Reservoir Dogs Remake (Evaluation)

I’ve finally finished my Reservoir Dogs video! It was a really interesting process, and I learnt a lot from it. The main things I learnt are the importance of planning and communication, and also how to edit, which is something I’d never done before.

What went right?

• In the way of planning, our props were undoubtedly the best thing. We paid attention to the smallest details, such as the things on the table, and tried to recreate this the best we could. We brought in items such as ketchup, an old phone and some pretend money to use in our diner scene, and I think this paid off for us.
• Our costumes, too, were well planned out. We decided to do an all girls version, complete with pencil skirts and everything!
  We all arrived early on the day of filming so we could get ready early and have more time to film, and I’m particularly glad we did because we cut it incredibly fine when it came to timing! We even bothered to go and borrow black blazers belonging to boys in our sixth form, rather than just making do with our navy ones – we wanted to be as exact as possible. We had long lists of how each character had worn their suit (or tracksuit), and made sure we stuck to them. Jess was even willing to have wrinkles and bags drawn under her eyes, and have some clothes stuffed up her top, as her character was meant to be fat and old.
• Our location was the best it could have been, given the time we were allowed. I think our attention to detail made our footage particularly good, and having good footage made the editing process much better. We had long lists and some very well drawn storyboards to help us with this, and our rigorous planning made me realise just how much work really goes into filming! I hope to remember this when I’m doing my next project and hopefully plan to a similar standard, if not better!
• Another thing that went particularly well in the project was editing; I certainly wouldn’t call myself an expert, but I’m proud of my efforts for a first attempt at using Final Cut… I feel I’ve learnt a lot of valuable skills through the editing process and I can’t wait for my next project where I’ll have to edit more footage. I like seeing the process of uncut footage, with all its flaws, being turned into something impressive. In particular, I’m proud of the timing in my Reservoir Dogs clip; each new shot is roughly in the same place as it is in the original clip, such as ‘A Film by Lauren Key’ coming up at a particular point in the music.
• Although I had doubts about my video to begin with, once I’d put our names in and slowed down the footage to match the music, it looked a lot more accurate and I started to feel much more positive about it.
• Another thing I’m particularly pleased about, having read my evaluation from my preliminary exercise, is that I didn’t make any of the same mistakes I made last time I had to film!

However… what went wrong?

• As a group, we did make a huge fundamental error; despite our storyboards, which matched the original clip quite closely, we didn’t use them properly. We used them to ensure each person was stood in the right place, but our communication, as a group, failed us; some louder members of the group were determined to get finished, and ignored some of the quieter group members, who pointed out that in order for it to look right, we’d have to move the camera backwards after each shot, as the characters are supposed to be walking. Our producer mentioned several times that we should be using the dolly, but due to her naturally quiet nature, she was talked over. Therefore, our footage looks incredibly inconsistent, as though we are all walking from exactly the same spot (which we are… but this is not how it should look!).
• Our bad communication, although irritating, has made me think carefully about who I want to work with for my ‘big project’, which we’re moving on to next. I am the kind of person who often gets shouted over, and I know that working with someone disorganised or unenthusiastic would drive me crazy! For example, we agreed to meet early on Wednesday to prepare for filming, but for a good fifteen minutes, there were only two of us waiting outside the media office. This wasted valuable time, and is not something I can afford to put up with in my main project.
• I also don’t think the colour of the names is quite right, which bugs me… Nor is the font of the words ‘Reservoir Dogs’, but I’ve only realised that recently, and it’s now too late to change it!

• Reservoir Dogs Remake (Filming) (08keyl.wordpress.com)
• Reservoir Dogs – The Making Of (08keyl.wordpress.com)
• Reservoir Dogs Remake (Editing) (08keyl.wordpress.com)
• Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino, 1992) (08keyl.wordpress.com)

Reservoir Dogs Remake (Editing)

Editing is not something I’ve done before; I was actually really nervous about doing it, because seeing all the uncut footage and being told to turn it into something good seemed ridiculous. I hadn’t really used the editing programme before, so it was all new to me. Despite this, I decided to experiment and just work everything out for myself, because I feel I learn better that way.

However, it still went surprisingly well. It didn’t go too badly, and I enjoyed it – it has made me realise just how much effort and hard work goes into making any kind of film, and I have new found respect for filmmakers.

Watching myself back was difficult, and rather embarrassing – I feel as though my appalling acting really let everyone else down! Nevertheless, we had decent footage to work with, and using Final Cut has turned out to be easier than I thought it would be. I was worried that my editing would be all disjointed and ‘clunky’, but slowing the clips down (the way they are in the film) makes them flow better, and of course they look more accurate.

I cut all the clips to roughly the right place, getting rid of the bits where we started laughing, and put them in order. I then slowed them all down by 39% (there’s no particular reason for this number, it just looked right). I put in some transitions, such as a fade from the café scene to the next part, and then edited in the correct names into each individual shot. Getting the colours right was difficult; once I’d got one colour right, I had to replicate it seven times!

The thing I found most difficult about editing was the writing at the end, which says ‘are… Reservoir Dogs’. I got the font right, and the colour right… but the words ‘Reservoir Dogs’ wouldn’t stop at the top of the screen, the way they’re supposed to, no matter what I did! Eventually, after a couple of lessons, I stopped trying to be so independent and asked for some help, and learnt how to use keyframes. Sadly, somewhere along the line, I’d lost the font and the colour, and it’s only now that I’ve finished and finalised everything that I’ve realised it’s no longer correct.
I also needed to add in names at the end of the clip, to replace Randy Brooks, Kirk Baltz and Rich Turner, who originally worked on Reservoir Dogs. I struggled to find names to use, so in the end I settled with using the names of my cousins.

