Once upon a time in the west

Digetic sound is sound that is natural to a film e.g. a door slamming
Non-Digetic sound is sound that has been added to a film e.g. music

The film “Once upon a time in the west” fits into the thriller sub genre which is Western. A thriller sub-genre means, a thriller genre can include many sub-genres like western.

The opening to this film “Once upon a time in the west” begins with an old wooden door slowing being opened whilst creaking, then the station master an old man writes on a chalk board in doing so creating a horrible chalk sound while scratching it down the board. A cowboy then walks through the creaking door. The background noise is a bird. The camera starts filming from the cowboys feet to his head, this kind of shot implies he is powerful and is prepared and ready to fight. The old station is then surrounded by a few more cowboys, which stand still and very quietly whilst the only noise is the bird chirping in the background. The first person to talk in this opening is the ticket master at the station, we see he is scared off the cowboys because he was going to charge them for a ticket but then backs down and gives them one.

Throughout this opening the cowboys do not talk but the audience can guess what their personality is and the role in the film by their actions and the way they are dressed. The three cowboys take over the station and lock the ticket master away in a cupboard clearly to keep him quiet and out of the way. There are a few wide shots to show the desolate landscape, to show they are in the middle of now where, it’s just them and no one else and no help available if needed. Throughout the opening there is a constant background noise; whether it is a bird or a fly etc. The cowboys wait for the train patiently, one clicking the bones in their hand, the other amused with a fly, and the last cowboy fills his hat with water that he drinks in the end tat has fallen from a leak in the ceiling above. Finally towards the end of the opening we hear the train on its way to the station, the cowboys get ready and line up spaced out hands on the guns as if they are ready for a fight which may begin, but the only thing that happens is a wooden box is thrown out of one of the carriages onto the floor., this is now the end of the scene.

Iconography in the film
The guns that are shown show that the cowboys are powerful, string and can are dangerous. The bullets around their waists showed that they are well prepared for a fight if one breaks out; the long coats also imply they are strong and are in control. Their hats hide the characters/cowboys face. The ticket masters clothes and hat, show he is only the worker who is small and weak, who abides by the rules or what he is told to do.