The Quick and The Dead

The scene started with a long shot that zoomed out to and extreme long shot. This was then followed by a long shot panning into a midshot of the only character at the time (a male cowboy). I felt by using these techniques, one after the other, it introduced you to the location and showed you that whoever was out there wanted to be alone and it made me feel as if the cowboy was up to no good. The shot then changes to a long shot of someone riding on horseback towards to cowboy on the scene. By using the long shot, this gives a sense of threat to this cowboy and makes us as an audience curious as to who is on horseback. You then see a close up of the gun in the cowboy's hand but it is also in a wide shot so as to incorporate the new comer. This gives the audience a clear idea of the fact, he is going to shot this lone rider. This shot is quite long as it shows the gun held their and then the new person being shot. You see them fall off their horse and once the cowboy goes over to them, the director starts to use low angles on the cowboy (to give him a sense of power) and high angles on the newbie (to show their current weakness). But these camera angles are suddenly flipped when the newbie jumps up and flips the cowboy to the ground; this demonstrates the sudden change in power and the newbie is revealed as a cowgirl from this angle which makes it seem like the director is rubbing it in that the cowboy has been beaten by a girl. Putting her in a position of power like this is rare in this genre of film as most western movies have a male hero as the lead role and females were seen as weak in this period of time. You then see a long, wide, double shot of her riding away into the sun and the cowboy chained to a cart. By doing a long wide shot, it could be reiterating the fact that they are in the middle of nowhere and it is unlikely for the cowboy to receive any help. The scene then has a low shot of a sign reading "redemption" where you only see her horse's hooves go past, which is followed by a long shot of a burnt down village and a close up on a sign that says "Marshall". All of this is followed by a extreme close up on the top half of her face, so that you can clearly see her anger. I felt that this showed she was looking for redemption for something she has done in the past and it has something to do with a marshall. This may have been a man she was close to. You then see a long shot of her entering a nearby town. This section is filmed with her at a high angle and the town's people at a low angle. I felt this showed their opinion of her; that they look down on her and everything she stands for as women weren't meant to be cowboys, they were meant to be obedient house wives (which from how she has been portrayed so far, she is not fitting this idea). There is then a long shot of her entering a tavern. This could also be referencing the fact that "proper" women never entered taverns in this genre of film. By having a long shot, it could be referencing to how big a deal this was. Once inside, The camera uses a low angle from the woman's point of view to show the bartender up on the stool and a high angle to show the bartender's point of view on the woman stood below him. Once the bartender is off of the stool, the camera angle goes back to normal and uses a midshot of the three people at the bar to give a normal feel to the scene. This normality is then changed when the camera tilts towards to floor to follow the woman's eye line, it then pans across the floor and tilt up to a man stood at the other end of the tavern. By doing this, I got the idea of a rivalry between the two characters or a sense of dislike from how she looks down at him. The shot of this man goes from a midshot of him, to a close up of the cards in his hand. This is then followed by an outside scene, the camera pans in line with the woman's eye sight towards an man on a horse. You then see the scene unfold almost from her point of view as you see the scene from behind the action in an over the shoulder shot. I go the sense of being able to relate to the woman as we are outsiders looking in on the scene and from the way she is treated by the citizens of the town, this is how she feels as well. You then go from a comfortable midshot of the woman walking towards her rented room to a close up, over the shoulder shot of a group of people inside one of the rooms. I felt slightly intimidated by this scene as everyone is very close and by doing the "over the shoulder" shot, it makes you feel like you're watching in on something or hiding behind this woman. This then cuts to the woman in her rented room. You have a double, midshot of her and the serving girl which gave the scene quite a relaxed feeling. But by cutting between this relaxed shot and then the close up of the photograph in the woman's hand. It shows that the person in this photo is important to the plot. I thought that this person may be who she is seeking redemption over. You then see the girl leave and return with a pot of flowers. By using a close up on the gun that the woman draws when the girl re-enters and a close up of the flowers, I felt that this showed she was not used to people being kind to her.