Analysing 'Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels', Guy Ritchie, 1998

‘Lock Stock’ is a film which a variety of audiences can relate to. Its hybridised genres attract different social groups but also allow the director to use different aspects from a range of genres to employ a range of connotations and denotations. The film could be categorised in to either crime, British Gangster or the comedy genre.
From the beginning of the film the generic expectations are satisfied in the gangster genre as the film employs stock locations, characters, costumes and non-diegetic sounds which are used in classic British gangster movies, such as slang and cockney accents, a suburban London setting and smart, snappy outfits. We understand that the film is based on the life and times of misfit gangsters as we are introduced to the male lead characters, Eddie and Bacon in the first few minutes of the film. We understand after hearing the voiceover say ‘its time to move on and he knows it’, in a hardened cockney accent, that the following story will be based around the life and times of these two characters and what exactly they are going to move onto. The generic expectations of the film are fulfilled with crime as we understand that what the two leads are doing is dodgy deals on street corners, something that the police don’t take too kindly too as a chase between the dealers and the police ensue. The cockney accent, location and the suitcase full of ‘stolen’ goods connotes that these characters are involved in some dodgy business. The comedy genre is established through the cockney rhyme and slang as well as the foolishness of the characters, letting themselves get so close to being caught. Things which anchor the film as being a gangster film are the stock costumes such as the buttoned up coats, the cockney accents employed by these typical British gangsters and the location which denotes a dilapidated estate where small time gangsters can thrive.The director treats each genre quite playfully in the fact that he has decided not to stick with one particular genre but to mould a variety together to produce a beginning which the audience finds funny, intriguing and exciting and for that reason wants to watch more. Although the text does not conform to the characteristics of one genre specifically, we see that each genre has been thought of, such as the up beat and rebellious soundtrack for the comedy genre, the accents and arrogance of the characters for the gangster genre and the stock characters of gangster vs. police for the crime genre. The Evening Standard called it ‘The year’s best British movie…one of the funniest films I have seen in years’.Mise-en-scene is used throughout the beginning to give the audience a true understanding of what is going on. In one of the very first establishing shots, we see Bacon through a crowd of people, selling what we connote is stolen goods. By showing us all the surroundings, the audience can see everything and try to work out what is going on. The leading line of the shutters from each side of the shot leads us towards Bacon which highlights his significance. Mise-en-scene used in the beginning helps establish where the characters are such as outside the shops and the alleyway, what time of day events are taking place (bright lighting to convey daytime), what the characters are wearing (helps audience understand the weather is probably quite cold due to the big, buttoned up coats and scarves, and their smart trousers and shoes connotes that both Bacon and Eddie are traditional British gangsters). In a MCU shot where we can see Bacon with his customers in front, we can see his table of goods in front of him so the audiences can immediately understand that what is going on may be illegal due to the fact that the table is makeshift and these deals are going on outside a closed shop in east London. Bacon’s non verbal language shows us he is very confident in what he is doing and perhaps has been involved with selling goods on street corners for a long time: he knows how to manipulate a customer into buying from him.In the first opening shots where we see Bacon selling his bargains, we are placed within the shot so the audience connotes that they are one of the characters in the film, looking in on him selling his items. The shot used here is a MCU shot so our eye is focused mainly on the character but we can see objects and scenery behind, such as other customers coming in and out of the shot and establishing where the deals are going on, in front of a closed shop. CU shots are sued after this so we only look and listen to what Bacon is saying as Ritchie understand the cockney is fast paced and at times confusing so the audiences attention should be focused on understanding what is being said. A customer walking towards the deals in front of a camera acts as a leading line towards the main focus. The camera used here is steadicam. This gives the effect that the audience believe they are in the shot looking in on the action, and it is used over similar camera movements such as handicam as this would give a feeling of confusion and disorientation, whereas Ritchie wants the audience to understand what is going on straight away. When Bacon is talking back to Eddie, the director uses a POV shot, so we are placed in his footsteps, looking at the customers coming towards the action whereas previously we were placed as a customer looking in. A CU is used here so our attention is drawn directly towards the actor speaking and our eye is not drawn to anything else: we understand what is going on and what is being said immediately. The director chooses not to employ the rule of thirds too often in the opening scene as he wants to establish who the main characters in the story will be. Although shots where characters are placed directly in the centre look unnatural, we are forced to look at them and remember their faces for later on in the film. The director also makes sure that every main character has enough head and lead room in their shots, compared to the customers who are sometimes not all in a shot, making us realise that these people are insignificant and will not contribute to the story later on. CU shots are used to bring emphasis on particular objects during the opening. When the police arrive, there are a number of quick and close up shots of objects such as Bacon and Eddies face and the suitcase. These shots create both confusion and tension and the pace suddenly builds up. As well as highlighting the urgency of the situation, these shots convey that these are ill things of importance and should stay within the audiences mind as the film progresses. The panning shot