Opening
Titles Analysis – Snatch
“Unscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookmakers, a Russian gangster,
incompetent amateur robbers, and supposedly Jewish jewellers fight to track
down a priceless stolen diamond.” – IMDB.
Snatch is
directed by Guy Ritchie and produced by Matthew Vaughn. It incorporates various
unique styles that are now synonymous with Ritchie and his company, Ska Films.
I chose Snatch as an example of his style because it is a different form of
introduction compared to his other opening titles. I will look at various
aspects of the opening two minutes including: Camera Angles, Editing, Lighting,
Sound and Mise-en-scene.
Camera
Angles


The camera shows the
figures clearly and we can see their faces and bodies, this is an introduction
of the characters to the audience and allows access to another one of Blumler
and Katz's Uses and Gratifications Theory (1974), Personal Identity. Now the
audience have characters that are tangible and they will be able to relate to
easier because they know significantly more about them than they do about the
first mystery figure. It also tells the audience more about the characters
because they can see their clothes.



Shot 6 and 7 - Mostly the same as shots 2, 3
and 4. CU's of the two characters again, first the right character for shot 6,
then the left character for shot 7. These CU's are used by Ritchie to further
back up the dialogue, and see the characters reactions to the situation
described by the VO. The right character shows incredulation, allowing the
audience to subtly further understand his character, clearly out of his depth.
The character on the left shows annoyed exasperation with a sigh, as if waiting
for a verdict, but clearly is more level headed. As with the earlier CU's these
shots are typical of opening titles for a film, they are introducing the
characters to the audience clearly. Ritchie is demonstrating his knowledge of
classic film techniques which I should definitely incorporate in my final
product.

CCTV - As aforementioned Ritchie uses
CCTV like footage to create the secure environment effect. If we analyse the
shots used in the CCTV footage the audience can see that they are High Angle
(HA) shots. This presents the characters on screen as being lower, less
superior and not a threat. The characters are being looked down upon, lulling
the audience into assumptions about the characters before later on showing the
characters true intentions. This is a classic Guy Ritchie ideal, the character
of Soap in Lock, Stock
and Two Smoking Barrels is assumed to be an innocent chef but turns
out to be a knife wielding maniac. Toying with audience perception is a good
technique to incorporate into my final product because it allows me to add
surprise and entertainment, to bolster my audience gratification.
Editing
The editing in Snatch is crucial to
the structure and style of the overall film, some of the style comes through in
the first 2 minutes but it is mainly simple edits, straight cuts or fade to
blacks (FTB). This doesn't mean to say that the opening two minutes is boring
in the editing department, Ritchie uses the simple edits in tandem with the VO
and the dialogue, creating a perfect synergy. The fact that the edits are not
noticeable is good, it makes the opening seamless. I will go through the first
2 minutes and analyse each edit because I think that each one is noteworthy and
of a subtle importance to the overall effect.
1st Piece of
Editing -
initially the movie starts with a black screen, this edit is used to create a
subtle tone for the movie, the audience realise it won't be happy and joyful
with a black screen intro. It also creates the sense of a blank canvas that
something will form upon it, the idea of creation. Next "Columbia Pictures
presents"(left) in medium sized white font fades in, and after 3 seconds
FTB's. Then "In association with SKA films" fades in and after 3
seconds FTB's. This text informs the audience of the institutions behind the
project, and the average cinema goer would recognise Columbia Pictures and
assume that this film is of high quality, and the media centric audience would
recognise SKA films, and immediately roughly understand the tone and style of
the movie, Ritchie's style.
2nd Piece of
Editing -
Now the video fades in from black, the blank canvas is being painted on. Next
some more post production credits appear, first "A Matthew Vaughn
production"(right) then after that "A film by Guy Ritchie". Both
pieces of text stay on screen for 3 seconds. The duration of these opening
credits suggests something about the film, they are all 3 seconds long, this
suggest a sense of structure and uniformity to the movie, rather than it being
wacky credits suggesting chaos.

4th Piece of
Editing -
This next set of editing mirrors the previous set, simple cuts that match what
the VO is saying, creating synergy between the two. It cuts from the previous
CU to the MS of both the characters, this shot lasts 5 seconds (right). As
mentioned earlier this shows the audience that they are symbiotic. This
edit allows the audience to establish a connection between the characters,
coupled with the VO they know some of their story. Next it straight cuts to a
CU of the right character for 5 seconds, then cuts to a CU of the left
character for 18 seconds. This screen time again highlighting who the leader is
in this scene. It then FTB and the black screen lasts for 2 seconds. This fade
shows the audience that a change in situation/scene is coming. It also makes it
very clear for the next shot that both scenes are happening at different
locations and/or different times.
5th Piece of
Editing -
The opening 2 minutes end on a very long edit, 47 seconds (right). This scene
fades in from black adding to the sense of location change. The dialogue in
this section is supposed to be a conversation with different peoples train of thought,
this edit reflects the dialogue by being long winded and not sharp cuts. The
clear synergy between editing and sound is so very well demonstrated in Snatch, and it shows
me that I need to take much greater care in the planning and construction of
editing and sound in synergy.

