Research- Sergio Leone (Director)

Oscars.org. (2015). Sergio Leone. Available: http://oscars.org/collection-highlights/sergio-leone/?fid=62426.

On one of my past film projects that focused on expressing the emotion 'anxiety' through a moving image, I studied the director, Sergio Leone's work. His Spaghetti Western films typically convey emotion and the characters' intentions through the use of long take, close- extreme close up shots of the characters' faces that capture the facial expressions of the characters on screen and increasing the length of the takes increases significance to the small details being shown.


With this current project that tackles the communication of the positive and negative parts of my story with grief, Being able to capture a high level of emotion in the visuals alone will help to set the tone of the film and to effectively bring out an emotional response from the audience.










Cinematography


Whilst there are a few long shots in his films that act to establish the characters in the scene, the majority of the films use close to extreme close ups of the faces of the main characters. This is done to fully express the emotional state of the characters, whilst using little to no dialogue, as Sergio Leone coveys his stories mainly through visuals and music alone. This could be used in the project to make the audience feel a certain emotion, rather than telling them directly that they should feel a certain way.

TM & © MGM (1966), Director: Sergio Leone. (2015). The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (11/12) Movie CLIP - Three-Way Standoff (1966) HD . Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PgAKzmWmuk

In this clip above from 'The Good The Bad and The Ugly', it shows the final standoff between the three main characters. There is no dialogue present in this scene, only a soundtrack that helps to set the tone in the scene. The scene consists of extreme close ups of their faces and cut-ins of the subjects hands, as they get ready to pull out their revolvers. Through this use of extreme close ups and cut-ins, the series of events with the characters duelling with guns, is conveyed through focusing on the their emotion, and them about to pull out their guns. This gives the audience all the information they need to piece together what events are about to unfold and the emotional state of the characters.

Editing and Sound

Editing is a key aspect in Leone's films, as he sets the tone through allowing the soundtrack to compliment the film in the pace of the editing. This form of amplified editing can be seen across all of his films. The purpose of using amplified editing in this genre, allow the music to reflect the emotional tone of a scene. So for example, if a character in a scene is meant to feel sad, the scene will feature only long takes, along with a sombre piece of music that sympathizes with the tone and the rhythm will be in sync with the pace of the cutting. This in turn, intensifies the overall emotional message to the audience and will ultimately engage the audience in that same emotional state effectively.




TM & © Paramount (1968),Director: Sergio Leone. (2011 (1968)). Once Upon a Time in the West (1/8) Movie CLIP - Two Horses Too Many (1968) HD . Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyuwBW9lNa8

In the clip above from Sergio Leone's 'Once Upon a Time In The West', a group of thugs are confronted by the main character who goes by title "the man with no name". His character in this film is depicted almost like a ghostly entity, as he always plays an eerie tune on the harmonica when the character enters a scene. This goes to shop that Leone can even build a character that anchors around a piece of music. The slow, winding pace of the haunting music is further strengthened by the accompanying long takes and slow editing rhythm. This connotes a sense of fear of the man with no name which, along with the lack of dialogue from him, makes the audience unable to associate their emotions with him and therefore unable to fully know what his motives are. This is an example of an enigma, in which it creates interest in the character from the mystery that surrounds him. For my project, I need to do the exact opposite of an enigma, as the project will require that the audience can fully sympathize with the emotional state of the main character. This may prevent extra intrigue with the lack of mystery of the character in my film but the character in my film is meant to be relatable to the audience of a similar age and situation to the character.

Conventions of interest

• Close- Extreme close ups- Allows for effective communication of emotion in characters through showing their facial expressions up close. (These shot types are also present in The Woodkid 'Golden Age' music video and at times, the montages done by Youtube creator Casey Niestat).
• Cut-ins- These help to show points of interest on the same subject before for denoting detail.
• Amplified editing style- the music and editing compliment one another to establish the tone of the scene. (This form of editing is only applicable if I use a strong soundtrack that is appropriate for connoting both depression/ anxiety and joy/ motivation).
• Long takes- These help to connote a sense of importance and weight to a clip, as well as establishing a low energy tone to the scene. (Long takes could be most useful when illustrating the negative depression and anxiety parts of the film. Short takes and cutting may to of use when representing the positive aspects of the film in the second half of joy and motivation).

Once I have my voiceover of the script, I will attempt to capture shots that illustrate what is being said. From there, I will edit the script further and short select the most effect shots out of the samples. Editing will then begin, in which I will explore both illustrative editing and amplified editing to see whether music would fit in the film.