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| -Watch Clip Here- |
The 'ear scene', as it is commonly known, is taken from Reservoir Dogs, (Quentin Tarantino, US, 1992), the timing in the film is not known, but the link is situated under the image (a YouTube video) were I will be focussing on specific timing: 00:19 - 01:32.
The scene begins with an over the shoulder medium shot of Mr Blonde, the antagonist of the scene. We do not get to see the person whose shoulder we are looking over, until later in the scene. As Mr Blonde (played by Michael Madsen) puts on the radio, we can hear the diegetic sound of the radio, with a radio host talking. The camera then pans to track Mr Blonde as he walks by with a razorblade, as he begins shaving himself, connoting that he is at ease; acting as though he is at home. We, the audience, align ourselves with Mr Blonde, even though he is the antagonist, because we can see him. Furthermore, and the reason why this scene (and arguably film) is famous is because of the pop culture reference. The radio plays 'Stuck in the Middle with You’; a notably upbeat song which creates inverted expectations. Mr Blonde walks over to Mr Orange (played by Tim Roth) who is 'dead' on the floor, and checks to see if he is dead. At this point the man strapped to the chair is out of shot, allowing the audience to directly engage with Mr Blonde. Following this he begins to dance to the song playing. This creates humour, as the audience wouldn't expect a gangster to be that upbeat and normal, as well as his attempt at ‘moon walking’ and his swirling around and miming to the music creates humour in itself, simply because it's funny to watch. As the camera slowly pans to the right, following Mr Blonde at a low angled mid-shot, connoting his dominance in the situation, revealing the kidnapped man once again, who is at the extreme left limit of the shot, still allows the audience to fully align themselves with Mr Blonde, despite the appearance of a policeman in the frame. I should mention that prior to this scene, the audience are aware that the kidnapped man is a police officer that has been taken hostage for interrogation (to find out who the police informer is; in the gang). Even though this hostage is a figure of authority, and therefore someone who the audience should align themselves with, Mr Blonde is still seen as the 'funny one', creating humour and dominating the screen presence as his bright personality has come across. This effectively turns the audience in to the killer, putting them in the mind-set of Mr Blonde, so when we do see the policeman's face at a low angled close up; we have no emotion for him... at this point, because we like Mr Blonde.
Following the pan which was tracking Mr Blonde, there is a match-cut on action as he slices the policeman's face, the edit cutting from the OTS shot to a CU of the policeman's face in mid-act. This affects the audience as it comes so quickly and unexpectedly, leaving us appalled by what just happened, because Mr Blonde's personality turned from funny and bright to evil. There is then an edit, in the form of a cut, to the opposite side, with an OTS LA MS of Mr Blonde, his face in full view again, the camera then cutting once again to a SA CU of the blade, the background populated by the policeman, with the foreground being the centre of focus as the blade Mr Blonde has used to attack the officer will need to be clearly seen to allow the audience to be full affected by what happens next. Because of the mise en scene found in the scene, more specifically the policeman’s uniform, the audience can truly see how powerful Mr Blonde is, and, even though he previously seemed like a genuinely nice person (albeit ‘bad’ because he is a villain), as the audience could align themselves to him, he wasn’t a monster, he was like them, Mr Blonde is powerful and the dominant figure simply because he is loving the torture, connoted through his dancing and singing to a pop song, and highlighted by the fact that he is going to torture a policeman without a care in the world. In the narrative, following the previous slicing of the policeman’s face, Mr Blonde sits on him, and the policeman becomes even more distressed. We know, as an active audience, that Mr Blonde is going to harm the policeman with his razorblade. The camera then pans to the right, slightly tilting in the process, to simulate the audience’s reaction of looking away. This, along with the diegetic sound of screaming, creates implied violence, as the audience don’t actually see the policeman being tortured. Furthermore, this use of cinematography is something I would like to achieve in my own short film, as I aim to make my audience be voyeur directors, where they will look through the eyes of the killer, but at the end I want them to become spectators of the killing, so that they un-align themselves with the killer and witness him killing the protagonist, making them voyeurs but now aligned with the protagonist, and feel remorse for her. The stylistic of a pan will be used in my film to separate the audience from the killer, and to, like in Reservoir Dogs, simulate the audience looking away in disgust, especially considering that my climax consists of the antagonist hitting the protagonist over the head with a baseball bat. Following this, with the audience in a state of suspense as to what happened; Mr Blonde walks back in to shot, at a LA to connote his power, holding an ear. This clarifies the audience’s suspicions. In terms of setting and mise en scene, the audience knew that the policeman was going to get tortured, not only because of the dialogue in which Mr Blonde states he is going to torture him for fun, but beforehand, as we can see that it is set in an unused garage of sorts, with high windows denoting that it is slightly underground, like a basement, and therefore away from prying eyes, along with any attempt at rescuing the policeman. It is also worth noting that the editing throughout consists of long shots, in terms of the length they are on for, not distance, as well as cuts, as opposed to any kind of dissolves or fade to blacks. The editing is also continuity editing.
