'Fargo' (sound)

'Fargo' (1996) was written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen (although Ethan was uncredited as director). This film is about Jerry Lundegaard, a man who work for his wealthy father-in-law, and has gotten himself in some financial problems. For some unknown reason, Jerry appears to be desperate to get his hands on some money. He assumes that his huge embezzlement of money from the dealership is about to be discovered by his father-in-law, but when this and all else falls through, backup plans he had set in motion earlier for two men to kidnap his wife for ransom to be paid by her wealthy father (who doesn't seem to want to give his son-in-law the time of day), come to fruition. Things begin to go wrong from the moment of the kidnapping, with people being murdered and innocent lives being taken. What was meant to be a harmless money making scheme, is soon turned into bloodshed.
At the very beginning, sad (non diegetic) music plays to convey the sadness of the films message. It links in with the text on th screen, saying about how it is based on a true story, meaning people really did die. However, the non diegetic music gets louder and faster when the car drives over the snowy hill. Could give a heroic impression. The fact that it is snowig shows its winter, the connotations of 'winter' are often negtive, it make people feel down and depressed. This could link in with the films narrative. After the police officer has been shot in one of the scenes, the next thing we hear is complete silence. This is because the viewer has been shocked (the silence represents this). We can hear someone talking to Jerry on the other end ofthe phone when he is in his kitchen (diegetic sound), it allows the audience to know whats happening, they like to be in the know. In the cabin where the two kidnappers take Jerry's wife, sad non diegetic music plays to show her desperation to escape. This makes the audience feel for her character. At this point, the blonde kidnapper looks sad and mysterious, like he does throughout the whole film. It makes the audience wonder why he is like that. There is a dripping noise as the police officer walks towards the car after the two men are pulled over. I think this noise was added to create tension. Tension is building up and the outcome is to be unpredictable.
At the start, there is an establishing shot of the pub that Jerry is meeting the kidnappers in. This gives an idea of where and when the film is set. This scene fades out to the next one to show the audience time has passed. After the scene fades out, it goes into the next one which is a high angle shot of a long snowy road and a car driving down it. The car drives past the welcome sign to the town, which lets us know where it is set (the car is leaving, shows someone is going somewhere). When 'the funny looking one' of the kidappers is driving after kidnapping Jerry's wife, he looks very guilty nd concerned when the other one shoots the police officer, whereas the one shooting him shows no remourse. Tells us what his character is like. After this, the blonde guy takes the car and follows the headlights of the car that pased them as they shot the officer. He is following their headlights because it is dark, but suddenly the headlight disappear. This confuses the audience and makes them want to know whats happening. Then we see the passing car tipped over, and the people inside are shot. It is all revealed to the audience, so it shock them. Reverse shots are used to display two or more people in conversation with each other, for example, the first scene in the bar when they're talking, car shots with two people talking and in Jerry's office.
The lighting creates a natural feel to some scenes, for example in the bar there seems to be no additional ligting, and in Jerry's house only the light from outside is used. We can see when and where the film is set straight away, due to the town's signs and the snow. Props also let us know the time which its set, e.g. old TV sets, old telephones, old cars etc. The costumes are also a giveaway as they are wearing 80's clothes and things like scarves etc.
Again, I think 'Fargo' is a very good film, altough i was a bit disappointed at the end. I thought it ended very abruptly and didn't really explain much to me. I like it when films end on a cliffhanger, but this one literally just ended on nothing. Apart from that, I thought there were lots of aspects to comment on, and i enjoyed the film on the whole.