Western opening scene research

 

The wild bunch (1969)

(Part 1 of opening)

(Part 2 of opening)

 

Director:  

 Sam Peckinpah (warner brothers studio) 

Stars: 

 William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan   

 

Within the first crucial moments of this opening sequence, we can already feel the tension through the screen and can tell that there will be a lot of action and violence, due to the way the scene develops, we expect the target audience to be older men, due to the fact that the vast majority of actors/characters are men and therefore it would not appeal to women, and more to older men due to the lack of softness to the story line suggesting how it may appeal to older men. We can quickly see the genre of the film due to the conventions portrayed through especially setting and costume, we can see the rustic ‘wild west’ theme town setting as well as the costume suggesting the western theme, we are introduced to a handful of characters early on, half of them we assume are some form of authority force, and due to the genre of the film we assume the other group. are a form of cowboy, or rebel force. We are further reminded that all essential characters apart from one in the beginning of the sequence are men and we can identify the status of these men by how much they are talking and their position on the screen, we quickly identify one lead male character who tells the other men what to.

 

Here we can see that lead man is showing his dominance by leading the group of men through the village. 

Here we can also see the main lead male, showing the group etiquette in one of the first introductions of the character portraying him, as a kind man early on due to his willingness to help out the woman who has dropped her package

  

Lots of long shots along with establishing shots are used to give the audience a sense of the environment in which these characters interact. The ambient sound used shows the wild style life with a simple outlook on people, and communication as well as mannerisms. Long scenes are used to show the laid back and relaxed environment, as well as build suspense, that is all released with shoer snappy shots to show the mayhem in the shootouts for example.  

This opening scene gives the audience an insight into this group of authority, as the culture of the 'wild west' is far from the imagination of the majority of audience members. this opening scene shows different sides of the seemingly civilised town, almost glorifying the violent nature of certain individuals in this wild bunch universe. 

I think this opening scene is successful as it portrays the attitudes of the characters as well show the way that they operate. It also shows a range of different aspects giving it a sense of wide variety, from violence to kindness leaving the audience anticipation high for the rest of the sequence therefore I believe it is successful.