Once upon a time in the west

Non Diegetic Sound:-

Sound which the source is not visible on the screen or has been implied to be present in the action:
narrator's commentary
sound effects
mood music
Non-diegetic sound is sound that has been placed over the videos original sound.

Sound that's source is visible on the screen or the source is taken by the watcher to be present on the scene of the film:
voices of characters
sounds made by objects in the story

Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world

Definition from www.associatedcontent.com

“Diegetic sound is anything you hear that has a source within the story; non-diegetic is sound that has no source within the film itself.”

Sometime we can often hear what is diegetic and what is non diegtic for example when music is playing on a radio in the film and then gets louder as the person leaves the house you can tell its been placed on to the video but this adds an effect to the video.


At the start of Once upon a time in the west there are some immediate sounds that you can hear like:

> The Creaking Door
> Birds
> Wind
> The Chalk Board
> Footsteps

The most obvious one is the creaking door, the sound may have been amplified to add more effect to it. When the door creaks open and the man is standing in the door way it really gives him a sense of power and in away it makes him seem a bit rebellious when the other two men step into the door way because it makes you feel trapped.


The footsteps also contribute towards the mood of the film, they are slow paced and loud. The slowness of the footsteps puts across to the viewer that the cowboy is calm and in control of the situation and not the old man.




The men are wearing long brown coats with dark t-shirts underneath and the contrast on colours really helps the viewer decide whether or not the men are villains or heroes.

Camera angles have a huge part to play in many films and not just thrillers, camera angles can show many different things and not just pointing it at who's talking. For instance the pan up of the cowboy! It starts at the bottom of the cowboy and pans to the top because this give him a huge sense of power. The camera starts from a low angle and low angles are often associated with weakness. Another example of this is when the camera turns from the old man to the cowboy and the camera looks up at him which makes the old man look weak.

The reason why this film fits into the thriller sub genre because it does put you into suspense of wondering what's going to happen. The introduction is slow and it often makes us feel as if something fast paced and energetic is about to happen. Film makers can make this go along for along time which will make us very engrossed within the film.