Thriller Analysis: Kill Bill Volume 1

KILL BILL VOLUME 1 

Genre: Action Thriller

Characters:  The Bride (Black Mamba) - Uma Thurman

                    Bill (Snake Charmer) - Bill Carradine 

                    O-Ren Ishii (Cottonmouth) - Lucy Liu 

                    Vernita Green (Copperhead) - Vivica A. Fox

                    Elle Driver (California Mountain Snake) - Daryl Hannah 

                    Sofie Fatale - Julie Dreyfus

Story: The lead character, called 'The Bride,' was a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, lead by her lover Bill. Upon realizing she was pregnant with Bill's child, 'The Bride' decided to escape her life as a killer. She fled to Texas, met a young man, and on the day of their wedding rehearsal was gunned down by an angry and jealous Bill (with the assistance of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad). Four years later, 'The Bride' wakes from a coma, and discovers her baby is gone. She then decides to seek revenge upon the five people who destroyed her life and killed her baby.

The opening scene of Kill Bill (volume 1) stands out to me as you do not see the typical name of the film, production company and actors names first. The film opens with an intertitle displaying the quote "Revenge is a dish best served cold" followed by Miramax Films (the production company) presents and then the audience is instantaneously thrown into the sound of laboured breathing coming from the main character 'The Bride', who lies bloodied and on the brink of death surrounded by the remains of her wedding veil.  

This is a very effective way to film an opening scene as films are not usually opened in this way. The audience will feel intrigued and will follow the opening in an attentive fashion as there is already quite unusally for a opening alot of action as 'The Bride' is shot by Bill. 

We see our protagonist face in a close-up from a vertical high-angle shot. The camera is fixed and won’t move for the entire shot. The composition is quite interesting as well, as the Bride’s face is on left and the position her head is in is not quite vertical. Uma Thurman’s character doesn’t seem to be in a very good position, as there’s blood splattered on the floor right next to her, she’s bleeding, her nose seems broken and she has an enormous bruise on her left cheek. Her hair is all messed up and she’s sweating and breathing heavily. 

Here 'The Bride' is shown to be in a vulnerable position as we get a shot from Bill's point of view in which he is looking down on her as he converses with her and then kills her. This is a rarity as throughout the rest of the film 'The Bride' is portrayed no longer as the victim but as a strong character seeking revenge and we do not see her in this vertical high angle shot again.

 Interestingly, we are introduced to Bill characters through sound, as his presence can be heard after only a few seconds in the shot. First, we hear his footsteps. The show continues as the first monologue by Bill is delivered. His first line, the first words we hear in Kill Bill is: “Do you find me sadistic?” This is quite a strong question to ask to someone we assume you just beat to death. Furthermore, this line could be from the director Quentin Tarantino himself asking his audience if we find him sadistic as most Tarantino films are notorious for their heavy graphic content; violence and gore.

After that, we get to see Bill’s hand (which is the most we’ll see of Bill’s body in the first film) and his identified handkerchief as he ironically wipe a little bit of the blood on the Bride’s face. Powerless and suffering, the Bride is quietly crying while Bill continues to speak.  This is a clever way the film introduces the character Bill before 'The Bride' utters his name. The props and misē en scene play a very important role in the film as they can tell you more about the characters than the speech itself does at some points in the film. 

After a while, we hear Bill getting up and cocking a gun, while the Bride speaks her only words: “Bill, it’s your baby” before being shot in the head. We get a few frames where we see a lot of blood splattered on the floor, before the shot end and we see a triumphant title that says “The 4th Film by QUENTIN TARANTINO”, while the Nancy Sinatra rendition of Bang Bang starts.

 

 I couldn't find a full opening to this film in english so the opening is in french. However it still shows that only after the 'Bride' has being shot we are introduced to the rest of the actors names in the film and the credits.

Storyboard - Killers

The Killers  Opening Scene 


Here are sketch plans of the 58 second sequence of the film The Killers (2010) following frame by frame in seconds.

The opening to the Killers is 58 seconds long so in our storyboard we took that into mind and constructed a detailed sketch of the opening to refer to when we reenact and record our own adaptation. I've taken into account that not all shots such as mid shot or extreme close up have to be particularly long as this will bore the audience whose attention to the film will not be kept long if you focus on one particular subject or person for a long time. 

Consequently most of our mid shots and close ups are brisk and to the point with a maximum recording time of 3 seconds as I feel that focusing on unimportant things such as a mid shot of a crowd will draw the attention away from the crucially important scenes and the viewer wont be able to distinguish which part is important or not. 

However, scenes that were important such as the french dictionary left on the bench by the mysterious man with the glasses we focused more on; this will give the audience the rightful impression that the book is important somehow to the story line of the film and will keep them intrigued as to why such a unsentimental object is important. 

Watchings Documentary; Extension Task

1.) What does Thomas Sutcliffe mean when he says “Films need to seduce their audience into a long term commitment. While there are many types of seduction, the temptation to go for instant arousal is almost irresistible”

Thomas Sutcliffe is suggesting that if directors want their audience to watch the entire movie, they need to be drawn in and interested. Therefore, the film will need to have an intriguing and effective opening to the film that will interest the viewer.  Film Openings typically set the mood for the rest of the film and lets the audience know the situation. The audience will in the first few minutes of the film decide whether they will like or even bother to watch the film; Hence, the opening needs to be able to capture the full attention and interest of the audience.. 

