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The Gunfighter (Kissack, 2014) Analysis

Eric Kissack's 2014 short-film The Gunfighter provides a contemporary take on the western genre, however still conforms to many conventions present through the hundred years of producing westerns.

Kissack uses a formulaic and restrictive narrative in order to tell the story of The Gunfighter- as soon as he walks through the saloon doors in classic cowboy fashion, we know somebody is going to die. This means every choice made in the narrative drives a conflict towards the bloody resolution, which, by the end of the short film, pays off. The set up and pay off is a convention that is always a part of westerns- we go in knowing the man on the poster will have a gunfight at the end.

One important aspect of the short film is the narration- the film features a non-diegetic narration which the characters can here. This is an unusual take on the concept, as in most cases, narration is the diegetic inner-thoughts of a protagonist, such as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho (Harron, 2000) or Dune (Lynch, 1984). The narration is there to explicitly drive the conflict, and therefore narrative, further throughout the film.

The technical approach to the film (Camera, mise-en-scene, music) remains completely classical. Most camera shots are steady, medium close-ups, however when a character pulls his Smith and Wesson out, the camera does a whip-pan to where the pistol is pointed- a classic shot in any western. Mise-en-scene is so conventional, it is the same set from many other modern westerns, and the characters wear classic western attire.

Character types are mostly kept to the convention, minus certain elements of the Gunfighter himself, who is shown to be gay, which is not normally the case in the genre.

Music placement is also in the correct place, keeping up with convention- tense scenes get tense music and uplifting scenes get uplifting music.


Overall, The Gunfighter conforms to most of the genre conventions of the western, but does go against it in certain moments

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