Gunslingers (Regan Hall, 2009) - BBC.com

From the write up we know that the short film is about a young farmer fighting to save the woman he loves from the grips of a jealous outsider. The cinematography throughout is very dream-like, it is a dream-like sequence that becomes emphasised by the random scenes that don't seem to link together on the first viewing. All of the characters appear very animated in their faces and movements, along with the setting they are in not looking real. Although none of them seem real, it changes its look throughout, from looking like an imitation of real life to a purposful back drop for a 'photoshoot' effect.

The ideology behind the sequence is that of passion and desire through the sincerity of it. The costumes are dated, they are that of a Texas cowboy in about the 1930's. The colour is black and white so that the audience can gain no knowledge from this, it is not important. The man looking to steal the woman is dressed in a sterotypical cowboy costume. He is made to look, with the eye make up, sincere and smouldering. The ruggedness of his stubble makes him come across as the sort of man anyone would keep their girlfriends away from. He has the typical 'bad boy' look.

The woman is dressed very provocatively for the time. She has a very low cut dress on and her blonde hair suggests a flirty side to her. Her smokey eyes mirror that of the man trying to steal her as they too give her the smouldering, sexual look, it gives her a connection to him. Her facial expressinos are very suggestive of her looks of vanity. We can tell she takes care of herself and wants people to know. The young farmer is dressed very plainly and the only thing that really stands out is his hairstyle, which is that of an abstract, modern model, contrasting with the time era the rest of the film is in. Their body language poses vary greatly. The cowboy has a very wide stance, particualry when he draws his gun, this suggests confidence and masculinity. The woman has a long stride which suggests she too is confident and knows her beauty, she takes pride in the fact that men are fighting over her. The young farmer is very hunched over and aggitated throughout, his paranoia coming from the anxiety or losing the woman he loves.

The settings are all very artificial looking. The lack of surrounding population suggests a need for women to repopulate, or the unimportance of everyone else in this fight for her love. The very seemingly randon choice of settings build up the tension and story of distance between the two men, until they finally meet. Making the cowboy intrude on to their front proch shows an invasion of someone elses property and a moral line being crossed, it shows further reason for conflict, not only the house but for his wife as well.

The scene where the rose is being stroked on a male back leaeves a lot to the imagination as we do not know whose back it is. Has this woman already had a past affair with this man and this is was the feud is about? Or is that an insight for her desire for the cowboy? Or could it just be her sharing intimacy with the farmer? The act of the woman blowing out the candle suggests her higher status as she is calling the shots in the household with these men.

The camera is very static throughout due to the fact there is not a lot of action and not much movement. This again suggests a dream-like scenario. The woman being dressed up in a tiara at the end shows again her high status amongst the men as she is seen to be that of royalty to them. A precious 'prize' almost that they are competing for.

The edits are fairly long in this film which I believe it mirrors the 'dreamy' music and the unrealisticness of it all. They are all fairly equal in length as well which is fairly uncommon of any type of film. This is different to Hollywood films in many ways. For one obvious reason, it has no speech which we would not see in a big budget film. Another reason is that it can be quite hard to understand, and others may interpret it in lots of other ways which allows for a creative mind to make of it what they will, feature length films would not do this as they has a very closed narrative structure that has linear aspects because they know that this has worked in the past and so will ultimately make them money again.

We can apply Roland Barthes theory of the narrative to this film in how he describes Enigmatic Codes in "An introduction to the structural analysis of narrative (1975), which can be described as puzzles set to engage the audience and maintain the curiosity. Maybe not obvious puzzles but I do believe this short film displays signs of confusion which keeps the audience enticed to find out whether their own interpretation was correct or not.

Parts of this film I aim to use in my own is the dream-like sequence of it. I like how it uses postmodernism to make sure the audience knows it is fiction.