Opening scene research- Western

The film I chose is The harder they fall, a 2021 netflix western film directed by Jeymes samuel and played by Idris Elba (Rufus),Zazie Beetz (Stagecoach Mary) and more. 

The genre is established right from the start of the opening scene when an extreme long shot is used of a home in a big empty field which emphasises the isolation of the house assuming to the audience that it may be a western film. This is further shown by their costumes which are very old fashioned and formal, which is what people wore in this time and also the man whom answers the door is wearing a cowboy hat and boots stereotypically worn by cowboys/western people. The tone of this scene is fairly calm and normal; hence the facial expressions of the family are normal and comfortable, the lack of non-diegetic sound also creates a calm tone. But this dramatically changes when there is a loud knock at the door and a close up of the man behind the door forebodes that he is bad creating tention for the audience. Non-diegetic instrumental sound track is also played As if the family know that something bad is going to happen and that this man is in control of the situation by the use of the two guns as props further emphasising the threat and fear the audience feel for the family. The time and place is also shown by the same reasons as the genre of the film, meaning that its in the old days and is in America, which we know due to their accents. 

The target audience would be people who are interested in western culture/that way of life or are interested in the re-make of what the actual people who lived this life were like. We know this because of the genre of the film but also that at the start the text says how these were real life people in a very blunt and serious way assuming to the audience that they were bad people or were treated badly drawing audience as they want to know what people of this culture were like.

The characters introduced include young Nat, his parents and saloon. We know that Nat's parents are his parents by how they treat him by telling him what to do (for example not play guitar at dinner table) in a caring manner but also when the dad calls him 'son'. The other character introduced is Saloon who is clearly a bad man which we are told when the dad says 'no' in a shocked manner as if he knows what is going to happen but also the fact you don't see his face throughout the whole clip as if he is some mysterious and dangerous man, which heavily draws in the audience as it makes them wonder who he is and what he may have done in the past. Meaning that we could assume Saloon could be the main character as the family already knew who he was before he even spoke and had quite a lot of screen time or the young boy nat, as he is innocent and hopeless in this situation. 

Once watching the opening scene, we could have the impression that one or more of the family member's gets shot by Saloon as the mum and son are held at gun point causing a lot of drama, or they get threatened and blackmailed into doing something such as slavery as this is what happened in this time. 

In conclusion I think that the opening scene to the harder they fall was successful as it left the audience on a cliff hanger making them want to keep watching but also has the potential to attract a wide range of audiences and presented the allocated genre well and clearly through many different techniques.