Dynamic Bond In The Film Noir: The Coen Brothers

The Coen Brothers Ethan and Joel, were a dynamic duo who had influential effects on the film scene using many techniques of film noir. The Coen Brothers are most known for their crime and unravelling of character films often using techniques such as chiaroscuro, moving shots and quick character changes. The Brothers produced their first film in 1984 sparking their careers into film and especially film noir.

Element one - Music

A significant technique the Coen Brothers often use to add tension is music. The Coens employ a unique method of using music, raising tension (crescendo) in groups of three. We can see this technique used in many of their films. In “Blood Simple” we can see these three areas of rising tension very clearly. The Coens use this technique in the scene “The Final Showdown”. We first hear a rise in music when when we see Abby taking cover in the corner of the room trying to break the light on the ceiling as Visser has her in his crosshairs. Here the music can barely be heard building tension in the background. We hear the second rise in music when Abby stabs Visser through his hand, at this moment the music becomes clearer and we can hear it louder than before, however it is still building, becoming

The Coens use a very strong angled shot in the scene “Everything Escalates” as Carl shoots Lee. We are seen looking through Carls eyes looking down at Lee on the ground with his gunshot wounds. This shot shows that Carl is much more of a dominant position as Lee is very weak, this shot is used to show Carl's dominance over Lee. Another strong camera shots the Coens use is a POV shot from the ticket booths man perspective it shows the gruesome gunshot wound of Carl's face, The Coens often use such brutal scenes to gain the audience's attention and which can be seen in many of their other film noir genre