Mise-en-scene in Reservoir Dogs

For this blog entry I am going to be talking about the way Quentin Tarrantino was able to use different functions of mise en scene in one of his classic heist films Reservoir Dogs.  Although Terrantino isn’t known for his heist films, this fan blog believes that he did a great job with it. 

The film Reservoir Dogs starts out with a group of six strangers, who all happen to be criminals, who are all hired by one crime boss to pull off a diamond robbery.  The men only know each other by fake names, but are all very sure that they will be able to accomplish the heist.  But when the police show up right when the robbery is taking place the movie takes a different turn.  The men begin to panic and start a shoot out with the police.  After the gang escapes, the men gather together at a predetermined warehouse and they start to point fingers at each other and believe that someone is an undercover police officer. 

First I would like to focus on the way a few of the scenes in the movie are shot.  According to an article from slideshare.net, At the start of the film the characters are all not doing very much, just sitting around a table.  To keep the audiences attention the camera moves around the table to each individual character, as without the movement of the camera the shot would not be very intriguing.  This type of shot is commonly used in heist films.  One example that comes to my mind right away is the scene in the film The Killing where the men are all gathered together in a smoke filled apartment all huddled together at a small table, planning their perfect crime. 

Another function of mise en scene from the film is the way that the characters dress.  Most of the men with exception to two, are usually always in the same black suits.  This simple example can go a long way with the audience because it shows that even though we as an audience know that the characters are supposed to not know each other, this creates a sense of unity with the gang. 

Some other elements of mise en scene that are especially important to this film are Tarrantino’s use of props in the film.  According to coursework.com, The guns are shown and used a lot in the film but there are no other really important props except for the diamond bag. Although the diamond bag is barely ever seen it is important because that bag is what it is all about and why this is happening. At the end Mr Pink gets the diamonds; out of all the characters, he is the only one alive and he has the diamonds.  Although with many of Tarrantino’s films you usually have plenty of guns (or weapons) and one main treasure (the diamond bag). 

Reservoir Dogs does a great job with the different functions of mise en scene along with outstanding acting in film.  Although this film is getting older and older as the years go by, it still is widely considered many peoples favorite movie. 

Works Cited

"Essay: An Analysis on the Film Reservoir Dogs.." Essays & Coursework Help. GCSE, A-Level, and University essay and coursework library - Coursework.Info. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.coursework.info/University/Mass_Communications_and_Documentation/Media_Studies/Film_Studies/An_Analysis_on_the_Film_Reservoir_Dogs_L47498.html>.

"Reservoir Dogs Opening Sequence Essay." Upload & Share PowerPoint presentations and documents. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.slideshare.net/dilly90/reservoir-dogs-opening-sequence-essay>.