Case studyOnce Upon a time in America

Establishing and developing genre

Institutional information • Once Upon a time in America

• Directed by Sergio Leone

• Released 17th February 1984

• Won two BAFTAS for best film music and best costume design

• Won an Japan academy prize for outstanding foreign language film

• Quote from a review, “The second reason why this movie is so great is the music. Ennio Morricone, who is seen as the greatest writer of film music ever”

• Locations used in the opening that I looked at was just a bedroom.

Character typesEve Phyllis

She is the first character we see in the opening, her name connotes Adam and Eve so therefore is biblical alongside this she is shown as attractive, so this connotes her as angelic and innocent, which goes well with the narrative in this scene as she is claiming innocence and that she doesn’t know where a character is. However to contrast this it could have an alternative meaning because Eve deceived Adam in the biblical story, so could also suggest Eve is deceiving and deceptive, this is open to audience interpretation. Eve is portrayed as attractive and glamorous through her costume such as her pearl necklace; her gold rings and earrings; her tight skirt and stylish hat; her red nails, which could be said to connate her deviant side which we see when she withholds information from the antagonists, these red nails contradict the vulnerable and contemptuous connotations created by the rest of her costume as the colour creates connotations of danger; additionally her costume represents her to be seductive through again the red nails and the tight skirt. All these suggest Eve is a very generic and common character found within thrillers which is a femme fatal, such as Phyllis in the Film Noir Double indemnity or Gilda in the film Gilda, so therefore straight away the audience gets hints and suggestions of the genre through Eve.

Character types

The detectives are conventional characters for the thriller genre because they are cops who have turned bad, they are the antagonists and are similar to wearing long coats and trilby's like in ‘The Godfather’. Their costume suggests that they're the antagonists straight away because its dark and concealing as they have big coats and hats, which implies that they have something to hide and are evil, we also know this because they step out of dark shadows which suggests they predatory and waiting for their prey which was Eve. Therefore these characters are supporting generic narratives of thrillers by straight away from them we know that they are looking for someone which creates mystery and suspense; we start to anticipate that they are going to murder Eve; we know that they are menacing and dangerous as they are threatening and have weapons; finally they also support corrupt and political conspiracy as they are meant to inforce and follow the law instead they bend it to their advantage. These are all conventions of thrillers and the detectives are reinforcing them.

These characters have contextual links to the period of time that this film was set because it is during the time of prohibition when alcohol was illegal, so this made crime a lot more common through people making illegal alcohol, the corrupt detectives are meant to signify how bad the crime and corruption was as they're meant to be the people who enforce the law not break it.

The Detectives

Props and Objects

The lamp shown in the opening is very significant and symbolic prop used. Firstly its luxurious and glamorous so as Eve is using it, it reinforces her as being a femme fatale because we associate it with her straight away. Secondly it has been tampered with (bulb unscrewed) which suggest someone has been menacing with it and her reaction to this is unsettling and worrying for the audience as it suggests something bad is going to happened, suspense and mystery Is conventional of thrillers . Thirdly when eve is dead and lying on the bed, one of the detectives turns the lamp off, therefore this is suggesting the lamp is a metaphor of Eve’s life, as she dies so does the light of the lamp. also the lamp creates chiaroscuro lighting.

Lighting

The first shot we see is in shadows there is very little light what so ever, this suggests that something dark and bad is going to happen as we cant see anything apart from a small silhouette, which suggests that they're weak, vulnerable and unable to protect themselves, it makes the audience feel uneasy as there could be absolutely anything hiding in the shadows that could come out at anytime, this is conventional of thrillers as it makes the audience uneasy and creates suspense, like many other thrillers such as in The Godfather.

Lighting

One of the most important conventions of thrillers used in the lighting of this opening is chiaroscuro lighting which is where lighting creates shadows. This is a very important and common convention because it creates a lot of uncertainty and nerve-wracking tension and the audience's’ focus is usually on the lit parts of the shots however we are aware that there are shadows but we don’t know what's in them, so therefore it emphasises the anticipation of something dangerous and bad about to happen. This happens in the opening of Once Upon a time in America with the prop that is the lamp, which creates a golden light around Eve when she lights it up, which produces a false sense of security for a moment as we can finally see the set and think she's safe. However, the audience are soon put on edge again when the antagonists who are the detectives come out of the shadows, the shadows contain the predators and in the light is the prey which are binary opposites. Furthermore the antagonists are in the shadows because they are dangerous, dark and evil and Eve is lit up and exposed which implies she is vulnerable, which is how many females are portrayed in in thrillers.

Camera Angles, Shots & Composition

The first shot shown is a slight low angle of Eve, in this specific shot it empowers her slightly because the angle makes her look bigger, even if this isn’t obvious its still effective. In the second shot I have shown is the camera panning into an extreme close up of bullet holes shot into a bed. These two shots empower Eve because they make her seem able and sharp as she is smart enough to fix the lamp which was deliberately tampered with in order to weaken Eve however she overcame this. But then she was able to spot the bullet holes in the bed which is shown when its zooming in on them, we’re are put in the position of Eve and her face is shown to be worried and anxious, so she's suspicious and threatened. The composition of these shots showing Eve to be sharp and suspicious reinforce that Eve is femme fatal as she is smart enough to know that something isn’t quite right even though there were only subtle hints shown through the camera shots which are meant to represent what Eve sees. Even though Eve is murdered in the opening audience may still think she had a little bit of power as she wasn’t completely overpowered, she was smart enough to know a set back was coming, she wasn’t completely a stereotypical damsel in distress.

Camera Angles, Shot & Composition

This mid shot is generic of thrillers because we are put in the point of view of Eve who's just about to be shot, so therefore the audience feels and anticipates the fear and terror she feels as we are ‘looking down the barrel of a gun’, its almost like the audience are being shot as well. This is to evoke fear and anxiety within the audience, and this is the generic part of the shot, because fear, anxiety and terror are all generic feelings that audiences are meant to have when watching the thriller genre, so therefore this shot supports this. This type of shot often happens in other thriller films such as in Casino Royale where we are looking down the barrel of a gun.

Camera Angles, Shots & Composition

This shot is a slight high angle shot, showing Eves dead body and the detectives in the background, this shot is a very significant one in the opening of the film and for Eves character. It is representing Eves downfall as Eve is at lower angles and position to the detectives it shows her as less important and weaker, obviously as she's just died, the depth of field in this shot is firstly on the detectives which again shows them to be more powerful than Eve. The depth of field goes onto Eve after the lamp has been turned off which signifies Eve to know be ‘in the dark’ as she's dead. The whole composition of this shot is conventional to thrillers because of the camera angle showing power and the lighting which is representative of Eve’s life.