The scene begins with an over the shoulder medium shot of Mr Blonde, the antagonist of the scene. We do not get to see the person whose shoulder we are looking over, until later in the scene. As Mr Blonde (played by Michael Madsen) puts on the radio, we can hear the diegetic sound of the radio, with a radio host talking. The camera then pans to track Mr Blonde as he walks by with a razorblade, as he begins shaving himself, connoting that he is at ease; acting as though he is at home. We, the audience, align ourselves with Mr Blonde, even though he is the antagonist, because we can see him. Furthermore, and the reason why this scene (and arguably film) is famous is because of the pop culture reference. The radio plays 'Stuck in the Middle with You’; a notably upbeat song which creates inverted expectations. Mr Blonde walks over to Mr Orange (played by Tim Roth) who is 'dead' on the floor, and checks to see if he is dead. At this point the man strapped to the chair is out of shot, allowing the audience to directly engage with Mr Blonde. Following this he begins to dance to the song playing. This creates humour, as the audience wouldn't expect a gangster to be that upbeat and normal, as well as his attempt at ‘moon walking’ and his swirling around and miming to the music creates humour in itself, simply because it's funny to watch. As the camera slowly pans to the right, following Mr Blonde at a low angled mid-shot, connoting his dominance in the situation, revealing the kidnapped man once again, who is at the extreme left limit of the shot, still allows the audience to fully align themselves with Mr Blonde, despite the appearance of a policeman in the frame. I should mention that prior to this scene, the audience are aware that the kidnapped man is a police officer that has been taken hostage for interrogation (to find out who the police informer is; in the gang). Even though this hostage is a figure of authority, and therefore someone who the audience should align themselves with, Mr Blonde is still seen as the 'funny one', creating humour and dominating the screen presence as his bright personality has come across. This effectively turns the audience in to the killer, putting them in the mind-set of Mr Blonde, so when we do see the policeman's face at a low angled close up; we have no emotion for him... at this point, because we like Mr Blonde.
Following the pan which was tracking Mr Blonde, there is a match-cut on action as he slices the policeman's face, the edit cutting from the OTS shot to a CU of the policeman's face in mid-act. This affects the audience as it comes so quickly and unexpectedly, leaving us appalled by what just happened, because Mr Blonde's personality turned from funny and bright to evil. There is then an edit, in the form of a cut, to the opposite side, with an OTS LA MS of Mr Blonde, his face in full view again, the camera then cutting once again to a SA CU of the blade, the background populated by the policeman, with the foreground being the centre of focus as the blade Mr Blonde has used to attack the officer will need to be clearly seen to allow the audience to be full affected by what happens next. Because of the mise en scene found in the scene, more specifically the policeman’s uniform, the audience can truly see how powerful Mr Blonde is, and, even though he previously seemed like a genuinely nice person (albeit ‘bad’ because he is a villain), as the audience could align themselves to him, he wasn’t a monster, he was like them, Mr Blonde is powerful and the dominant figure simply because he is loving the torture, connoted through his dancing and singing to a pop song, and highlighted by the fact that he is going to torture a policeman without a care in the world. In the narrative, following the previous slicing of the policeman’s face, Mr Blonde sits on him, and the policeman becomes even more distressed. We know, as an active audience, that Mr Blonde is going to harm the policeman with his razorblade. The camera then pans to the right, slightly tilting in the process, to simulate the audience’s reaction of looking away. This, along with the diegetic sound of screaming, creates implied violence, as the audience don’t actually see the policeman being tortured. Furthermore, this use of cinematography is something I would like to achieve in my own short film, as I aim to make my audience be voyeur directors, where they will look through the eyes of the killer, but at the end I want them to become spectators of the killing, so that they un-align themselves with the killer and witness him killing the protagonist, making them voyeurs but now aligned with the protagonist, and feel remorse for her. The stylistic of a pan will be used in my film to separate the audience from the killer, and to, like in Reservoir Dogs, simulate the audience looking away in disgust, especially considering that my climax consists of the antagonist hitting the protagonist over the head with a baseball bat. Following this, with the audience in a state of suspense as to what happened; Mr Blonde walks back in to shot, at a LA to connote his power, holding an ear. This clarifies the audience’s suspicions. In terms of setting and mise en scene, the audience knew that the policeman was going to get tortured, not only because of the dialogue in which Mr Blonde states he is going to torture him for fun, but beforehand, as we can see that it is set in an unused garage of sorts, with high windows denoting that it is slightly underground, like a basement, and therefore away from prying eyes, along with any attempt at rescuing the policeman. It is also worth noting that the editing throughout consists of long shots, in terms of the length they are on for, not distance, as well as cuts, as opposed to any kind of dissolves or fade to blacks. The editing is also continuity editing.
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