Reflections on Practical: TV Drama Still - 'Western' Genre

The Cowboy Showdown

Planning
Our group really wanted to play around with interesting props, costume and locations, while staying realistic to our limitations. Therefore we ruled out Drama, High Fantasy and Adventure and were left to decide between the genres Heist or Western. Since I had a few items of Western-style clothing and I knew a friend who could lend us a few props, we decided to go with Western, as we thought it would be a challenging but fun genre to attempt. We knew we couldn't use the conventional iconography of the sprawling desert scenery of Westerns (since we didn't happen to have one handy in school), so we decided to focus more on indoor shots, such as stone staircases or wooden saloon interiors. We  opened a group chat where we sent photos and exchanged ideas of props and clothing that we could wear on the day, and I contacted my friend to borrow some props.

Analysis
We wanted to use as many genre conventions as possible in our shots, and in my shot above, we utilized the semic codes of the costumes (cowboy hat, leather waistcoat, jeans) as well as the props (the pistol), which are all signifiers of the Western genre. The shot is framed so that the cowboys are on opposite sides of the mise-en-scene, connoting their conflict, and the juxtaposition of the characters - we are focused on the cowboy in the foreground, who is a lot bigger than the other cowboy in the frame - suggests that we are following the foreground cowboy's point of view, or that he has more power in this situation.

Audience Interpretation
The high noon cowboy duel is a conventional narrative moment in Westerns, and following Barthe's action code, the audience can infer that only one cowboy will walk out of this scene alive. There is also enigma created as the audience wonders who these cowboys are, why they are having a duel, and what the stakes are.

What Was Succesful
I'm happy with how the costumes and props turned out - since we used actual items of clothing instead of cheap "cowboy costumes", and the pistol is also actually made of metal, so there is a good level of realism to the characters. I also think the framing was quite successful in connoting the power and conflict of the scene, especially the focus on the pistol.

What I Would Do Differently
If I had the chance to do it again, I would choose a different location, as the modern row of seating and clean-cut wood does spoil the realism a little bit, considering it's set in the American West in the 19th Century. I would also spend more time experimenting with angles and framing. Since the shot is supposed to be a tense, dramatic showdown I would especially like try out different ways of lighting the scene for more dramatic impact, since the shot at the moment seems a bit too evenly lit. I would experiment with low-key lighting; having the sun in the back so as to back-light the characters, creating silhouettes; or even go a bit abstract and use spotlights on the characters, to signify that in this moment, nothing else matters, they have zoned out of the world and are focused only on killing the other.

The Planning Storyboard