Analysis of the Title Sequence of Snatch

1. ANALYSIS OF A TITLE
SEQUENCE: SNATCH
George Johnson

2. The initial image within Snatch is that of a pan shot upwards over the head
of an unnamed man to reveal characters Turkish and Tommy. An internal
monologue plays overhead in which Turkish explains the origins of his
and his partners name.
“My name is Turkish, funny name for an Englishman, I know. My parents-to-
be were on the same plane when it crashed, that’s how they met. They
named me after the name of the plane. Not many people are named after a
plane crash. That’s Tommy, he tells people he was named after a gun. I
know he was really named after a famous 19th Century ballet dancer”
Turkish then continues explaining the relationship between him and
Tommy, emphasising that the two are partners, but in a business-sense
only, and in rather comedic fashion accentuating the fact that the two are
not homosexuals. This monologue expresses the comedic genre of the
film initially.
Close-ups on both characters faces express their discontent of the
situation that they find themselves trapped in, creating initial character
development; as Tommy is portrayed as nervous due to his facial
expressions, setting up any involvement that he may have during the
forthcoming feature.

3. The sequence of events which occur during the opening credits of the film
include a variety of characters entering a diamond merchants in Antwerp,
Belgium. The characters are disguised as Hasidic Jews and thus non-
diegetic, incidental sound, music that may be considered as typically
Jewish plays concurrently with the scene.
The characters also speak in a stereotypically Jewish way, such as
pronouncing ‘d’ as opposed to ‘t’ and ‘ch’ in a way which may be described
as ‘phlegmy’, (“kurch” would be spelling it phonetically). The gang also
discuss the legitimacy of the creation myth (the story of Adam and Eve)
and the Immaculate Conception, thus showing that these “Jews” are in a
way, method-acting; they are appearing to be as legitimate as possible so
as to not arouse suspicion of their true intentions which are shown in the
forthcoming.
The names of the cast and crew begin to appear on the screen whilst the
path of the “Jews” is followed from them being ‘searched’ by security, who
refuse to allow one of the characters to drop his trousers to prove that he
is not carrying any weaponry,
resulting in quite a comedic scenario, in which the security guard just
lets him straight through without checking his person. The security
monitors show the movement of the ‘Jews’ as they enter a lift, exit it and
advance down the halls, whilst the camera pans to corresponding
monitors to display their actions to the viewer.

4. The tracking shots of the “Jews” finally ends after one speaks to a man
over an intercom, pretending to be a client called Mutti, the man allows
them to enter a room. When they enter, the camera pans toward them and
they are greeted by a security guard, whom one of the “Jews”
acknowledge. The workers within the facility to seem to all be practicing
Jews, as some wear kippahs whilst others wear payot indicating that
Judaism is an prominent theme throughout the movie’s duration.
The head of the Diamond merchants, a man named Michael expresses his
discomfort at how late “Mutti” has arrived to their intended meeting time,
the non-diegetic music then stops; “You've kept us waiting for half an hour.
Are you trying to give me heartburn?”. Michael then goes on to repeat
Mutti’s name twice, the first is to try and gain his attention, whilst the
second is in an interrogative tone as he begins to realise that the man
who he believes to be Mutti, is not who he seems.
Immediately following these events, the character who is later revealed
to be Franky “Four-Fingers” rips off his top to reveal 4 hidden guns, 3 of
which are taken by his compatriots whilst the last, he takes himself.

5. A Medium- Close Up shot following a dolly in, showing Michael’s face
expresses his surprise at the true identity of “Mutti” and the acts of four
people, who he believed to be clients, pulling out offensive weaponry in
order to steal from the merchants. Fast-action packed non diegetic
incidental music plays overhead, reflecting the frantic nature of the
scene.
Zoom in shots on Michael and Franky’s faces express their emotions of
surprise and satisfaction at the prospect of stealing a diamond.
The crew then proceed to attack the workers of the bank whilst fast-paced
editing occurs. A series of spin transitions are used to display the frantic
nature of the scenario whilst a wipe transition is also used to switch focus
between the characters present within this scene. Jump cuts are also
used for this reason, to emphasise the panicked nature which resides
over the movie.
The gang of “Jews” then immediately trash the office, kicking over filing
cabinets and knocking newspapers onto the floor all while stealing a
large quantity of small diamonds from a safe.
Franky “Four-Fingers” then proceeds to grab one of the workers whilst
asking “where is the stone?”, referring to a large diamond. When Michael
refuses to answer, the worker gets pistol-whipped twice. Finally, Franky
asks one more time before the shot cuts.

6. Immediately following this, the scene cuts to a diamond, indicating that Michael finally gave
into pressure and told the robbers the placement of the ‘stone’.
The robbers remove all their cosmetics and false facial hair, confirming that they are not
actually Jews but this was rather a guise in order to gain access to the diamond.
Franky then proceeds to inspect the diamond closely whilst the name of the film is revealed,
accompanied by a spin transition into a graphic match of a character revealed to be Cousin Avi
inspecting the diamond, a series of graphic matches following pan shots occur as the names
of the main characters are revealed in order. For example, Avi places the diamond in a safe,
whilst Sol reaches into another safe takes out a pile of money, which he throws. Immediately
following this, several wads of cash land on the desk of Mickey, who then proceeds to throw a
bag off camera. Following this, Vinny takes out some jewellery from the bag. The screen then
has another spin transition, in which the bag appears to be upside down. Following this, the
jewellery in the bag falls onto a poker table in the middle of a game, Franky “Four Fingers”
places some cards on the table, whilst Turkish picks up a separate set of cards. Various jump-
cuts proceed Turkish’s acts, insinuating that he has lost a game of poker to a friend. The
graphic matches then seem to stop temporarily as the characters of Gorgeous George and
Tommy are introduced. During their introductions, fast-paced editing is present throughout, as
the actions of Turkish are sped up considerably.

7. A wipe shot is subsequent to the character of Turkish walking off screen, in
which another character is revealed, placing a man in the boot of a car. Jump
cuts are used in this instance to express the desperate nature of the events.
A low-angle camera shot follows, to display that the character, revealed to be
Bullet-Tooth Tony, is a strong, dominant character. When he closes the boot,
yet another graphic match occurs as Boris The Blade opens a secret
compartment. A jump cut occurs revealing that he has pulled a shotgun from
the storage space, indicating that he is a violent character. Several more
graphic matches occur as the characters of Doug The Head and Brick Top are
revealed to the audience. Whilst finally, the last graphic match which shows
the mouth of a victim of Brick Top’s torture, matches the original diamond
that was held by Franky “Four-Fingers”, thus bringing the title sequence “full-
circle”. The fast-paced score ends. After Franky places the diamond in a
secret compartment in his briefcase, covered by newspapers, before he
claims that his plane leaves in 20 minutes, indicating that he is in an urgent
rush to smuggle the diamond out of Belgium immediately, or at least as soon
as possible.