2.) According to Director Jean Jacques Beineix, what are the risks of  ‘Instant Arousal’?

According to Director Beineix, the risks of 'instant arousal' is the question that is raised of what to do next? Beineix says that if your start the movie very strongly and you have encaptured and 'aroused' the interests of  the audience, you need to ask yourself what you need to do next to keep their interest at the same level. 

3.) Explain why  “A good beginning must make the audience feel that it doesn’t know nearly enough yet, and at the same time make sure that it doesn’t know too little.'

This is a good opening because the audience is given an idea of what the film is about and little clues of the plot or significant events to occur in the film will be shown in the opening. However, at the same time not too much of the film should be given away because the events should unravel throughout the course of the film so that the audience is always interested.

4.) What does critic Stanley Kauffmann describe  as the classic opening?Why does this work?

Kauffmann describes an establishing shot of  New York City as a classic opening. Starting with a close up of a building, then the camera scales up the building to a window, the camera then goes inside the window; rushing  past the receptionist desk and into the private office. This simple classic opening is effective because it carries the audience through the process to show the setting and where the first scene is to take place.


5.)  Why is Kyle Coopers opening sequence to the film 'Seven' so effective?

Kyle Cooper's  title sequence to the film 'Seven' is very effective because it introduces the audience to a pitch and tone that aren't quite compatible; thus creating a peculiar effect. Also, the  opening font of the cast fits in with the ambiguity of the movie and the non diegetic music also encourages this; building up tension.


6.) What did Orson Welles want to achieve with his opening to the film 'A Touch of Evil'? What did Universal Studios do to it? Why?

Orson Welles intended to start his movie without the credits and without title music because he wanted to push the  audience into the film straight away unexpectedly. Universal Studios included a score and the credits in the opening shot of the film because they were wary of the outcome. However, adding the score and credits took away the initial effect Welles wanted it to have on the audience disappointedly. 

7.) What is meant by “a Favorite trick of Film Noir"?  What is the trick?

The trick is beginning the film  with an event that happens at the end of the film; this makes it seem like this will ultimately be the  ending of the film so the audience know what will happen in the end but not the events occurring before it. This will make the audience want to stick to the film as they will feel like they have to find out what led to this event. 

8.) How does the opening to the film 'The Shining' create suspense? 

The opening to the film 'The Shining' successfully creates suspense because of the way the camera shots and the angles of the shots present the scene. The opening begins with a helicopter shot from above; this suggests that the helicopter is important. Then, the camera follows the car from behind (tracking) like a predator and this tells the audience that the people in the car are about to become involved in a tricky predicament. Also, the non diegetic music suggests this as it creates tension and a sense of pursuit of the car whilst the people inside unknowingly drive on.

Conventions of Film Openings..

. Introduce the production company logo

. Introduce distribution company logo
. Mood and tone of the film is established through the sound/ editing and mis-  en scene
. Music is used to help set the scene (e.g ominous sounding music)
. Viewer is introduced to key characters in the film

Unknown Opening

In the opening of Unknown there are some film conventions that are traditionally used in openings of most films; these include;




















Introduction of Studios involved;

Names of Actors in the film

Production and Distribution logos

Title Screen of the films name

Sound 

Editing 

These conventions are typically used in film openings to inform the audience of the films name, actors in the film, who it was directed and produced by and overall lets the audience know what to expect of the film. For example, if there is ominous music playing and the editing and lighting is quite dark it instantaneously tells the audience what genre of film they are watching. If the audience were watching a comedy it would be light, quirky music but it if it was a horror the music would be creepy and very dramatic.   

In the opening of Unknown there is a wide shot of the sky which then pans out slowly to reveal that this is the view that can be seen from the airplane. From this shot a man is shown to be sitting next to the window, his face half in darkness and half in the light. This gives an effect that the man may have some good and bad qualities to him, thus also giving the instant impression that he is the main character. 

Health and Safety tutorial

During our health and safety tutorial with Mickey I learnt a number of things regarding how to operate the camera and use it correctly without causing any damage to it. I learnt how to use the memory card, how to set up a tripod and how to safely make sure the camera is stable whilst on the tripod. Mickey showed us how to adjust the focus of the camera when the shot is zoomed in or out so that the quality still comes out clear; I found this very helpful as I am sure myself and my group will be using this in our thriller opening and the end result will be brilliant and now the group knows how to use the camera responsibly.

To ensure you have set up your tripod correctly you have to make sure that all legs have being extended to their full length and have being put into position and locked by the three little screws on the side; this makes the tripod stand straight and stably otherwise you might find your camera could be comprised and fall off.  

  It is vital that when using the memory card it does not become damaged or scratched as this may make the memory card unaccessible when inserted into the camera. Also, you need to make sure that you put your memory card into the correct slot otherwise the camera will have trouble reading the memory card; thus you won't be able to do any recording.   

Different camera shots

Shot Of Someone Looking

Tracking

Low Angle Shot

Extreme/Big Close Up

Medium Close Up

Two Shot

POV Shot