KILL BILL VOL.

1
Case Study 2

The 4th film by Award Winning director Quentin Tarantino.

Starring: Uma Thurman, Luc Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl

Hannah and David Carradine.
Nominated for 1 Golden Globe
First released on the 10th October 2003.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

In the opening to this film, we can see Chiaroscuro

lighting on the Brides face. (A)
Chiaroscuro lighting means light on dark and the use
of this lighting here suggests that Kiddo has two
sides to her. An innocent side seen during the
opening and a bad, more violent, side seen during
the rest of the film.
The use of Black and White in this scene signifies
how the Bride is feeling. She is close to death,
colourless, feels betrayed and is in danger.
Tarantino is referencing Noir Thrillers here to suggest
the audience is about to watch a violent film.

LIGHTING/ COLOUR

As we can obviously tell, the woman on the floor is a bride, she is wearing
a veil.
The only other character we meet is Bill
We can tell this character has the power between the two. One reason we
know this is because he has a handkerchief with his name, Bill
embroidered on it. For one this is a rather obnoxious act and suggests Bill
is wealthy and influential. What's more it also informs the audience who
this character is. As the film is called kill Bill we have evidence to
suggest that this character is wanted dead, i.e. his important. (B)
Another reason why we learn bill is powerful is because hes always above
the bride on the floor and she looks extremely concerned when he
approaches her.
The character of Bill, on top of the personalised handkerchief is wearing
rings and bracelets, again implying wealth. (C) Furthermore, he is wearing
cowboy boots (D). This is a cultural signifier of Bill and was used by
Tarantino to show status and significance. The boots are the only sound in
the scene apart from the brides heavy breathing which creates tension
and anticipation of what this character will do to the Bride.

COSTUME

(A)

(B)

(C)

(D)

This entire opening sequence contains only two

shots. This is to increase realism and
concentration.
One of the shots is a close-up of the beaten up
brides face (E) .She is bruised and bloody.
These shots are intense and create a sense of
panic.
The one other shot that is seen in the opening
scene is a short tracking shot of Bill walking
towards the bride (F). He is walking very slow
which intensifies the scene.

CAMERA ANGLES

(E)

(F)

All the sound in the opening of Kill Bill Vol 1 is diegetic apart
from when the song Bang Bang by Nancy Sinatra kicks in.
Nancy Sinatras father, Frank Sinatra, is accused of having
links with the Mafia. On top of this, from the lyrics my baby
shot me down we can infer that the bride thats being shot
down had some kind of connection to Bill, maybe her lover.
This is consolidated when the bride says Bill, its your baby.
Could this be the reason as to why Bill is assassinating her?
This creates a powerful cliff hanger.
We can hear a sound bridge at the start of the clip of the bride
breathing heavily. This is a distressing sound as we infer that
someone is hurt/ in danger.
Like previously mentioned, the only other sound we can hear is
the sound of Bills footsteps that grow ever closer/ louder. This
dramatically increases tension and suspense. The Diegetic
sound in this scene creates an enigma and a cliff hanger as to
what has lead to this situation, who Bill is and why he has
killed the bride. Furthermore, diegetic sound adds to the sense
of isolation.

SOUND

When the Bride approaches Vernita Greens house

we can see an establishing shot of a stereotypical
American home. (G) This shot can also be seen in
other areas of the media such as Blue Velvet (H),
The Truman Show (I), Family Guy (J)and L.A Noire
(K).
These examples of over saturation and colour
suggest normality in this idyllic neighbourhood,
what is revealed in all these situations is that
things may not be as they seem, the American
dream is ironically false.

INTER TEXTUAL REFERENCES

(G)

(H)

(I)

(J)

(K)