and Once Upon a Time in America are films directed by Sergio Leone. Once Upon a Time in America is a gangster film set in the 1920s. On the other hand, the A Fistful of Dollars is a western movie. The director uses camera choreography of characters and movement of the camera to create tension in each of the scenes by showing tight close-ups of the contestants and onlookers. The audience is expecting extreme violence in these scenes, but they have to wait as the tension builds on each occasion.
Part B
The scene I choose to analyze in A Fistful of Dollars is where Joe is having a final duel with Rojo, Gang leader which occurs near the end of the film. The scene can be accessed using the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vEVhrK_0AE. The concept choreography of characters and movement of the camera and frame composition will be used to conduct the analysis. In particular, mise-en-scene, a technique that involves positioning of the camera; the camera movement results in the production of scale, length, and pace of shot.
The scene starts when Clint detonates the dynamite and Joe comes out of what appears to be smoke to meet Rojo who with his other three men are torturing a bartender. The Joe stands before these men at a distance. The audience sees Joes from the side where Rojo and his men are standing. The scene creates an empty space between the two parties that are about to engage in a gunfight. They slowly walk toward Joe where he asks them to cut the man bartender down. They continue to converse and Joe cuts the bartender loose by shooting the rope used tire the man’s hands. The fight begins and director shows Joe in foreground, dead bodies in the middle of the ground, and Rojo in the background.
At the starts of the scene, Sergio Leone uses a low angle short that frames Joes with the building background in an attempt to portray Joes’ character. Further, the same technique is used when the camera cuts to Rojo with empty space creating lack of framing which shows Rojo’s imperfection as a gang leader. Additionally, the author uses composition of fore, middle and background to convey this importance. At the same time, the scene depicts Joe in foreground with the dead bodies on the ground. The shot demonstrates that Joe is the heroic protagonist, his danger shown by the bodies and that the Rojo gang leader is the antagonist since he is put in the background opposite Joe. The director also uses negative space to foreshadow events. For example, when Joe turns it creates negative space which foreshadows him shooting the rope to save his friend.
Further, the scenes used frame-composition, particularly, lighting as an important aspect of the aesthetic of the film. The scene leans towards, high-contrasting and low-key lighting. Similarly, the movie uses natural key light. The entire scene happens outside on a clear day and the sun is used to provide much of the necessary direct lighting. At the same time, it is imperative to indicate that the actors and buildings cast defined shadows on the ground and little fill is used, if any. An example of this occurs when Rojo is torturing the bartender just before Clint detonates the dynamite. During this time, the director uses a high-angle shot.
Lastly, the narration of the film applies a vast number of close-up shots. The close-ups shots are close enough to show their facial expression well, mostly, Joe and Rojo before they begin to fight. The effect that Sergio Leone wants to create is to develop a bond between the character and audience. That is to say, that if the anything happened to the character, the audience would also feel the pain of losing the person.
Part B.
The scene I choose to analyze from Once Upon a Time in America is where Dominick dies (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0917BN5eE90). The scene occurs in daylight and when it begins the audience sees Dominick together with four other ganger members walking the street. The Dominick is the youngest and walks ahead of the rest. Shortly, Dominic turns into a dark tunnel where he sees Bugsy, another gang member. He turns around and runs back toward the four gang members who apparently begin to run as well after Dominick notifies them about the underlying danger. Bugsy together with others follows them and Bugsy shoots at them, Dominick is shot.
The director uses framing to convey several things. When the gang is running from Bugsy Dominick is framed by the other gang members which foreshadow that Dominick is going to get shot by Bugsy. When the gang is hiding behind cover the boxes frame the gang faces of the members. The shot draws attention to their emotions and conveys a sense of urgency. The scene also uses negative space to foreshadow future action. For example, after Bugsy goes out in the open after killing Dominick the negative space foreshadows that Noodles is going to knife Bugsy.
Further, beginning of the scene shows people in the background in their usual life routine. Also, there is a prominence of light and richness of color in the retro clothing, something that is enhanced by the shots. The use of the color appears to have placed the scene at the time when the film was created, 1960s. Additionally, as the scene goes to its climax, the changes of the colors and lighting had much gloom, dim, and concentrated more on the dark night scene in the tunnel. In this, the author manages to bring out the theme of aggressive violence in the society.
Part D
Sergio Leone uses movement and frame composition to convey several aspects about the scenes and cause the audience to focus on different parts of the scenes. Although the genres of movies are different Sergio Leone uses similar techniques with both films. With both films, the director uses framing to draw attention to characters and uses negative space to foreshadow events. Sergio Leone also uses close-ups with both films to convey emotion and jumbles the camera to convey disorientation. Sergio Leone uses different techniques depending on the genre depending on the situation. For example, Sergio Leone sets up shots with A Fistful of Dollars to help convey the good character of Joe opposed to the antagonist of the Rojo gang leader but with Once Upon a Time in America Sergio Leone focuses on the characters overall rather than set up shots to convey a protagonist opposed to an antagonist. Therefore through Mise-en-scene and cinematography, Sergio Leone successfully conveys the tense scenes of A Fistful of Dollars and Once Upon a Time in America. The director is able to deliver an adrenaline rush to the audience because of what is going to happen in the two scenes just before guns are fired.
