Genre Research: Western

Film choices:
For my research, I chose to look into what is often considered to be one of the films that empitimise the western genre, and a film that parodies all of the classic conventions that it features - A Fistful of Dollars and Blazing Saddles. I chose these films because I felt they truly represented the genre of classic spaghetti western and western spoof respectively.
I did originally plan to study the trailer of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly but I felt it's trailer wasn't as respresentative of spaghetti western as A Fistful of Dollars, despite it being considered one of the greatest westerns. I did, however, watch this scene to see the classic genre practices.

A Fistful Of Dollars (1964)

Conventions:

• Music: The 'sound' of the music used in westerns is hugely identifiable with the genre, perhaps the most so with any film soundtrack. The use of drum beats, whistles and harmonica conjure the atmosphere of the classic western perfectly - the drum beats create the high level of tension while the whistles and harmonica hark to the desolate lonliness of the winds blowing across the desert. In this trailer, the drum beat connotes death or war, reminding the audience of tribal drums for a ritual or battle. This raises the stakes of the showdown before the audience has even seen the film, setting the tone for the feature beyond the trailer. If we were to chose this genre, we would have to ensure our music was the best we could make it because it is such a key identifier to the genre.
• Mise-en-scene: The costume, props and setting in this trailer I feel wholly represent the classic image of spaghetti western. The voice-over describing 'this short cigar' 'this long gun' and 'this poncho' talks not only about the character concerned, but details the image of the 'man with no name' that features in so many spaghetti western films - the poncho, boots, hat, gun and holster, cigar, even facial hair. Other features of the mise-en-scene like horses, ramshackle towns and the actions such as spinning the gun after a shot are classic features of this genre but may be difficult to recreate in our production.
• Sound : The hyperbolic voice over in this trailer is also used in The Good, The Bad trailer and embodies the image and attitude toward western heroes - they are larger than life figures of mystery and danger and the phrases such 'the man with no name' 'danger fits him like a tight, black glove' and 'he is perhaps the most dangerous man that ever lived' all fit this image and create the sense of tension and danger surrounding the protagonist, a classic trait of this genre.
• Use of camera: Low angle shots, close ups, long shots are common in this trailer and the whole genre to make the characters look powerful and intimidating and the intense close-ups create the uncomfortable, strained atmosphere during show-downs and duels etc. Long shots establish the setting and often focus on the protagonist, painting a picture of a isolated character dependent on themselves.

If we were to create a trailer for this genre, we would need to comply with these conventions but try to regulate it so that our production doesn't become cliched. That is, unless we wish to create an over-the-top effect for humour, such as if we do a spoof like Blazing Saddles.

Due to the time the film was made in, the film poster does not feature photography but because this imagery was so prevalent in the advertising for westerns at this time, it has become synonymous with the genre. The drawing style here is rugged and powerful, representing the character it depicts. The quote featured on it is the same as from the voice over of the trailer, an unual feature that do you not usually see now unless it is the tagline for the movie. The typography again indicates the age of the movie, but evokes the genre, time zone it is set in and environment of saloon bars etc of the movie so if effective rather than dated. The lack of fancy effects and over-crowding of the poster sets it apart from modern-day posters and I think that if we were to create a poster for a western in our production we should experiment with this more simplistic approach, using the negative space to create an impact similar to this.

Blazing Saddles (1974)

Blazing Saddles is comedy western spoof or parody. In the trailer, it uses the conventions of western films and trailers as described above but for comedic effect. For example, there is use of voice over to set the tone for a western movie but contrasts it the serious tone of the words with the light-hearted content of the trailer. There is also music, but in this trailer it is of a faster tempo - more upbeat and fun rather than suspenseful. This creates an almost circus-like atmosphere rather than the tension of the Fistful of Dollars trailer. The mise-en-scene is conventional of the genre, featuring guns/horses/saloon bar/ramshackle town but altered to create humour - such as the 'Gucci' bag the sheriff carries and the town's buildings clearly only painted 2D boards for film sets.
If we were to create a spoof trailer of a western film, the techniques used here we could employ to make humour - particularly taking the classic conventions of the genre and turning them on their head and making observations about classic 'spaghetti westerns' (for example, that the sets always looked flimsy and insubstantial) and play on them.