I have chosen to analyse the first 15 minutes of the film 'Snatch'. It is a similar film to our film 'Pretty Violence'. It is directed by Guy Ritchie, a famous British director who directed other similar British films such as, 'Lock Stock and two smoking barrels' and 'Rock n rolla'. I chose this film to analyse as it is a Crime thriller like ours and is one of my favourite films of all time.
The film begins fading from black to a shot of the back of a man's head. The shot then cranes to reveal two characters. There is no diagetic sound during this scene, which could signify that a conversation has just taken place or that they are waiting for something. There is non diagetic sound in the form of narration from main character 'Turkish'. He gives a backdrop to the story and introduces himself and the character sat next to him 'Tommy'. The camera frequently cuts to a close up of each of the two characters before going back to a medium two shot. It close ups to Tommy when the narration is talking about him and close ups to Turkish when he is talking about himself. They are both wearing the typical old fashioned Italian suits and Tommy is wearing a generic Gangster style hat.
It then fades to black and then fades back to a television screen which are showing live footage of security cameras, which show a group of men dressed up as Hacidic Jews sneaking into the building in order to steal a valuable diamond. The camera moves onto different television screens as the group move through the building showing different positions of the security cameras. The security cameras are set up as low angle shots looking down on the group, as actual security cameras are set in buildings and also establishes the corridor and where they are in the building. There are diagetic sounds from the security guards and the group who are speaking to each other in foreign accents. The security guards are in typical uniform, black trousers, white/blue shirts and black ties with security equipment such as a metal detector which is used on the group of men.
The group of men planning the heist enter the main office of the bank the speed of editing increases greatly, as to suggest it is panicked and rushed and gives the elementary of surprise making the scene much more exciting. There is a zoom in, as one of the characters reveals the guns he has concealed under his coat. There is then a zoom on the banker to show his expression as he realises it is a heist. At this point the non diagetic music begins to increase in pace as the editing does. There is much jump cutting and camera rotating/spiralling to show transition effects and keeping the scene fast paced to emulate the pace of the action. There is use of different camera positions, height of the camera when the man is on the table. This reflects the chaotic situation in which the bankers are in and makes the scene much more energised. The scene slows down and the music stops as Benicio Del Toro asks the banker 'Where is the stone?' whilst he beats another man in order to persuade him to tell him. There is diagetic sound of the Benico Del toro hitting the man and spinning the gun. There is use of shot reverse shot to show the expressions of the banker as Benicio hits the other man.
It then cuts to inside a van after robbery, revealing that he has got the stone, with a close up of the stone. It then dollys back to reveal the rest of the team as they remove their disguises. There a few jump cuts to slightly increase the pace. It then focuses on the guy holding up a large diamond, it then zooms in on the diamond and rotates. The title of the film appears in front of the diamond. The title sequence introduces the main characters of the film and reintroduces main characters Turkish and Tommy. There is a freeze zoom on each character with edited background colour with added in name and nickname. As the edits move from character to character there is an action carried out through edit, i.e. in one shot Benicio is holding the Diamond then it cuts to Cousin Avi holding the diamond in the same position, much like a match on action over different shots. Non diagetic music ensues as the title sequence takes place. It then leaves the title sequence back to inside the van the same way it entered the title sequence with the diamond in the middle of the shot as it is being placed into a secret compartment within the briefcase.
Then we are shown the first actual conversation of the film between Franky Four fingers and a bald man, shot reverse shot is used here with a close up of both the characters. The bald guy spins the revolver and it cuts over to London with Tommy, Turkish and new character Gorgeous George at what appears to be a boxing training session. They have a conversation which leads to Turkish asking Tommy to pick up a new caravan for him and other general conversation, there is use of reverse shots and tracking shots as the characters walk around. When they talk about the gun Tommy has it cuts to an earlier scene between Tommy and new main character 'Boris the Blade', there is a series of shot reverse shot and freezes with non-diagetic narration from Turkish who gives a background story of Boris and he does the same with Tommy.
It then cuts to a seemingly unlicensed boxing match with the camera passing them and centres on main character 'Brick top' who appears to run the place. He talks to two men behind him and a medium two shot, as he is not facing the characters it is not a reverse shot and is done to reveal the expressions of the characters. Brick Top gets down from the ring and as he walks towards the camera it dollys back. It then freezes on Bricktop like in the earlier scene with Boris and Tommy and gives a little backdrop on his character. There is jump cutting on the items such as stun gun, roll of tape and bag.
After the boxing scene it cuts to what looks like a pig sty, the camera dollys as Bricktop is talking to Turkish and feeding pigs. Here there is both diagetic and non diagetic sound. Diagetic where the conversation takes place and the noises the pigs are making, and non diagetic where Turkish is telling the audience what he is thinking and with the background music.
It then cuts to an unknown bald character who is on the phone to Boris, he is betraying Franky by revealing where the Diamond is and sending him to Boris. The lighting is low and is directed to only one side of his face, signifying that the character has a dark side to him as he is betraying him. The non diagetic music is low and slow paced as not to take distraction too much from the conversation, but enough to reflect the betrayal that is occurring. There is a split screen shot to show Boris on the phone to the other guy, with dollying of Boris as he walks through his house. It shows the difference in locations by showing Boris is in London and the other guy is in Antwerp.
It then cuts to New York to Cousin Avi, he appears to be a rich character as it reveals his big office through a wide angled shot. He is on the phone to Franky, there is slow slight zooming on each character as it cuts to each location and has interesting transition effect. It one shot Franky is getting measured by a tailor, in the next he is wearing a coat and hat. In each cut back to Franky he is wearing a different costume. After the phone call, there is a shot reverse shot between Avi and two other characters as he tells them about Franky and the Diamond.
It then cuts to a London pub with a two shot of Turkish and another main character 'Doug the head', there is low diagetic sound of the people within the pub and the conversation between Doug and Turkish. There is non diagetic sound of Turkish giving a back story of Doug. Doug then receives a call from Avi and it cuts between them as they take their turn to talk. Doug is currently walking through London with the camera dollying to keep him in the shot at the same speed he is walking. The camera follows him into the shop which he appears to own, where he stops to talk to two girls behind the counter which appear to be his twin daughters.
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