Textual Analysis of the film Snatch

I am going to complete a textual analysis of the film Snatch, I am going to do this using screen shots. I am going to watch the opening sequence to this film over and over again until I am very familiar with it so that I can complete a detailed and useful textual analysis. I am going to analyse what makes up each shot, the music, the type of shot, the characters and the setting. This exercise will help me design my storyboard and might give me some valid ideas which might inspire my final opening movie sequence.

The opening shot shows a group of men in the back of a van taking off their disguises. It is a long shot, these things make us want to know what they have just stolen and what they are doing.

 This shot is very important, It firstly shows us what the first screen shot left us wondering, they stole a diamond and it must be a very valuable diamond. It also shows us the title of the film, the writing is in bold and underlined implying that it is important. This shot is a close up.

 After the establishing shot it goes onto showing the main characters in the film doing something significant about them, this is a medium close up shot.

 After it shows the character it stops in a freeze frame and comes up with their name and a picture of them. The picture show the characters in contrasting colours which adds emphasis to them.

When they are showing the characters they link them together by similar things in the shot like gambling or in this case, throwing stolen goods to each other. This is also a medium close up.

Sometimes it even does strange thing like turn the shot upside down, they have done this link the shots together, in this shot he gets turned upside down and the things in his bag fall out and onto the next shot which is a poker table.



This shot shows some of the things which the film is centered around, this shot shows some illegal gambling.





This shot shows some of the people you are going to see in the film, there is a lot of fighting in the film and this supports this. This also gives us clues on the plot lines of the film.



This shot shows a man loading a shotgun, this gives us an idea of the kind of weapons we will see in the film and also some plot lines and the type of violence we will see.

This shows someone torturing someone else, we know that the film is going to be violent but this gives us an idea of how violent it will be.

In one of the final shots we see the diamond again, this means all the main characters have been introduced and now the real plot lines will start.

Now all the mean at the start of the film are reintroduced, they are all still in the van but out of their discuses and seem to be discussing business.

This close up shot is showing one of the men holding a gun, these men seem to be foreign because they have an accent. The man holding the gun reminds us how dangerous they all are.






A lot of close up sots have been used in this opening sequence, they have done this to make sure we recognise and understand who all of the main characters are and gives us a clue what they do to make a living. I believe that this is a very successful opening to the film, it uses a range of techniques to achieve an entertaining beginning to the film. The music used in this extract of the film is very upbeat and runs throughout apart from the beginning and end where dialogue is used. Doing to textual analysis of this film has definitely helped me and inspired me to make a successful and entertaining film opening. It has helped me realise that I need to use a range of shots to convince the viewer that it is real and make them achieve escapism.