Reservoir dogs is a cult classic directed by Quentin Tarantino, released on October 23rd 1992. It was produced by Artisan Entertainment (formerly known as LIVE Entertainment) and Dog Eat Dog Productions. Reservoir dogs is a crime drama/thriller which had a target of 18-40 year old males, it starred: Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Eddie Bunker and Tim Roth.
Narrative
Reservoir dogs has a non-linear narrative but we do not see this in the opening sequence, throughout the film the films skips to before and after the robbery, through a series of flashbacks, while we never see the heist itself. As for character types, Propp's theory can not be applied so easily in Reservoir Dogs as in other films because the film does not focus solely on one characters goals and motives so it is hard to determine who the 'hero','donor' and other character types. Usually in a classic Hollywood narrative film, the 'hero' accomplishes his goal but in Reservoir Dogs, nobody achieves what they set out to do. Binary oppositions are also tricky to identify in this film as unlike classic films, Reservoir Dogs does not really let us judge the characters into specific groups. We could say that there is a a simple 'good v evil' element in the film but at the same time, following the criminals story makes it hard to judge whether they are overtly 'good' or 'evil'. Some examples of the enigma codes present in the opening sequence are: Why does Mr.Pink not want to tip? Where do they go after the diner? What happened to the bleeding character? This gives a mysterious edge to the film and makes the audience want to continue watching and find out the questions which they are asking.
Media Language
Everyone at the table apart from the characters of 'Nice Guy Eddie Cabot' and 'Joe Cabot' are dressed in suits, while sitting in a diner. They are sitting, drinking their coffee with empty plates in front of them and a couple of them are smoking. The diegetic sound of the characters speaking is clear throughout the opening sequence, but non-diegetic sounds that can be heard as well. We can hear the chatter of the other people in the diner, there is music playing in the background which is to add to the diner mood, we can hear the clatter of cutlery and plates to further add to the atmosphere, while we do not see these things, we do see some random people standing and sitting in the diner but the camera never focuses on them. The camera stays at about the same height as the characters shoulders while circling the table throughout the opening sequence, the camera is steadier when coming to a more important character in the film and stays on him for longer, while being shakier on less important characters and not staying on them for longer. This seems to foreshadow the significance of the characters in the film. There is low key lighting throughout the opening sequence which sets the mood and makes the scene more chilled out and relaxed like the characters at the table.
Representation
The most interesting thing about this opening sequence is that Tarantino is trying to portray a group of criminals. This is a very subversive representation of what we believe criminals to act like, as here we see an ordinary looking group of men in a diner, having a natural free-flowing discussion. We wouldn't associate these topics such as Madonna's "Like a virgin" with a group of criminals and it all seems a bit too calm for a heist movie. This representation relates to the target audience as the criminals are portrayed as normal people having a normal conversation, meaning that the audience can connect with the characters on the same level.
Reservoir dogs is a cult classic directed by Quentin Tarantino, released on October 23rd 1992. It was produced by Artisan Entertainment (formerly known as LIVE Entertainment) and Dog Eat Dog Productions. Reservoir dogs is a crime drama/thriller which had a target of 18-40 year old males, it starred: Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Eddie Bunker and Tim Roth.
Everyone at the table apart from the characters of 'Nice Guy Eddie Cabot' and 'Joe Cabot' are dressed in suits, while sitting in a diner. They are sitting, drinking their coffee with empty plates in front of them and a couple of them are smoking. The diegetic sound of the characters speaking is clear throughout the opening sequence, but non-diegetic sounds that can be heard as well. We can hear the chatter of the other people in the diner, there is music playing in the background which is to add to the diner mood, we can hear the clatter of cutlery and plates to further add to the atmosphere, while we do not see these things, we do see some random people standing and sitting in the diner but the camera never focuses on them. The camera stays at about the same height as the characters shoulders while circling the table throughout the opening sequence, the camera is steadier when coming to a more important character in the film and stays on him for longer, while being shakier on less important characters and not staying on them for longer. This seems to foreshadow the significance of the characters in the film. There is low key lighting throughout the opening sequence which sets the mood and makes the scene more chilled out and relaxed like the characters at the table.
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