showing the police and both Eddie and Bacon run past conveys urgency and exhilaration. This camera movement is used to once again place us within the action and watch head on as a ‘cops ’n’ robbers’ chase goes on right in front of us. The characters non-verbal language shows they are trying to run as fast as possible to avoid getting caught. The shot size here is LS to leave emphasis on where the chase will lead to as wee see both police and gangsters run off into the distance. The final shot we see in the end of the opening sequence is a low angle shot, looking up ate Eddie and Bacon run down the stairs. As well as showing them to be high up and of importance in the film we are placed once again in the action, with the two characters running off to the right of the camera. Throughout the opening Ritchie places us a character in the story, taking us through the life and times of Eddie and Bacon. The director slows down the action in the slow motion shot of the pair running down the stairs. As the narrative is being said whilst this is going on we do not want to be distracted by anything else. If Ritchie used lots of different shots during this speech our main attention would not be on what is being said. By keeping the same shot whilst the character talks, we can learn a lot more about them.Sound is used in the opening to anchor the images used and to help the audience understand what each image means. For example, we hear the customers talking amongst themselves, and this connotes that we are actually watching a real life dodgy deal going on. The director uses a sound bridge, the soundtrack, from one part of the story to the next to help the audience understand that what is taking place now, the police chase, is very different to what was going on before. The soundtrack itself is very high-paced and has a fast tempo which coincides with the action which is going on which escalates from an everyday business deal, with no music, to a chase throughout London, with an up-beat soundtrack to create a feeling of fun and action within the viewer. What we would expect to hear when Eddie and Bacon rush down the stairs would be the sound of footsteps and items from the suitcase crashing against the floor. Instead all we hear is the voiceover, so our attention is on what Eddie and Bacon are doing but also on what the narrative is saying, we aren’t distracted by these sounds, which have been edited out after filming.When examining the pair of gangsters through their non verbal language we can see that they are both very confident in their business but at the same time we connote that Eddie is perhaps a little worried about being caught as he constantly looks side to side. He doesn’t speak with as much confidence as Bacon and is shown to be quite shy and wary. Bacon is a very outgoing character, and this is evident with his use of puns and deal clinchers all rolled into one short burst of dialogue. Only a few lines have to be spoken and we already realise that Bacon is very self-assured and has every faith in himself that he can secure any deal. This suddenly changes when he notices the police and he rushes to clear everything away and he becomes more hunched, connoting that he is scared of the police. In the opening we are only introduced to Bacon and Eddie, and no one else; we learn more in depth details about them during the narrative. By not introducing any other characters to the film too soon on, Ritchie gives the audience a chance to try and understand what the two main characters are like and make up their own decisions about what they have done in the past etc.There are a lot of visual techniques used throughout the beginning. In the film, Ritchie relied on a lot of pro-filmic effects to give the film its edge as he did not use a lot of CGI or special effects. Leading lines are used to draw us into or away from the action, such as the pavement leasing us towards where Bacon and Eddie are running, the line that a customer walks towards the action in front of Bacon and the stairs and railings leading up to the pair fleeing from the cops. There is a yellow filter used in the opening which gives the film a grainy and pure colour which connotes that the events are real life. The director also uses the rule of thirds throughout the beginning so our focus is on a variety of things within the shot, such as the background and foreground. When we see Bacon talking to his public our eye is on him in the top left hand corner but also the customers in the foreground on the left and right. Our focus is not on one thing but a variety, once again making us believe we are actually there. Low angle shots are used to establish Bacon as a protagonist, a high-standing character, someone who we look up to, the hero of the story. Lighting in the beginning connotes that the events are occurring during the daytime. The credits come into the shot as clear white typography against a black background; our focus is purely on the text. We can hear Bacon talking in the background as the credits come up and this connotes that deals are still going on. The text is similar to that of a typewriter and comes onto the screen as it has just been punched on with the typewriter. The audiences’ connotations of this are that we are watching a police report or reading a file about the life of Bacon and Eddie. The films language is very unique and the director’s use of camera shots, angle, vocabulary, sound and positioning establishes its style as being very new age and something which appeals to everyone.The narrative is linear and organised so we are presented with the beginning which sets us up and informs us for the rest of the story. When the films title appears during the opening scene, it is in white clear font in front of a pure black screen. This lets the audiences focus remain on the title and nothing else. Like very film beginning, the idea is to inform us and to create enigma. lock stock does this very well as we ask ourselves what are these ‘new things’ which Eddie are Bacon are going to move onto and we get to see the two characters in an every day situation where we can see them for what they are.The audience is positioned as an outsider looking in on the action. We are the ones who see the characters in the muddle that they are in, we are the ones who are to try to understand what is being said and going on, and Ritchie hands us snippets of information to do this. To help us to realise that something may be of importance later on in the film, there is prominence on the shot, keeping the image or words in the back of our heads, such as the information told to us during the narrative.We identify both Eddie and Bacon are the heroes due to