Iconography is the symbolic meanings of subjects and signs used to convey ideas important to particular cultures or religions, and the conventions governing the use of such forms. There was plenty of this used in the starting sequence to create tension. One part being the abandoned wagon in the street, wagons were meant to represent the journey of the homesteaders as they overcome the barren west and create civilization, to show an abandoned wagon is like saying these people failed in that quest and that they couldn’t win against nature. Another point would be the flapping hides that the men walk past. The hides were what the town’s people would have based their economy on and have sold for profit. To show dead hides, like the abandoned wagon, would symbolize their failure to have a way of life or an economy. Other icons that created tension in the starting would be the banging saloon doors, the single tied up horse, and the rolling bush. These are all classic icons of western film genre and all of them create tension by giving the town and eerie, almost dead or ghost like feel to the town.
Leone’s use of character creates tension by completely throwing away all thoughts of stereotypical heroes and baddies. In most Hollywood films the hero is a handsome, strong man who seems to represent all things good and righteous in his very being whereas the baddie is usually and scarred or disfigured man who is always horribly selfish unkind and sneaky. Spaghetti westerns however are entirely different. In a spaghetti western there is usually no hero, the plot centers around the baddies, and usually they are all more rugged and scarred like the three men in the start of the movie. This creates tension for the audience as it is built into the viewer to believe that there are always heroes and baddies and that the hero will be pretty easy on the eyes, Leone throws off the audience with his characters all being ugly.
The main part about the setting of this sequence creating tension is the desolation that is shown in almost every shot. Like for instance the fist shot you see is an extreme long shot of the desert and mountains that surround the scene, also when the town is shown to the viewer there seems to be no one about, the entire place seems to have been abandoned. This creates tension as the audience feels slightly nervous due to the lack of life. Throughout the start we are given subtle clues to the fact that there are more than three men in the town. In the third shot of the town we can see outside of the town’s saloon is a tied up horse that belongs to none of the three men. Also in the shot where we see the men facing each other outside the bar, just behind the man’s head on the wall is a ripped wanted poster; this is a clue that maybe the bounty in said poster was the one who ripped it up.
In films one of the best ways to create tension is through sound and music, both diegetic and non diegetic. Diegetic sound is sound created during the filming that the characters of the movie can hear e.g. wind howling, horses, door banging. Non diegetic is sound that is created after filming which can only be hear by the audience like music which is intended to affect the spectator. In this movie the diegetic sound like that of the coyote’s howling or the banging of the doors is like that of the horror genre, creating tension by giving the audience the feeling of something that you would expect from a horror movie is about to happen to the three characters. Another thing that creates tension is the lack of dialogue. Throughout the start there is no talking which confuses the audience and forces them to rely on visual for meaning; this causes tension by the audience’s lack of understanding of what’s going on. One other thing is the Ugly’s character theme. A character theme is music or sound that is associated to a particular character. The Ugly’s theme sounds like a coyote which is known for being viscous and savage. This gives the impression that the Ugly is like the coyote: a vicious scavenger creating tension with the Ugly’s impression of danger.
Cinematography is the art and process of recording visual images for the cinema. Leone’s use of cinematography creates tension as his order of shot’s and angles differ from that of a normal Hollywood western. In an average Hollywood western it starts out with and extreme long shot of the scenery to show the audience the place in which the story will be set. It then moves on to a long shot of the main character zooming in slightly to a medium shot to more introduce the character to the audience. However in Leone’s film while it does begin with an extreme long shot, it immediately throws you and extreme close up right after. The stark contrast between shots creates tension as well as the feeling like an invasion of privacy you get when you see the man’s face that close up to you. Another series of shots that create tension is the shot-reverse-shot of the three men walking to wards each other. The shots of them make it seem as though their tense faces are caused by the other men they appear to be staring at. This creates tension for the audience as they are made to believe that they are about to kill each other. Also nearer to the end of the staring sequence the men burst into the saloon, the shot is then with held from the audience and all they can hear is the furniture being broken and loud shots from their guns, but as the audience can’t see this it’s causes tension for them because they are not fully aware of what is happing to the men.
In conclusion, it seems to me the best way that a director can create tension for their audience is by keeping the audience slightly in dark in parts, and using iconography and the settings to give almost eerie feelings to the throwing them off guard with the plot, this last point leaves the viewer with greater expectations for what the plot will develop out into and who the new characters will be.