The sequence begins with the reveal of the Man With no Name. It is slow and complimented by a loud Western phrase of music. We get a low angle of the character, followed by close up shots which both emphasises him as powerful and human as we get an in depth look at his emotions. The inclusion of Eli digging and getting on with his own task builds tension as we feel he is distracted and vulnerable to the battle. The use of the loud banging noise in the reveal of the corpse taps in to this tension and frightens the audience. We plan to use this three-way viewpoint setup in our showdown with Blue, Wayne/the Sidekick and the bugs overlooking the battle.
The way this is framed is very consistent with the 180 and 30 degree rules which is vital in portraying a good showdown. They walk into a spherical area that allows this to be executed cleanly and clearly – as we plan to in our environment. The Extreme Long Shot sets this positioning up clearly for the audience as well as provides a sense of scale and world building, but it is worth noting that this is earned. It doesn’t happen immediately, but instead after the characters are placed and the showdown is stage. This is a good note for creating our film and building to that Extreme Wide.
We get repetitive close ups of the guns, which through mise-en-scene sets up the stakes as to what weapons are being used, as well as providing a fast and building tempo through editing. This is followed by close ups of the characters’ stern faces, simply looking around, twitching and moving their eyes which feels elongated, tense and asks for patience for the audience. It is for this that I think rigging eyes is vital in our modelling as we are able to emphasise this trope and add animation to otherwise quite still scenes.
Finally, the tempo reduces dramatically then suddenly the shot happens, allowing for the pace to drift a bit and enable the audience to calm down after the heart-beating tension they experience. We plan to use this in our film, however, instead of the shot, we will have the giant foot squashing the bugs. It is imperative we follow Sergio Leone’s distinct style to make the comedic moment hit home and be a success with the audience.