Research Task - Kill Bill (2003, Quentin Tarantino) by Maria Beardall

Research Task

'A former assassin, known simply as The Bride (Uma Thurman), wakes from a coma four years after her jealous ex-lover Bill (David Carradine) attempts to murder her on her wedding day. Fueled by an insatiable desire for revenge, she vows to get even with every person who contributed to the loss of her unborn child, her entire wedding party, and four years of her life. After devising a hit list, The Bride sets off on her quest, enduring unspeakable injury and unscrupulous enemies.'

KEY:
Camera
Editing
Sound
Mise en Scene

Kill Bill (http://moodle.centralsussex.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=36508)

1st Scene:

First shot seen

In the first scene of the opening of Kill Bill, it is immediately recognized that the whole of the scene is in black and white. This drastic, added in effect would have been added in post production, a decision that makes whats in the frame look much more contrasted and exaggerated - therefore stands out, to which enigma for the audience becomes involved; where did the character on the floor receive her brutal cuts from? The non diegetic sound is also alarming, as you can hear the woman in the permanent CU shot of herself on the floor breathing fast, almost moaning. There is panic in her eyes and she seems pained, but there has been a scene presumably too gruesome to show before, and therefore cut out to leave the audience guessing and curious as a second character appears. She has a bride's veil on, and dress, which raises more questions as her costume is unexpected and considerably odd as she is so out of place. Her eyeline is away from the right of the screen, presumably where the antagonist (or person who has hurt her so badly) is.

CU of Bill's boots 

The shot then cuts to a CU tracking shot of a man's black shoes as he walks, and the footsteps and her voice are the main diegetic sounds to be heard with an eerie echo - the footsteps sound imposing and very threatening to the victim, giving the unknown status. This is also given as she is on the floor and he is standing, telling the audience he is strong whilst she is weak. The abuser of her is not revealed and seemingly dangerous, making this scene tense and focused. This creates suspense in case he will be revealed, but the later shots show he is hidden apart from his name.

Embroidered hankey

The man rests his foot nearby her head - body language, which could be used to hurt her and is seemingly uncomfortable for the audience that the of that possibility to play out. He then proceeds to wipe her face a little, using a prop which is a customized hankey that has 'Bill' embroidered on it. This sends alarm bells through the audiences brains as they know the films name is 'Kill Bill' and that there is a revenge mission surrounding him, and that he has in fact hurt her. This creates panic just through his name and more intense tension as he has suddenly begun to seem kind towards her, and that he is double plotting, and makes him untrustworthy.She also isn't physically strong enough to move away from him and her facial expression is cold towards him as you see her eyeline look up to him, overpowering her.

He starts to talk to her saying threats in a low, rumbling voice as her breath becomes faster and more frantic as he mentions 'if he wanted to,' - underlying that he has complete power over her. He also calls her 'kiddo', which shows she isn't much to him and in-disposable and has the status of a child to him, making him more dangerous as his reaction to her being hurt is utterly the opposite of those if a child had been hurt. There are no cuts in this part of the scene and this makes the audience uncomfortable as we know even less than the girl does as we cannot see Bill's face and there is hardly any movement, making us focus purely in the frame at her face and pick up on her reactions and how scared she is.

Realization of the gun 

In the constant close up her eyes widen as you see complete terror as off screen the sound of a gun can be heard being prepared and ready to shoot, making it chilling and knowing as much as the character - that it's too late. She begins to speak for the first time and says, 'Bill, its your baby', and gets cut off by Bill and shot straight in the head. 

Shot mid sentence

The blood splatters aren't too intense but significantly definitely seen to the right of her head, and the gunshot is echoed into the beginning of the credits and then the sound is merged with the non diegetic soundtrack of 'Bang Bang' by Nancy Sinatra. The lyrics have great relevance to the opening, saying about two lovers were once in love yet the boy shot the girl - echoing what had just happened. There is a cut to black and the credits immediately begin. The pace hardly changes and is very slow as this shooting was inevitable and the concluding part of the scene - leaving a mystery as to why it all began and how it got to that stage, and the music is also timed with the names in the credits appearing, almost as a memorial to the woman who died to let everything sink in.

Silhouette of body

2rd Scene:

Her silhouetted face is seen, and understood that she is dead and, contrary to earlier, no longer moving or breathing. This shot is faded in during the credits as the end to her 'memorial', and the shot only changes to become a little brighter. The man is still left curiously in the audience's mind as we only know the face of the woman, and now even she is gone after seeing this torture and murder.

Conclusion:

• it works well as a thriller as it is mysterious, tense, full of suspension and very dark
• it appeals to 17-25 year olds as it contains action even without pace change and hooks the audience in as an active viewer, which the age range are - they can use their thriller genre knowledge
• its organised by missing a scene in the story to engage the audience to think for themselves and create imagery by themselves