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Kill Bill Vol. 1 – Shot Analysis

Kill Bill Vol. 1 - Opening Scene Analysis

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Analysis of some screen shots from the opening of Kill Bill Vol. 1.

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Page 1: Kill Bill Vol. 1 - Opening Scene Analysis

Kill Bill Vol. 1 – Shot Analysis

Page 2: Kill Bill Vol. 1 - Opening Scene Analysis

Black and white is used in the opening scene to represent a flashback, this helps to create a complex narrative that is common within some thrillers, namely films like ‘Fight Club’ and ‘Memento’. This immediately establishes the genre because Tarantino is using a generic thriller convention that pays tribute to early noir thrillers such as ‘The Third Man’. The use of black and white in primarily colour films is to signify a time in the past, another example of this can be seen in the film ‘American History X’ in which all of the flashbacks are in black and white to help the audience understand clearly the shift in time. ‘Memento’ has an extremely complicated plot and the black and white scenes show flashbacks going forward, whereas the rest of the film, shot in colour, is actually shown backwards. Screen shot

from black and white scene in ‘Memento’. Similar lighting is used to create the contrasting shadow over the characters faces.

Tarantino uses Chiaroscuro lighting to create a strongly contrasting shadow across The Brides face, this helps to connote mystery and engages the audience as they are yet to see the character fully. This effect was most likely created by using non-ambient lighting, this is deductible by the full range of tonal values within the mise en scene and this could easily created by using bright non-ambient lighting. Tarantino is again establishing the genre early on by using this technique as it can be seen in classic noir thrillers to create suspension and mood, as can be seen in the picture to the left. This is a shot from the famous ‘Citizen Kane’ and the chiaroscuro lighting can be seen perfectly from the two windows leaking in the non-ambient light.

Page 3: Kill Bill Vol. 1 - Opening Scene Analysis

The diegetic sound of the footsteps are very important in this shot. The sound of foot steps help to connote fear or menace which helps to create suspense within the audience, especially as only the heeled boots can be seen and thus engaging the audience. Another important diegetic sound is the shallow, panicked breathing coming from The Bride. This can be heard over the opening titles and throughout most of the opening scene and it helps to create tension as it shows the vulnerability of The Bride in comparison to Bill. Also as Bill walks the floor creeks (diegetic), this makes Bill seem sinister, especially as the sound is real.

Bill is seen to be wearing cowboy boots, this could possibly tell the audience that he is a ‘redneck’ or comes from a southern state. This gives the audience a little hint about Bill’s character, this leaves the audience speculating and helps to captivate the audience. This is an effective device, known as an enigma, which means a person or object that is mysterious, puzzling or difficult to understand. In this case the enigma is the character of Bill as the audience to get to make the connection with the face of Bill.

The shadow created by Bill’s boot creates a sense of moral ambiguity and a general feeling of fear. This helps to add to the idea of the enigma as it makes Bill appear to be more mysterious, which of course, draws in the audience. The dark tones of what Bill is seen to be wearing could suggest his morality within the film, much of his clothes are darker colours (this also fits with the films soundtrack – Bang Bang by Nancy Sinatra, especially the lyrics “he wore black and I wore white”) and this could lead to suggest that Bill may be what some may consider a sadist. These small hints can help to intrigue the audience as they are left guessing about Bill.

A close up shot is used to show only the feet/boots of Bill. The close up shot is used to engage the audience and place them within the mise en scene as though they are with the characters, but this time it could be perceived that Tarantino has used the close up shot to purposely conceal the identity of Bill. A similar shot is used in the film ‘Witness’ (toilet murder scene) to build tension amongst the audience, therefore Tarantino is establishing the genre by making reference to this.

Page 4: Kill Bill Vol. 1 - Opening Scene Analysis

Tarantino uses the close up shots throughout this whole scene, this ensures the pace is kept and the audience are put within the heart of the action. Close up shots also help to place the audience in the mise en scene and in doing so, engages them with the film. In this particular shot the close up is used to show the emotions of The Bride, this creates a connection between the character and the audience, allowing them to feel sympathetic towards The Bride and immediately marking her out as the ‘hero’ or ‘good guy’. The shot could also be considered a POV as it seems the audience are put in the shoes of Bill when looking at The Bride, this positions the audience in the mise en scene and further captivates them.

The close up shot also captures Bill’s hand and handkerchief, further providing an enigma. The handkerchief has the name ‘Bill’ on it, allowing the audience to put a name to the voice and therefore engaging them. The fact that Bill carries a handkerchief with his own name on it suggests that he is vain and conceited, much like Jason from ‘Essex Boys’, this further adds to the image that Tarantino is trying to create of Bill, but it is much open to the audiences interpretation. Another element that adds to this vain appearance is the bracelets, suggesting that Bill is egotistical or a narcissist.

The diegetic sounds in this scene are important because it establishes the two characters, especially when Bill talks about sadism. The breathing and whimpering of The Bride when Bill touches her shows that Bill is to be feared and that he is the so called ‘villain’. This creates a sense of fear within the audience, which is often important in thrillers as many rely on the fear of things that could happen in real life. The sounds in this scene are all that the audience are given to try and understand what is happening, therefore engaging them.

Page 5: Kill Bill Vol. 1 - Opening Scene Analysis

Tarantino uses a generic thriller convention here, showing a large amount of blood which, obviously, connotes death/pain which can often be a big part of thrillers. For example, the film ‘Se7en’ is based largely around seven murders revolving around the seven deadly sins. This allows Tarantino to immediately establish the thriller/action genre. The blood also creates a chiaroscuro effect as the non-ambient light easily reflects off of the liquid, creating the light on dark, or in other words noir lighting.

The sound of a gun being loaded can be heard quietly in the background, this subtly prepares the audience for what is about to happen. Although the prior warning, the sound (non-diegetic) of the gun fire is used to make the audience jump, this intrigues the audience as it comes as a shock. Guns are generic conventions as they are used to symbolise death, as can be seen in ‘The Killing’ or ‘Natural Born Killers’ and so Tarantino is using this to establish the genre of the film.

Tarantino challenges generic conventions by using a strong female character as the lead role, and the film also features many other strong, independent females. This pulls away from the ‘femme fatale’ representation of women in films and changes the way that women are seen as objects, instead they are strong and equal to anybody else. In many ways the The Bride is similar to Lisbeth Salander in ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ in the way that she is ruthless and knows how to handle herself, she doesn’t need a man to be defined.

The soundtrack used for Kill Bill Vol. 1 is Nancy Sinatra’s Bang Bang. The lyrics from the song fit with the events of the film and provide a sort of backstory to the relationship between The Bride and Bill. For example, “my baby shot me down” refers to Bill shooting The Bride and “he wore black and I wore white” refers to the marriage scene, in which The Bride is wearing white and from what the audience are shown, Bill is wearing black.