‘Shootout’ Scenes

A ‘shootout’ is a scene where conflict is portrayed, usually between good and bad, though the use of tension and release.

Shot Sizes

A wide establishing shot like this is used to give show us the location, also the distance between the characters show how untrusting they are of one another. This is also useful to give the audience a good idea of the location and where everybody is in relation to one another.

A close shot like this is used to show the emotion in the characters face. In “once upon a time in the west” we get to see his reaction to annoying sounds and a fly, showing us that he’s easily annoyed and has a short temper when we see him draw his gun. The actors facial expressions would of been lost if a wider shot had been used.

An extreme close up gives a more intimate view of their emotions and allows for a cutting technique used in “The good the bad and the ugly”, where the camera cuts to where the actors eyes look, giving us a sort of pov shot as it cuts from his opponents eyes to their hand and gun.

Cutting techniques

Increasing speed of cuts – In “The good the bad and the ugly” theres a long establishing shot of the three characters in the clearing, which is then followed by much quicker shots going from character to character. This is done to create a build up of tension resembling your heart increasing its pace when you’re nervous. The tension can then be released by a longer shot, in order to create contrast.

Quick cuts – A series of quick cuts going from character can be used to build massive tension followed by a release which will be a longer more drawn out shot.

Tracking cut – An example of this is in “the good the bad and the ugly”, as the actors eyes move from one another the camera cuts to where the actor is looking. This makes it easy to follow the story and get a good idea of where everyone is positioned. When doing this shot it is important to pay attention to the 180 degree rule to avoid disorientating the audience.

Brief

We must create a short film sequence using the techniques of a ‘shootout’ applied to a normal situation.

We’ve decided on the classic situation of the last slice of pizza. The rough story is two people sat side by side with one slice remaining between them. A tense moment takes place before one of them snatches the pizza. After P1 has grabbed the pizza she then slaps P2 with it before walking off.

To keep it in the style of a spaghetti western we are going to have a long establishing shot of our location followed by shots of increasing speed to build and represent tension

Shot list

. wide establishing shot of location

. medium shot of two people

. close shot of pizza

. close shot P1 looking at pizza

. close shot P2 looking at pizza

. medium shot two people looking at each other

. close shot P1 hand

. close shot P2 hand

. close P1 eyes looking pizza

. close P2 eyes looking pizza

. extreme close P1 eyes looking P2

. extreme close P2 eyes looking P1

. extreme close P1 eyes looking pizza

. extreme close P2 eyes looking pizza

. longer shot of pizza and quick snatch, pan, close shot

. medium shot slap attack

. P2 close shot reaction

. skip off into the sunset, over the shoulder

Location

Originally we were going to film in the bird cage, but decided that there would be too many complications. Such as being allowed to film and also if the area would be free to use.

We went on a walk around the area to find a more suitable location where it would be ok to film, and found a nice park bench which will allow us to do all the shots we want without being disturbed. It also provides a path away from the bench which is perfect for the last shot of P1 walking away.

While there we tested out a couple of shots for the pizza slap scene to get an idea of how it will look and talked about showing multiple takes from different angles to add comedy and highlight the moment.

Because the weather on the week of filming is forecast for rain we decided to have a backup location in the cafeteria, just in case its raining to much to film outside.

We’ve put together a basic storyboard, Draw by Caitlin, to make filming easier for ourselves and to give us an idea of how the shots will flow together. However it might change as we do some shot tests to decide what we like and what works.

Screen Test

We did a quick screen test so that we could get a feel for how the shots and angles will fit together to see if we like them. It also meant that we could properly visualize how the film will look. While we were doing this we came up with the idea of having the slap at multiple angles and repeated as it’s the climax of the film.