No Country For Old Men (Coen Brothers, 2007)

The beginning of this film we see a black screen with the productions titles in white, then the title of the film is seen. There is no music whilst the titles are on screen which gives the film a sense of isolation. When the titles disappear we hear Tommy Lee Jones' voice over a black background which then changes to a desert landscape in the sunrise. The character is talking about his life in the area and he mentions he is the sheriff. This immediately tells the audience that Tommy Lee Jones will be an important character because of his authority and that he is the first character to be introduced. Whilst he speaks there are several shots in the background which are of different places in the area, which gives us a sense of the environment. Also, everytime there is a straight cut to a different shot the scene gets lighter as if the character is talking towards the present day. Each shot is of a very lonely area where there is nobody to be seen and in every shot you can see the wind moving across the fields as if something is disturbing the area. But when we see the first panning shot we notice that there is no wind and we meet two other characters, one a policeman and the other dressed in black with a oxygen tank. As the audience we sense that something is not quite right because the man is dressed in black which connotes mystery and danger. Also Tommy Lee Jones is talking about murders that happened in the area which suggests the man dressed in black may be a murderer. Also when he gets into the police car the lightening is very dark where he is sitting which emphasises the man's mysteriousness. At the end of that scene we hear Tommy Lee Jones saying 'I'm a part of this world.' Which again suggests Tommy Lee Jones is a main character in the film and he gets caught up in the plot.