Kill Bill: Volume 1

Kill Bill is a 1hr 52m crime/thriller film released on

October 17th 2003: it was directed by Quentin Tarantino
and had a box office of 180.9 million USD.

Why I Chose This Film?

I have chosen this film because the opening caught my
interest immediately as it initiates many questions from
start to finish which I enjoyed very much as I like
enigmas and Tarantino incorporates many in the beginning,
which made me want to watch the whole movie. Tarantino
creates fear and mystery of characters and events in the
opening through the questions provoked on the audience
and it makes you immediately piece things together of
what the viewer knows of the film already.

Narrative Context:
Kill Bill: Volume 1 follows the lead character, called
The Bride, who was once a member of the Deadly Viper
Assassination Squad, led by her lover Bill. After
realising she was pregnant with Bill's child, The Bride
decided to escape her life as a killer as she fled to
Texas and remarried; on the day of their wedding
rehearsal The Bride and her soon to be husband were
gunned down by an angry and jealous Bill with the
assistance of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. Years
later, The Bride wakes from a coma, and discovers her

baby is gone; which is where she seeks revenge upon the

Deadly Viper Assassination Squad that killed her baby.

Enigma Codes:
Tarantino has provoked many questions for the viewer to
ask themselves as theyre watching the opening. If the
spectator has not previously read about the movie the
opening could influence much confusion and answers will
be demanded by the viewer. The effect of this is to
provoke the audience to immediately try to find answers
in the movie from questions in the opening making them
focus more on it and watch the entire film.
The main questions I had when watching this opening were;
Who is the woman?
Why is she hurt?
Is she at a wedding?
Who is the man?
Is his name Bill?
Did he hurt her?
How do they know each other?
Is he her new husband?

How are the characters represented and

established?
In this trailer we see two characters that become the
main characters important to the plot in this movie
however we do not see them for long in the opening. The
first is The Bride, who is introduced with a close up of
her face as she lays covered in blood wearing a veil.
This allows us to consider that she may be a bride and
that she may have been attacked by her groom, which would
allow the audience to develop a small relationship with
her as they will feel bad for her and realise the
horrific nature of something like this happening on your
wedding day, which would also make them develop a hate
for whoever did this and want vengeance, supporting The
Bride. Also, as she is presented as very vulnerable and
a very stereotypical woman in thriller films as she is
clearly hurt and in a helpless position, which is proven
to be the opposite further along in the film.
Furthermore, the audience would feel sorry for her
towards the end of the opening as she explains that shes
pregnant with Bills baby; presenting the horrific nature
of this situation as Bill would have taken 2 lives by
killing The Bride which further helps develop a hate
towards Bill, which is provoked successfully by
Tarantino. Also, Tarantinos use of the close up is to
make the spectator feel uncomfortable as well as feel

sorry for her as it

immediately brings you up
close and personal with her
wounds and makes you watch
her at this same distance
throughout the opening while
she breathes heavily in pain
gets closer and closer to her
death.
We are introduced to Bill
quickly through a close up of
his feet as we assume he is
walking towards the Bride,
the use of this is to make
the spectator wonder who he
is or what he looks like
which creates a very
mysterious shadow of the
unknown; it can be assumed that he is the groom or was
attending the wedding as he is wearing suit trousers with
leather shoes, which is commonly known to be worn at
weddings as well as being supported by The Bride wearing
a veil. We can see that Bill is the one who did this to
The Bride as she has a frightened look on her face as he
approaches her; which is supported by Bill asking
questions such as, Do you find me sadistic?, which
makes the audience believe that her pain is the reason he
is asking that because he
is the one who did it. We
find out his name is Bill
through his use of a
handkerchief, which has his
name on it, that he uses to
wipe the blood off of The
Brides face. It could be
further supported that he
is the one who did this to her as he eventually pulls out
a gun to kill her with; which presents that he couldve
used that in the first place however he wanted her to
suffer as he clearly used the gun as a finishing blow at
the end. This represents how malicious Bill is which
further creates a sense of hate towards him from the
viewer.
We can see that Bill and The Bride share a history
together as she tells him that she is pregnant with his
baby; which leads the spectator to question what happened
to their relationship that made them becomes somewhat
enemies and made Bill want to kill her. This could
possibly lead the audience to believe maybe she deserved

it after she had done something to him previous to this

event.

Location:
In this movie opening we do not see the actual location
that theyre in as the entire opening is in a close up of
The Brides face throughout. However, it can be assumed
that we are in a wedding hall as The Bride is wearing a
veil which is only worn at weddings; as well as Bill
wearing suit trousers and shoes, where we see a close up
tracking shot of his feet as he him walks towards The
Bride.

Camera and Editing Techniques:

In this opening we see few
shots used as Tarantino has
decided to use fewer shots to
provoke the spectator to focus
on The Bride and her wounds.
Tarantino did this by using a
high angle canted angle close
up of The Bride to create
discomfort for the viewer as he holds this shot almost
throughout the entire opening which keeps them up close
and what some would say too close. The effect of this is
that the longer you look at The Bride the more of her
wounds you notice and the longer you stare the deeper
extent of her wounds you uncover. This creates more and
more of a discomforting atmosphere and creates sympathy
for The Bride from the audience as they feel sorry for
her, which leads to provoking a feeling towards her, and
makes the viewer create a relationship with them and that
they hope she comes out of this alright and healthy.
Also, Bill is introduced
with a close up tracking
shot of his feet as he walks
towards The Bride. The
effect of this is to show
what he is wearing to
further provoke the
potential idea that they
have just been married.

Use of Sound:

The use of sound becomes apparent in the opening

immediately as we hear diegetic sound of the heavy
breaths of The Bride before we actually see her. The
effect of this is to immediately put us in a state of
panic and confusion as we wonder whether someone is hurt
or not and puts us right into the action. This is all we
hear and it allows us to focus on her breaths and allows
us to hear the distress and pain in them. Next, we hear
diegetic sound of Bill walking towards The Bride as well
as her heavy breaths, which creates a sense of panic as
he gasps in pain as he approaches her making the audience
wonder what he will do to her. Bills voice appears to be
very patronising and antagonising as he is being kind in
her last moments alive and cleaning her face with a
handkerchief, as he tries to prove to her that he is not
sadistic however he is making it seem like he is with his
eerie deep voice. Next, when Bill pulls out the gun we do
not see the gun however we know that he has as we can
hear the gun being loaded, creating a sense of suspense
as the spectator waits for him to kill her. Until we hear
the loud shot of the gun kill her, which shocks the
audience as it is so sudden after her telling him that
she is carrying his baby

Titles:
After Bill fires the gun,
immediately we see a jump cut to the
titles. They appear by emerging from
the darkness while the camera is
shaking to further create the
unnerving effect. Also, the titles
look like smoke as they are a grey
colour and also as they move through the screen and
emerge in and out of the darkness like smoke would
eventually fade away. It could also be connoted that this
could be gun smoke which leaves the audience in confusion
as to if he actually did shoot her, which would have
broken the audiences relationship with them.

Intended Target Audience:

From the opening I believe that this film is targeted
towards a specific audience from the late teens onwards
due to the gore that has already been seen from the
opening as well as the gruesome fact that this man wants
to kill his potential ex and her baby.