Western title sequence

 THE HARDER THEY FALL

The opening scene of 'The Harder They Fall' was a clear opening scene to a typical western genre film. It is evident through out by the sound, props, costume etc. The movie directed by The Bullitts and released in 2013, clearly indicated its genre and successfully grasped its audiences attentions. For example the use of Costume and props was very effective, the old outdated style of clothes and cowboy hats followed the stereotypical conventions of a western film. When the unknown cowboy character barged in to the house the use of the pleonastic diegetic sound - emphasis on his boots. This paired with the tracking behind him, created a mysterious atmosphere around him. All of the above costume parts were clear indicators of the type of lifestyles these characters lived. For example the female in a long conservative dress also symbolized the time period and the expectation of women (men holding power). The ambient diegetic sounds right at the beginning communicated the large abandoned desert location in which they lived in. This Is also majorly stereotypical of the genre to be based in the middle of nowhere (desert). The location a is simple family household that sits in a hot sunny and sandy area.

The scenes narrative begins with a family dinner which is then interrupted by an unknown man. With the use of props 2 mini guns (again following the key conventions of a western film). The guns connote a sense of danger and tend to normally point out the villain, the scene ends with the guns being pointed at the family members. We can by the ending of this scene confidently point out who the villain is. I would assume that from this the future narrative would be finding out who this mysterious man is and why he is doing such a brutal thing. The is massively engaging with the audience as it makes them ask multiple questions to why this is occurring. We are left with the guns being held and the final piece of dialogue (diegetic) "im so sorry". Overall I felt that this was hugely engaging and gripping with an audience and would take them by surprise.

The use of the over the shoulder shot as the character walks in connotes him as a large and could be described 'powerful' character. This is then paired with an non diegetic instrumental soundtrack faintly playing in the background. This juxtaposes what is actually happening and creates a false sense of security about this character. To conclude this opening scene was very successful in capturing and targeting their audience, and followed the key conventions to a successful western film.