research into a western opening scene

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly:

 

In the opening scene of the Western movie ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ (G.B.U), it begins with a man coming into the shot on a horse and being shot by a man in the foreground of the shot. The man who was shot is then surrounded by a group of people so he cannot run away and is taken into the town. Once in the town, we see the man who was shot in a special suit so he cannot move his arms and has restricted movement in his legs. He is then set up on a horse with a rope around his neck, and a man is about to whip the horse so the man will be hung in the middle of the town, in front of all the people of the town. However, just as he raises his whip, Clint Eastwood’s character ‘the man with no name’ saves his life by shooting the rope that is around the man’s neck, and the horse runs away with the man on it. The man with no name now jumps down from where he was, gets on his carriage, and runs away so that he won’t be caught.

 

 

Based off this opening scene, I would guess that after this, the man with no name would be seen running away, and the people of that town would have followed him, trying to kill him, resulting in a battle of him vs them.The target audience for this film would be an older male audience, due to the blood and gore, and the lack of main female characters that I saw in the opening scene. Also, at the time of release I think that the target audience could have also included teenage boys and younger men, but now the majority of the people that would watch this film would be older men.

 

 

The consumer can tell that this film is a Western from the opening scene. It is based in the desert, which is where Western films are stereotypically set. Also, it is set in an earlier period of time, specifically this film is set in 1862. Another way you can tell that it is a Western is because it has a sheriff as a character, which is very common and stereotypical of Western movies.

 

 

In the opening scene, the man with no name is introduced. There is also a man who is shot, and a sheriff, and a lot of the town folk. The main cast consists of actors such as Clint Eastwood, Elli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef, Aldo Giuffrè and Rada Rassimov. The camera work in the opening scene is used very effectively. It starts with a high angle wide shot, which establishes where the film is set, and also shows the person coming on the horse. Since the camera shot is so tranquil and unsuspecting, it makes the audience surprised when the man on the horse gets shot.

The sound is very effectively used in the opening scene. For the majority of the scene, it is diegetic sound, including sound effects for the gun shots, and a lot of dialogue between what we can presume is the main characters. However, in the opening scene it does have a snippet of the main sequence of the non-diegetic soundtrack. When the camera is in a close up on the man with no name, the soundtrack plays this riff, which shows that he is not happy with what he is seeing. This is paired along with an eyeline match which shows us that the man with no name is looking at the man who is about to be hanged and isn’t happy about it. This editing along with the soundtrack shows us that he is not only a main character, but a good guy withing the context of the film. Also, at this time of the scene, the shots have gotten quicker and shorter, denoting the tension of the moment.

 

 

In conclusion, this is a very successful opening scene. It establishes what we can presume are the main characters, whilst simultaneously and almost instantly submerging the consumer into action and tension from the get-go. This keeps the audience watching and sets the scene and tempo for the rest of the film, which is very effective. It also establishes the main motif of the soundtrack and what it means when its used, which will allow the consumer to know what’s happening throughout the rest of the film.