FOUND SCENE – Week 3

Reservoir Dogs – ‘Ear’ scene or ‘Stuck in the middle with you’ scene

The infamous film Reservoir Dogs is loved by many for numerous reasons. It has been a favourite of mine for a long time, and I always find myself returning to watch this movie and never find myself bored by it. The scene I have chosen shows Mr. Blonde intimidating the young policeman and finally gruesomely cutting of the policeman’s ear.

 

This scene in particular is where Mr. Blonde ‘tortures’ the young policeman whilst dancing to the song ‘stuck in the middle with you. It feels as though Quentin Tarantino directed this scene to suit the song. Usually when directing a movie or scene, they chose the music after the footage has been cut, however, with this scene, the flow of Mr. White and how he moves within the scene is based around the flow of the song.

Another reason why I chose this scene to comment on this week is because of Quentin’s ability to have long shots for a scene. In this scene The camera rolls for 3 minutes, moving slightly to show the characters better as Mr. Blonde moves around the frame. Quentins ability to do this without the viewers feeling like the shot is dragging on is truly amazing. These scenes are cleverly choreographed so the characters frame the scene rather than the camera needing to change angles to show their actions.

Similar to last weeks scene deconstruction of Night Rider, a majority of Reservoir dogs is shot within the inside of the warehouse that the men are hiding in.

I think it is truly amazing if directors can film a majority of their films within the same space and keep it interesting.