Editing Analysis

Gabriella Vetrano

Editing Analysis

Clip: Snatch (2:30-4)

The hare coursing scene in Snatch, directed by Guy Ritchie, uses editing to compare two different situations playing out at the same time that are both significant to the story. The section I chose to focus on (minutes 2:30 to 4 in this video) primarily uses a montage to show the similarities between the hare being chased by the dogs and Tyrone being chased by Bricktop’s thugs.

The sequence begins when the music that had been playing faintly underneath the conversation between Turkish and Mickey (Jason Statham and Brad Pitt) picks up. The first shot is a full shot of Tyrone exiting a convenience store. This cuts to the medium closeup shot of the thugs in the car, coming upon Tyrone. There’s a brief cut to the dogs pulling at their leashes before it cuts to two close-ups of men placing their bets on whether the hare will be caught or not. The camera cuts to a medium-wide shot of Tyrone leaving the store and realizing he’s being followed. He seems to make eye contact with the thugs in the car who, in the next shot, stare back at him. Cut back to the dogs pulling at their leashes; like the thugs, they have caught sight of their prey. There’s another close up of money being exchanged as bets are still being placed before the camera cuts to a medium close up of Mickey, who is smoking and talking. The camera cuts back to the car where one of the thugs points out Tyrone. In the next shot, the dogs are let off their leashes and they run off camera. There’s a jump cut to another medium wide shot of Tyrone, who now understands the situation he’s in, abandoning his paper and also running offscreen. Before he is out of the frame the camera cuts to a close up of the hare running for its life. The chase has begun.

Next is a full shot showing the two dogs in hot pursuit of the rabbit. At the same time, a wide shot shows the car is almost upon Tyrone as he rounds a corner. There is a cut that takes the viewer back inside the car as a thug gets out to pursue Tyrone on foot. For a brief moment, the camera returns to the close up of the hare before coming back to the inside of the car. As the thug pursues Tyrone, the two dogs are seen from behind closing in on the hare. Finally, we get a medium-wide shot of the thugs, who have apprehended Tyrone, wrestling to get him in the trunk. Brief cut to the dogs practically on top of the hare before we see the thugs push Tyrone into their trunk. There’s a medium closeup of the dogs as they run, followed by another hare close up. There’s a shot of Tyrone cowering in the trunk before we return to the medium-wide of the thugs kicking Tyrone and shutting the trunk. The dogs are closer to the hare and we see a medium shot of the thugs, now in Bricktop’s gym, pushing a terrified Tyrone. Cut to dogs chasing, cut to thugs dragging. Close up of dog snapping at the hare’s hind legs and missing. Cut to Tyrone being dragged and the dogs running but being a bit farther from the hare. There are more cuts to Tyrone being terrorized by Bricktop interspersed with shots of the hare being chased by the dogs. The sequence ends with Tyrone confessing his involvement in the robbery of Bricktop’s bookie and the hare escaping the dogs once and for all.

The entire sequence lasts 90 seconds but involves 2 chases and an interrogation. Ritchie builds tension by showing the thugs/ dogs stalking their “prey” before the chase begins. The way the shots switch back and forth leads viewers to draw the comparison between the two situations. Tyrone is like the hare, running for his life from the big bad dogs.