"Once upon a time in America"

Director - Sergio Leone
Genre - Gangster Thriller

The first shot is of Eve - the glamorous femme fatale.
It shows Eve as a silhouette at first to show mystery. The chiascuro lighting adds to the fear.
The non diegetic sound is "God bless America" this is an ironic contrast with the plot of the film as this film can be seen as mocking America.
The next shot is a close up of the femme fatale, this involves bright lighting to bring the audience into the action and create a tense atmosphere.
The camera changes to a high angle, tilt shot of Eves bed. It shows bullet holes in the shape of a body, this is seen as a warning to Eve about what can happen to her partner noodles and what is about to happen to her. This immediatley introduces a murder within the first few minutes of the thriller film and is a great generic signifier.
The murder of Eve goes against the traditional thriller convention of the femme fatale. When Eve is shot there is shot of three men who are all framed with an arch way above them. This shot alone establishes that this film is a thriller.
The mise-en-scene suddenly cuts to more violence. Within a few minutes of the opening scene we have already seen the femme fatale get shot and a character getting beaten up. During this scene there is a continuous use of close ups to engage the audience and to create fear.
There is a low angle shot of a cop with a gun to make him look superior and powerful.
Sergio Leone also utilisers the generic lift shaft by using a worms eye view to make the lift look dangerous. The lift is producing tension.
There is a point of view shot/worms eye view shot of the character Noodles from the character who has been beaten up, this is the very first time we see this character. The purpose of this shot is to encourage the audience to emphasise with both characters the sense of confusion.