit a bit more even though we are outside in the dark. Even with the light the cop and Buschemi are dark, almost silhouette. cars have their headlights on, lighting the area around them and some of the snow. Buschemi drags the corps around the cars and off the road, lit with the headlights.
This whole scene, and movie, has a dark feature to it with the lights and the Coen Brothers and Deakins use the blackness of night, the white of snow, and the red of blood to contrast well together. And as always, the shots are very aesthetically pleasing. NOTE: my image grabs are in the reverse order of how they happen. so start at bottom image and work up. also, this was not the end of the scene just the end of how far i did the analysis.
