Snatch - Last Fight Scene - Analysing sounds

Snatch – Last fight scene

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIpHuJNod3s

The sequence I am going to be analyzing is from the film Snatch. I have chosen to do the last fight scene where Brad Pitts character, Mickey O’Neil, is fighting a man in a boxing ring to help his “businesses partners” win a bet.

There are a few examples of non-diegetic sounds in this sequence. For example at the beginning of the scene we can hear music in the background, this music is fast passed and exciting, this connotes that this fight will be interesting and it will be action packed. So this makes the viewer excited to see what is to come. However as soon as Mickey punches his opponent the music suddenly stops. And we hear the diegetic sound of the punch and then it fades into sounds of air whooshing past and the screech of what sounds like a camera lens focusing, when this happens we get a close up of the two “business partners” heads, who are in the audience. So as the viewer this makes us feel like we are hearing what the guy who got punched is hearing but when the camera sound comes in it makes us focus our attention on the expressions of the “business partners” in the audience. This connotes that this was something Mickey should not have done and we are eager to see what is to come next.

After this its cuts back to Mickey and we hear the shouting of the boxing audience once again. We also hear the referee say some words but they are quite muffled so once again it feels like we are the man who has just been punched so we cant hear properly or we are in the audience so the shouting is louder than the referee. When they start fighting again we can hear the diegetic sounds of them breathing and the sound their hands make when they go for a punch but miss. When they hit each other we can also hear the diegetic sound of the fist contacting the skin, this sound is also synchronous to the movement.

At 0.44secs we see Mickey being hit and we hear what sounds like a rope being strung. We then get a moment of silence before we see Mickey rebound off the rope and go to attack the opposition; at this moment we hear the non-diegetic music come back, it is the same faced paced song from before. This connotes that something adrenaline rushing is going to happen and that Mickey is ready to fight again. The music is significantly louder than before and the punches become more of a background sound, this makes us focus on the music and as the music has a high energy so it excites us as the viewer and make the action more intense. However, this music we first hear is just a riff of a guitar but then when Mickey dodges a punch from his opponent and hits him in the stomach, at 0.55 seconds, the music suddenly gets a drum and percussion beat to it. This connotes that Mickey is suddenly in power and is making his move and because the viewer wants Mickey to win it excites us; the music is also parallel to the action.

The viewer then hears the diegetic sound of bell ring signalling a break, and we hear Mickeys “business partner” Turkish give him advice but then the shot changes to the opponent on his side of the ring and then back to Mickey who has stood up and is preparing to fight again, but during this we still hear the voice of the Turkish explaining what Mickey has to do, so this part started off with diegetic sounds but then transferred to non-diegetic sound when the voiceover came in.

At 1.38 seconds the viewer sees Mickey get punched in the face by his opponent, when this happens we hear a non-diegetic sound of the music being stopped as if it is on a record player and the we hear a bell ring which is diegetic, this bell ring may connote that Mickey has had enough and is now losing again so he needs a break. After this for about 20seconds we hear a mixture of different sounds such as, breathing, air whooshing and some other strange percussion effects. While this is happening we see a mixture of shots of them fighting however this mixture is very random so it matches the sounds. This makes the viewer feel a bit disorientated and like they are in the fight or are watching it but its all blurring into one.

After this scene the viewer hears the diegetic sound of the bell ring and they see Mickey fall to the floor, we also hear shouting from Turkish and we see about 5 men come into the ring and start fighting. However the viewers only hear the non-diegetic music in the background and the action is rushed so this makes the viewer feel like the chaos in the boxing ring is getting bigger and more out of control. The music then fades to the background when the viewer sees Mickey sit down on his chair in the corner of the ring and Turkish comes over to talk to him. However when Turkish first talks the viewer can see that it is in real but then the action turns to slow movement while the voice stays the same so this is asynchronous. The scene then goes back to real time when we hear Turkish’s last sentence. However, during this last sentence Mickey’s breathing is really loud and is very low, his breathing wouldn’t normally be this loud so it makes the viewer feel that the director has put this in to emphasise how tired and exhausted he is, so they can have a bit of sympathy for him.