No Country For Old Men Case Study

Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Woody Harrelson ( Tommy Lee Jones very well known, Javier Bardem an unknown Spanish actor)

Genre: Crime and Thriller ( An indépendant film will normally hold a crime or thriller element)

Production Company: Paramount Vintage, Miramax Films and Scott Rudin Productions ( Miramax films screen a lot of independent film such as Bridget Jones)

Certificate: 15 ( limits the audience somewhat as kids won't see it as it has a thriller/horror element)

Marketing: Trailer, Poster ( Not much marketing as it is not a massive blockbuster)

Release Date: 18 January 2008 (after the christmas blockbuster season as people go back to work and then the independent films can be released without fear of being outsold by the the bigger budget movies.) November in the US, again not a blockbuster christmas movie.)

Domestic Total Gross; $74, 283, 625

Worldwide Total: $171, 627, 166 ( Still a good gross as the budget was quite small for an independant)

Running Time: 122 Mins

Production Budget: $25, 000,000



This poster makes sure that it is getting the genre of the film across to the audience rather than background information about the directors and actors. Conventionally the title of the movie would be much bigger than the tagline however the tagline dominates this poster. The tagline ‘there are no clean getaways’ suggests murder with the word ‘getaways’ having connotations of escaping some sort of violence. Using the word ‘clean’ to describe the getaways suggests that there are probably some gruesome and bloody moments in this film. As well as describing the movie it is also sending a message to the audience, making the genre of the film very clear. 
The photograph in the background is a predominant part of the poster. Even though it doesn’t introduce any of the characters or settings but it is able to show the genre very clearly and portray the personality of the characters. Instead of giving the audience a clear idea of the film it is very vague which ties in well with the thriller genre, as thrillers tend to give very little away to the audience. The gun in the characters hand is the most obvious sign that this film is a thriller, as this prop has connotations of death, violence and murder.

There is a strict brown colour theme all over the poster, which connotes wilderness or abandonment. This colour theme continues throughout the text too but the movie title ‘No Country For Old Men’ is in a brighter shade to make it clear to the audience.
In one sense this poster is quite unconventional, this is because actors names are usually listed across the top of the poster. There are no names of any actors which suggests that most of the actors are relatively unknown, instead of having a list of actors there is a lot of credit given to the Coen Brothers, with several of their past films mentioned. This is also suggesting that if you liked their films such as ‘Fargo’ or ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ then this film will be quite similar.


Trailer Analysis 

At its center is a figure of evil so calm, so extreme, so implacable that to hear his voice is to feel the temperature in the theater drop. But while that chilly sensation is a sign of terror, it may equally be a symptom of delight. The specter of Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a deadpan sociopath with a funny haircut, will feed many a nightmare, but the most lasting impression left by this film is likely to be the deep satisfaction that comes from witnessing the nearly perfect execution of a difficult task. Just by the trailer you can tell that it is an independent film and not a huge scale blockbuster but one that looks promising.