the way they are filmed, low angle shots and a sense of charm help us identify this . We identify the character saying the narrative to have some say in Eddie and Bacon’s futures as he talks about them as if he has known them for some time. We don’t see the narrator so we are alienated from him but this helps to create enigma as we want to know who he really is.The major theme in the narrative is small-time crime. Throughout the whole opening there are shots which the director uses to establish things in our minds. We understand that the pair are both up and coming British gangsters and we perceive them to be just that through LS of the pairs faces, panning shots showing them and the cops and diegetic sound.Tension is created and maintained mainly through the music. The song builds from silence up to a fast paced and exciting tempo during the police chase. We see Eddie look side to side more than once, this establishes enigma as we question what is coming and also creates tension as we anticipate what they are hiding from. We realise through the narrative that we are going to watch the story of the two friends unfold in the future and this creates tension as we are anxious to find out what will be the final fate of the characters that Ritchie establishes very early on as the loveable heroes. As the police look to be very close to the characters during the chase we are unsure whether they will actually get away and this creates tension which is maintained throughout the chase.When we think of British Gangster films, we think of hardened criminals, very masculine and proper, although the male lead gangsters in lock stock are presented as being quite different from an audiences conventions, they are quite clumsy letting themselves come close to being caught, they carry no weapons and are shown to be quite skinny compared to other strong and muscular characters in other British gangster movies. They both have cockney accents as well as Bacon having a shaven head so some aspects of a gangster genre are kept but Ritchie decides to go against traditional conventions and give his own spin on British gangster. They are shown to be quite sure in what they are doing but vulnerable in the fact that they never quite know what is round the corner. The customers at the beginning, an everyday middle class social group, are portrayed as being of little importance to the story, having no place amongst the good or the bad, the cops or the robbers.The framework of semiotics used in the opening sequence include the visual of the suitcase containing what we perceive to be Bacon’s entire business and it connotes that this is his way out of suburban London. A shaven head man immediately connotes toughness and this is highlighted with Bacon’s rough accent. The alley way where Eddie and Bacon run through is a dark black which is similar to the clothes which the two gangsters wear, here we understand that the pair are perhaps a part of the streets and blend in well into their surroundings and activities, and the black clothing also symbolises that the two are perhaps hiding something and are perhaps a little rebellious compared to the other customers we see who wear lighter colours. The producers of the film may have encoded the text with preferred meanings in mind to be structured later on in the film but in the opening the audience can only interpret and understand what they are seeing.The target audience of the film is men, predominantly young men. Anybody watching lock stock would find it very visually impressive but Ritchie made the film for the younger comedy and action lovers, normally aging from thirteen to thirty year olds, putting a twist on the classic British Gangster movie. As British teenagers we can relate to the film; we can understand the language well, we can understand the hard times which Eddie and Bacon go through and we can relate to the characters circumstances.The probable readings of the text are that Eddie and Bacon are good friends and probably have been doing dodgy deals for quite some time (to make other customers around him jealous and want to buy Bacons products more, Eddie comes in and bids ten pounds for an item to start off the buying). We understand that the two friends were probably brought up in and live in London, highlighted by their accents and the suburban London setting which we find them in. The possible readings of the text are decided by the audience themselves. In the opening we only hear of the couples present and future, nothing of the past, Ritchie leaves it to the audience to create stories about how each of them has ended up on the streets of London. The audience would have an oppositional reading of the text as they get to know both Bacon and Eddie well and develop a liking for them justfrom the opening credits, but we see them getting chased by the police, so our reading is that although the pair are the bad people in society, they are the good people in the story.Our age and gender shapes how we read this text, as the target audience would be similar ages to the characters, also dictated by the viewing certificate, we look up to them as the heroes of the story. Our gender makes us think separately about the film. Teenage women living in Britain would interpret the text as being dominated by male characters as all we see of women are those in the crowd, characters that are of no importance to the story. The lead characters in the opening are both male as is the voiceover, speaking in a very hardened criminal sounding voice, someone who we always connote as being male. Teenage men living in Britain read the text as different from traditional gangster movies where there is normally a completely different enigma such as death. Men see the male lead as the hero and this is in keeping of films we like to watch, so all males will find the text appealing to their ‘action’ senses.

Capitalism is an ideological discourse evident within ‘Lock Stock’. We see both Bacon and Eddie trying to make a living for themselves, trying to make as much cash as possible whilst dodging the law. Through a capitalist government we are encouraged to make money for ourselves and the film displays how every man is out fro himself, although in the film this is very evident as the characters are British Gangsters and when the audience think about gangsters they immediately thinking of money and making cash quickly. We have a certain view about being a laddish man that is reinforced in the film; we look up to these characters and the way they do things. The counter culture attraction of crime governs the way we live our lives, there is a basis of social rules and practices which we follow, influenced by the film.