In this clip screened in the lecture from the Coen brothers’ ‘Blood Simple‘ describe what is happening in terms of the edits specifically in terms of the audio and video. Also name the different kinds of audio you can hear.

In the clip from ‘Blood Simple’, the director deliberately constructs a tense environment, which eventually climaxes when one of the characters shoots the other. Part of this construction is done through editing. In terms of audio and video, one of the main ways the tension is created is through the cutting of shots between characters. Instead of just having a one shot of each character as they deliver their lines, the editing sometimes has the audience see the face of the character who is NOT talking, and thus it is their reactions and facial expressions which are shown. Showing the characters react tensely to each other draws attention to the fact that not everything is straightforward in this scene. It subtly hints at the notion that there are other motives at play here other than what is being verbally conveyed, as clearly shown by Visser’s betrayal at the end of the scene.

Other sound elements present in this scene, aside from the characters’ voices, include the humming of machinery in the background, which contributes to the atmosphere and the sense that the space we are in is somewhat claustrophobic, sinister and shady. Also present are sounds coming from the bathroom. While the viewer does not actually see what goes on in the bathroom, sound effects and Visser’s visual reaction of discomfort is enough to clue them in.