Before Pulp Fiction, the master of snarky cinema, Quentin Tarantino, helmed his debut crime film Reservoir Dogs. Following various criminals during the aftermath of (and the events leading up to) a poorly executed diamond raid, one of his signature moves was the low-angle shot from within a car trunk. Aimed up at three of our key criminals - Mr. Blond (Michael Madsen), Mr. White (Harvey Keitel), and Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi) - we the viewers are faced with the goofy yet ultimately intimidating faces of the villains of our story, one of which also happens to be our hero.
Despite of this movie's innovations and unique camera angles, Tarantino did not attain fame until his breakthrough hit Pulp Fiction, in which two hitmen (John Travolta as Vincent Vega and Samuel L. Jackson as Jules Winfield, pictured below) who look like they're out of the 70s are on a quest for a mysterious briefcase. And that's only one of the movie's plotlines! In this unforgettable scene, backlight is completely eliminated from the shot save for the centered window which spotlights our two killers. It not only helps the background match their pitch black suits, but it frames the two as angels of death of sorts, which plays into the so-called "miracle" that happens soon after this shot.
After many years of dedicating himself to his two-part epic Kill Bill, Tarantino took part in a little experiment called Grindhouse, which was a term for double features from the 70s that showed low-budget highly violent motion pictures. When it came out, you could see his film Death Proof and his friend Robert Rodriguez's film Planet Terror for the price of one ticket! Unfortunately Grindhouse did not make a lot of money, but it did make for a great experiment in cinema. This shot in particular, in which our four female protagonists go after a killer stuntcar driver, demonstrates the Rule of Thirds, in which we get a richly vibrant foreground (a shiny yellow sports car), an intense performance from Tracie Thoms as Kim in the middle ground, and our grinning hooligans in the backseat.What similarities do you see in the plots of all three of Tarantino's films mentioned here? Why do you think he tends to sway this way as a director?
What sets Death Proof apart from Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction?
