PRODUCTION CONTEXT

• What is mainstream film?

  Films which are feature length narrative created for entertainment and profit. Mainstream is usually associated with hollywood cinema.
• What is the typical budget of mainstream films?

  A big budget, widely distributed and market.
• What is an independant film?

  Antithesis of a hollywood studio film - low budget, made to challenge viewers with difficult subject matter and technques.
• Independant films are typicall explicitly political and critical, whilst hollywood films are in the business of fantasy and issusion.
• Where hollywood films typically have happy endings, independant films rarely do.
• Producer = Scott Rudin
• Based on McCarthy novel
• Joel Coen liked the books unconventional approach, saying it was 'familiar, congenial to us; we're naturally attracted to subverting genre. We liked the fact the bad guys never meet the good guys, McCarthy did not follow through on formula expectations.'
• In the film, Carla Jean Moss's reaction to the death is different - in the book she falls apart - yet her film reaction has a sense of acceptance.
• Co-production between Miramax and Paramount.
• Total budget = $25 million
• Setting = New Mexico cities including Las Vegas which posed as the border crossing
• Roger Deakins = cinematographer
• Roger Deakins = 'the big challenge was making it very realistic... im inaging doing it very edgy and dark ... not so stylized.'
• 'When the camera itself moves, the audience is moving, too. You're actually getting closer to somebody or something... Its a three dimensional move. A zoom is more like a focusing of attention. ' Deakins - good example = coin toss
• As a mainstream film, NCFOM has accents of neutral ideologies to maximise the films profits and attract audiences.
• The Coen brother’s experience in independent film may contextualise their incorporation of less dominant values in society – the audience is made to feel comfort or reassurance in their values (studio’s money but their own ideas)