1. Daniel Ciarlo
RTVF 181
Sublett
11/2/10
Term Paper
For this paper, I chose to watch Quentin Tarantino’s
Reservoir Dogs and Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler. These two
movies are widely acclaimed, and are two of my personal
favorites. After watching both of these movies without sound I
was able to really notice the visual style and techniques that
both directors were trying to accomplish. Not only was I able to
learn more about what the directors were trying to say through
their shots, but going back and watching the films with sound
again was much more enjoyable for me with a better understanding
of the films.
One of the first things I noticed when I started watching
Reservoir Dogs without sound was the way that Tarantino placed
the characters in each scene. The very first scene establishes
the relationship of the characters quite well. It opens with
them all sitting at a small coffee shop table. They’re huddled
fairly close together, deeply engaged in conversation, and are
all dressed exactly the same. This shot acts as a metaphor for

2. how close together these criminals have to work. Also,
throughout the film you can see the relationships between
specific characters. Mr. White and Mr. Orange are almost always
standing close to one another, while Mr. Blonde is almost always
farther away from the rest of the group. Their physical
placement in each scene is a clear indication of how these
characters feel about one another.
Another thing that I noticed was the contrasting use of
lighting throughout out the film. It seems that Tarantino wanted
to make a clear distinction between the outside world, and the
world that the criminals are living in. In the criminals’
environments, such as the warehouse and the headquarters, the
lighting is very dark and well hidden from the outside world.
The outside world on the other hand is very bright and acts as a
symbol for a place where bad things happen, considering out in
the daylight is where all of the robbery’s mishaps take place.
Also, when Mr. Blonde is torturing the cop in the warehouse, you
get the sense that the cop is alone and there is no one around
to save him. However, when Mr. Blonde leaves momentarily to grab
a can of gasoline out of his car, he steps outside and it
becomes much brighter. You suddenly realize how the warehouse is
actually right in the middle of town and help is most likely

3. very close by for the cop, but he would unfortunately never
know.
The use of camera placement in this film is also something
that I noticed while watching without sound. Many of the shots
in this film make the viewer feel like they’re part of the
action. For example, when the film opens with them at the coffee
shop the camera slowly rotates around the table at eye-level
with the characters to make you see what it’s like to be sitting
there with them. Also, when Mr. White is driving the wounded and
screaming Mr. Orange back to the warehouse, the camera is placed
in the front seat of the car, giving the impression that you’re
sitting in the car with them and are actually trying to escape
the scene of the crime with them.
Throughout the film, there is never a single shot of the
bank robbery taking place. This is a crucial element in giving
the viewer the opportunity to use his/her imagination in regards
to how horrific the robbery must have been. In one scene, Mr.
Pink is shown running with a sack of money down the street and
stealing a car while being chased by the police. While watching
without sound, I noticed that the shot never showed him start
running and never showed him ending his drive after stealing the
car. This lets the viewer imagine just how far Mr. Pink had to
run to avoid the police. All other flashbacks to the robbery are

4. also far away from the bank and show the criminals trying to
travel a distance that is not shown to the viewer.
Watching Reservoir Dogs without sounds really showed me a
lot of things that I would have never noticed otherwise. Camera
usage, lighting, and character placement were all very important
elements of the film. Along with Reservoir Dogs, The Wrestler
brought many new things to my attention.
The Wrestler is the story of Randy “The Ram” Robinson, an
old and washed up wrestler from the 1980’s. He continues to
wrestle into his old age because he has nothing else better in
his life. After watching the film without sound, I was able to
pick up on a lot more things that clearly define the amount of
pain and emotion that Randy has been going through for many
years.
The film features many shots of Randy from behind, to give
the impression that the viewer is following him through all the
horrible things in his life. When the film first opens, there is
an elaborate title sequence showing how great Randy used to be
in his prime. However, when the first scene begins, it is a wide
shot of Randy, beat up and covered in blood, sitting in some
sort of elementary school room, with his back to the camera. You
don’t need sound to see that this is the path that his life has
taken him too. For a while after this scene, all you see is his

5. back as the camera follows him through various places, including
his old trailer he’s locked out of, and the dark van that he has
to sleep in.
While watching this, the viewer sees that he’s physically
similar to his old self. He appears to be fairly young and
muscular, and still has his long blonde hair. However, when the
camera finally comes around to reveal Randy’s face, his pain
becomes a shocking reality. His face is clearly beaten up,
molded, swollen, and full of depression.
Also, much like Reservoir Dogs, the use of lighting in this
film is very important. However, it’s the exact opposite. In The
Wrestler, it is the bright places where good things happen and
the dark places where his depressing reality awaits. The only
thing that brings Randy happiness is being under the bright
lights of the ring and wrestling for his fans. When he’s in the
ring, the lighting is very bright and often glares into the
camera. Also, when he’s at home it is very dark and sometimes
you can’t even make out Randy’s face.
In the middle of the film, Randy decides to quit wrestling
and work full time at the local grocery store’s deli counter. On
the first day of the job, there is a long shot(from behind)that
follows him as he makes his way through the stock rooms and out
to the deli. When he gets to the deli entrance, he stands there

6. and looks in almost as if he’s about to enter a ring. The deli
looks very bright compared to the stock room. This tells the
viewer that this is Randy’s new place for good things to happen,
and is replacing the old days of wrestling. In the end of the
film, Randy decides he wants to go back to wrestling. He enters
the ring, which is once again the bright place of the film.
While it doesn’t actually show it, it is implied that Randy dies
in the ring. It can also be implied that he most likely died
happy, surrounded by the people he loved.
While many shots in this film are of Randy’s back, when he
deals with the broken relationship between him and his daughter,
almost all the shots are of his front. It is pretty clear that
this was done in order to show the amount of emotion in Randy’s
face, as well as his daughter’s. Throughout the course of their
relationship, the camera shows their faces in extreme emotions
of depression, content, happiness, anger and failure. It also
seems to compare the broken down face of Randy to the young and
clean face of his daughter, although it seems to imply that due
to her emotional issues, she could end up like her father.
Watching Reservoir Dogs and The Wrestler was a very eye-
opening experience for me in terms of film analysis. There was a
surprising amount of elements in the films that I would have
never noticed otherwise.