Research Into An Western Opening Sequence

Looking into the opening scene of the Western  film The Wild Bunch

'The Wild Bunch' is  a 1969 Western film, which was directed by Sam Peckinpah. The production company which produced the film was Warner Brothers-seven Arts. ' The Wild Bunch'  stars William Holden, Ernest Borgnine and Robert Ryan.

It would be right to believe that William Holden is in fact the main character due go him being the only character introduced in the scene, and actually stopping the scene and freezing the video into an image in order to highlight William and introduce him. We also led to believe this due to from the establishing shot at the very beginning, is lead straight into a close-up of William Holden. He is introduced as being rather important, we firstly see their swimmers low angle shot on the children looking up at  him respectfully establishing him as being of a higher status. This is then followed with two other cowboys whom are dressed in similar uniform stopping whilst William and his fellow cowboys pass on horses and the two men salute with respect.

All the narration we get from this clip, is that the Cowboys are coming back into texas from somewhere. They seem to be respected by those around them. They arrive at South Texas admissions office where when entering William vocalises 'if they move kill them'. We do not receive a lot from this opening scene yeah we do understand and made clear genre, that being Western. We know this due to the scene including a variety of westerns the genre key conventions. It it is quite clear that the men are in fact the Cowboys we know this tutor costumes, all dressed in dark carkey with matching shirts and, hats and bottoms while riding horses. This is also confirmed, As we know Cowboys can be rather aggressive and this is shown when entering that the admissions office and a close-up is carried out of Williams face while you vocalises 'if they Move Kill them'. There is also it rather order serious tone, it is clear that the Cowboys mean business we don't have time to mess about And don't have time to mess about, indicated through the choice of soundtrack. The non diuegetic purposful low key soundtrack helps to portray a sense of importance of William and his fellow men.

Additionally, through watching these first few minutes I would assume that this film is more popular among older audience. Due to being set in older times and being all the less high-quality. Therefore Younger adults as well as children maybe less interested due to them being used to modern films and the modern time that surrounds them. It is also implied that the film would be rated at least 15+ due to using language that may not be suitable for younger children and referring to death, most likely there is death carried out throughout.

Personally I didn't enjoy this opening scene, due to not being keen on Western films. However if you are someone who enjoys this genre then perhaps this is for you. There is a great use of setting, and uses all the areas of mise en scène in order to create a clear picture and the viewers eyes.