An analysis of cinematography and editing In the pub sequence from Snatch (Ritchie 2000)

An analysis of cinematography and editing In the pub sequence from Snatch (Ritchie 2000)

The film which I have chosen to look at for my micro essay is Guy Ritchie’s British Crime film Snatch. Snatch is set in London showing two plots within the film which coincide with each other throughout in the criminal underworld. The first story we see is of a plot following the search of a stolen 86 carrot diamond. The second plot in the film is of an amateur boxing promoter called ‘Turkish’. During the duration of the film we are constantly transferred between both stories to keep the anticipation of the audience up until the final moments of the film where we are then able to work out what will happen. The last clip of the film is of Doug speaking to Cousin Avi the person who had the diamond stolen in the first place which then cuts to very quick 1 second clips of his journey back to England. Cinematography in a film can show and tell the audience a number of things. By using a low angle or high angle it can show the audience the hierarchy of characters e.g. a high angle shot of one character looking down either over their shoulder or as a point of view shot gives the impression that that character has more authority as they are in a higher position showing their power. In contrast the lower angle puts the character looking up in a lower position putting across the fact that they are weak and have no power or authority. The speed of shots can make the audience sit on the edge of their seats as they are wondering what could happen next, the suspense is kept up making the film more interesting to an audience. Another of the micro elements I will be looking at is Editing. Editing plays a major part in a film not only does the editor combine shots to make sequences of the film and put it all together for the final product but they also add in different effects such as sound, dialogue and pacing of the movie which in turn makes the final product a more enjoyable watch for the audience. By using such techniques as slowing down or speeding up the pace of the movie the editor can have the audience feel different emotions towards the characters, an example of this in Snatch would be when the pikey is fighting his final match for Turkish, by slowing down sections of the fight the audience are able to become the character and feel like they are Mickey, this effect makes them feel like they are him and are taking the punches and feeling the same pain he is. This effect makes a better viewing for the audience as they are more involved in the film.

In the sequence I am doing Bullet Tooth Tony is sitting at a table with Sol, Vinne and Tyrone standing with guns telling him to give them the diamond.
The director has gone against the normal conventions of having the powerful person(s) looking down from a high angle shot and the weak and insignificant person looking up from a lower angle and has instead reversed these shots around having Tony looking up at the other 3 but putting across that he has much more power over them. One of the first shots that shows this is when Bullet tooth asks for his name and Vinnie replies ’shoot him’ very hurriedly putting across they are more scared of him, this shows the conventions of the shot are different in this clip.




This close up of Sols face when he has attempted to hit Tony with the gun but instead have Bullet Tooth grab his wrist puts across that he is scared from the way his teeth are gritted together also show he is in pain from the strength of Tony’s grip. The camera then quickly moves to a medium of the three men with Vinnie pointing the gun at Tony. From this shot it clearly shows that both Sol and Tyrone are intimidated by Tony as they are both wearing blank expressions. Once again the camera quickly adjusts to a close up of Bullet Tooth Tony’s face with an extremely menacing facial expression. From the 5 seconds of the film you get a close up of one character to a medium shot and back to a close up, the effect of the editing of the clips and the 2 different cameras shots makes the audiences viewing more enjoyable as the tension between the characters is growing although Tony shows no emotion to them as you can see from his facial expression in the picture above.
Vinnie says to Tony ‘these are your last words so make them a prayer’ and as shown by the image bellow he is unruffled by the fact they have guns pointed at him and goes on to announce ‘now dicks have drive and clarity of vision’ the next shot bellow shows a medium shot of the Sol and Vinnie looking bewildered and Tyrone with a blank expression, showing that they are all taken aback from the change in power. I feel that from these constant switches between shots from Tony and the 3 men the audience is able to feel the emotions that the characters in the scene feel. The director could of meant that the camera shots were suppose to show the point of view shots from both Bullet Tooth and Tyrone to try and make the audience more involved in the movie by putting across that they are in their shoes, Guy Ritchie would of done this to make the audience more involved in the film trying to make them feel the individual characters feelings as they can therefore relate back to character more allowing an improved understanding of the sequence and specific characters.



Bullet Tooth proceeds to continue with the fact that they are a dick and two balls by putting them into a self sense of security by saying ‘your having second thoughts, their shrinking’ referring to the balls. Their belief in what they were doing is now going as you can see from the first picture as they seem to now be concerned by what Tony is saying. Again the camera quickly changes to Tony’s face and seems to gradually zoom in, this gives the effect that he is getting bigger which would coincide with what he had said about Sol, Vinnie and Tyrone shrinking because of being scared. The zoom is only just noticeable but with the very slight zoom would made a huge impact on the audience making you feel the same emotion that the 3 men are feeling, this is again helped from the previous scenes from the POV shots making you feel like you are them. Tony makes them feel even smaller and more pathetic when he points out they have REPLICA written down the side of their gun, with a quick pan to the side of the gun and then quickly alone the side with the replica written down it with another quick reverse pan back to the POV shot of Tony. This makes the audience think how pathetic and insignificant they are in comparison to him which is then amplified of how small their balls are when Tony proceeds to pull out his gun with DESERT EAGAL .50 written down the side which amplifies this fact even more.

Close ups of all the characters faces then follow the last picture until Bullet Tooth tells them to ‘F**k off and they back away slowly admitting defeat and Tony carries on drinking his half full pint glass with a smirk on his face after humiliating the 3 men.

In conclusion I feel that the editing skills and different cinematography shots used in this small sequence have given the audience the desired effect intend that they should have in giving them the feelings of both sets of characters in which one is put across as at first possibly being seen as the pussy but quickly shown that Tony is the big dick that is in complete control of the situation and gives the audience the feeling they are in control as well with the point of view shots looking into the 3 mens faces seeing them shrivel up and cower like he intended as perceived by the shrinking balls and turning the tides for them to become the pussy. This is the perception even though the conventions of having the character which is in control being in a higher position where as in this scene the tables are turned. I think that these micro-elements have been used to great effect and makes the scene have the desired effect that was intended for the audience to perceive.