Lighting
1st Scene Overall - The lighting in the first scene is quite unusual, it soft white light but in an interrogation like scenario. Typically in an interrogation scenario which this scene is recreating the lighting is harsh bright line shining down inquisitively onto the person(s) in question. This suggest that this scene is perhaps less sinister than initially thought as it seems less interrogatory. The main characters are lit up so the audience can clearly see they are the protagonists, and the shadowed figure is set up to be the bad character. This gives the shadowed character a sense of mystery and intrigues the audience to watch on.
2nd Scene Overall - The CCTV monitors are clearly lit up in the second scene allowing the audience to clearly see the setting and understand the shift in scene location. In the actual monitors the lighting is saturated. Saturated lighting is tampered lighting, suggesting that reality has been tampered with, what your seeing on screen is a visage. This turns out to be true as the characters on screen are disguised thieves.
Individual Character Lighting - The two main characters we are introduced to, Turkish and Tommy, and their different personalities are shown and highlighted through lighting. Turkish initially is lit up on one side of his face, casting the other side into shadow, this suggests that he has a good and bad personality, adding depth to the character. When Turkish turn to look at Tommy he face is now fully in the light, this suggests that Tommy is a good character, he is the thing that keeps Turkish good. Tommy would be fully lit up in the face except that he has a hat that shadows his eyes, this could suggest that he is blind to what is coming, as well as the audience. As he lifts his face up the shadow is lifted, possibly meaning a sense of enlightenment, Tommy is starting to realise what is going on and the situation they are in. This now slightly alienates the audience as they do not know what is going on, but they will want to have that information.
Sound
There is very little sound in the opening two minutes, only dialogue and a Voiceover with a smattering of music. Turkish is speaking the VO again showing that he is the one who is in control, the main protagonist. The voiceover is used as the introduction to the film, it familiarises the audience with the tone of the movie, comedy with pieces of action. The VO introduces the characters, "My name is Turkish, funny name for an Englishman I know" , "and this is my partner Tommy, it doesn't mean we hold hands and take windy walks". It familiarises the audience with the characters, "I'm a boxing promoter" and explains a little bit of the current situation, "I was a happy boxing promoter until a week ago, and then what do I know about diamonds". The audience can now gather a great deal of information from these short sentences, they know Turkish's occupation which means they can make assumptions about his personality. They have a rough idea of the time scale, they know that something happened a week ago and the series of events that lead up to this scene took a week to bloom. All of this shows how important sound is in the opening titles as it is the only thing that engages with the audience and properly introduces them.

It is the second scene that the dialogue comes into play, although it is not the focus point of the scene. It is quite nonsensical and Tarantino-ish, it is just a normal conversation everyday people would have. The 4 characters on screen talk about the story of the virgin Mary in the bible and if it is true or not, this lulls the viewer into a false sense of security into thinking these characters are normal people, which makes the shock much greater when they turnout to be armed robbers.
Music is subtly used in the second scene, it is the Hava Nagila, a stereotypical song used in conjunction with Jewish themes. This again makes it very clear to the audience in case they don't know that these characters in this scene are Jewish. It also helps to create a natural environment that the audience feels calm in, the music is upbeat but slow, it is in a major key which makes the score more positive. It subtly helps to build up tension as it slowly gets faster throughout the scene, adding to the subtle dramatic effect.
Mise-en-scene
Props in 1st Scene - The only props present in the first scene are furniture, a small bland table and indistinguishable chairs. This could show that the characters have nothing to their name, their situation is desperate. Also it shows the setting is a impoverished place, with no luxuries. This helps set the tone of the movie as gritty, not a lavish costume drama.
Props in 2nd Scene - The props utilised in the second scene simply add to the immersive experience and reinforce the setting. The handheld metal detector is used so the audience can fully see that it is a secure setting that these character are in. Also various office items are shown again to establish setting, from these props the audience can guess the setting, a secure bank perhaps. This makes the audience want to find out the setting and that the characters are doing there encouraging tem to watch on.

Tommy is also wearing a shirt and an overcoat that is lightly coloured, painting him as a good character. Tommy is sporting a trilby, a hat more typically associated with professions on the lower end of the NRS social grade. This again shows who is in charge of the two because it could suggest that Tommy is of a lower intelligence because he is wearing lower NRS social class clothing.
Clothing in 2nd Scene - There is little variation in clothing in this scene, the two guards wear white shirts and black trousers, again highlighting to the audience that they are in a secure location. The 4 other characters are wearing stereotypical traditional Jewish outfits. This makes it clear to the audience that they are Jewish which adds to the stereotypical joke that Jewish people are always associated with diamonds. The traditional outfits are very dark outfits, which could suggest that they are the antagonists, the bad guys of the movie.
Overall
Overall the Snatch opening titles is an excellent example of how the perfect combination of sound, editing, lighting, mise-en-scene and camera work can come together to create a memorable and intriguing opening that will have audiences hooked from the get go. I can now apply this research and knowledge that I have learnt from Snatch in my opening titles to create a great end result.
No comments:
Post a Comment