My media studies teacher also kindly recorded his own voice as the radio voiceover so I could edit it in. I thought the sound would be the most difficult part of the editing process, but actually it turned out to be quite easy.

Overall, I’m really proud of my video; I’m sure there are flaws and things that could have been improved, but as my first shot at editing, I don’t think it’s too bad!

Reservoir Dogs Remake (Filming)

Luckily, we managed to get everything ready in time, and arrived at school early Wednesday morning in our shades, ready to collect our camera and get going! We had props, some rather bizarre and mismatched costumes, and a location. However, despite having fifty minutes to film one-and-a-half minute’s worth of film, we struggled to complete it within our allowed fifty minutes.

Our main problem was underestimating how much preparation we needed to do; we were still making crucial decisions in the canteen (our first location), which wasted some of our time. We had very well-drawn storyboards, but we struggled with using the camera to begin with; next time I think I will make sure the camera person is one hundred percent confident, as it is a big job and I feel bad that we gave one person so much responsibility when she wasn’t entirely sure how to use the camera.

Another big problem was our bad use of the storyboards; they were very well drawn, but we more or less ignored them. We did use them to ensure we had the right people in the right shots, but we did make a very stupid mistake… the scene shows a group of people walking down the road, and focuses on each of their faces. We stupidly filmed people walking several times, but always from the same place. It comes across as though we keep going backwards and forwards, and doesn’t look smooth at all.

However, I still think our technique was better than the other group; they opted to bob up and down in front of the camera to give the impression that they were walking. Having said that, now that we have edited the clips, theirs comes across quite well, whereas ours is inconsistent…
Reservoir Dogs Remake (Editing)

Reservoir Dogs Remake (Planning)

“Playing ‘Little Green Bag’ over shots of people walking makes them instantly look cool”

– Warwick Davis, Never Mind the Buzzcocks

We have recently been set the task of recreating the opening scene of Reservoir Dogs in media (Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino, 1992)), so we could then all have individual practise at editing. We were split into two teams, a boys team and a girls team (unsurprisingly, I’m on the girls team…) and we watched the clip a few times before dividing into our groups to discuss how we were going to go about our task.

There were eight of us in our team, and the first job was to allocate individual jobs to everyone. All but one of us had to be in the film, as there are seven in the scene, but as well as acting, we each took another role…

Producer (and Mr. Brown) – Jessica Marshall
Director (and Mr. White) – Jemma North
Cameraman – Lucy Slade
Storyboards (and Mr. Orange/Joe) – Rosy Louis and Jessica Morris
Costume and Props (and Nice Guy Eddie/Mr. Blonde/Mr. Blue) – Grace Olsson, Robyn Hughes and Kate Tindall
Location (and Mr. Pink) – Lauren Key

We had a week to get all of this organised and be ready to film first lesson on Wednesday 4th December. In the end, we managed it, but we still could have been better prepared; our props were great, our costumes were decent (despite being eight girls pretending to be eight guys), and our location was the best it could have been, given the time we were allowed. We found a wall in a relatively quiet part of school, with a road at the end of it. The other group used the other side of the wall, but personally I think our location was better!

My costume was relatively easy to get together; I wore my school uniform, with a plain black tie and a blazer borrowed from one of the boys in our sixth form (because girl’s blazers are navy). Grace and Jess, however, had more difficult outfits… We used makeup to create wrinkles and bags under the eyes, and Jess stuffed some clothes under her top, because she was far too slim to convincingly play Joe! Grace wore a white bomber jacket and a pencil skirt for her role as Nice Guy Eddie. As an all-girl group, we decided to play around with it a bit, so some of our group wore skirts, and clearly we all had long hair… although we’re all dedicated media students, getting new haircuts and growing facial hair was a step too far for us all.

Our props, too, were well planned out. We made copious notes of what was on the table in the cafe, and tried our hardest to replicate it. We brought in glass bottles and ketchup, and littered the table with plates and napkins. We even had an old fashioned phone, although there was some debate in our group about whether it was meant to be a phone or a radio… Our props in the canteen scene were probably the best thing about our filming though; it helped us win a box of Celebrations for having better footage than the other group, so I’m definitely not complaining.

However, despite our good planning for the mise en scene, we didn’t think carefully enough about what kind of shots we were going to use… which brings me nicely onto filming: Reservoir Dogs Remake (Filming).

Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino, 1992)

Reservoir Dogs is a film I’ve heard of so many times, but never wanted to watch.
Yet when we watched the beginning in class, despite everyone warning me it was violent and a bit grim, I suddenly wanted to watch it. Tarantino is widely regarded as one of the best directors ever, and since we are now re-making the opening scene of Reservoir Dogs in class, I felt I should watch it. I knew the music to the opening immediately; I hadn’t realised it was from this film. As Warwick Davis said in Never Mind The Buzzcocks, if you play ‘Little Green Bag’ over shots of people walking, “they instantly look cool”. This is probably convenient for everyone in my media group, as we have to recreate this opening scene as accurately as possible, and we don’t have their natural ‘swag’ and gangster look.

The film is an American crime film which depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist – although interestingly not the actual heist itself.

The film wasn’t even as violent as I expected it to be, luckily. The ear being cut off made me squirm a bit, but I was practically cheering when Mr Orange shot Mr Blonde. I also guessed that Mr Orange was the ‘rat’, just before that moment. I won’t lie, I was very proud of myself.
The ending bugged me because it was so ambiguous, but I guess it’s every film director’s ambition to make their audience think, and personally I’ve thought of nothing else since I finished watching it.