The beginning of Kill Bill has many of the opening name titles on a black screen and then the diegetic sound becomes louder of a person heavily breathing. The establishing shot of the famous actress Uma Therman is a close up and she is presented in distress as she has cuts and blood on her face, clearly suggesting she has been 'beaten up'. Therefore the sound bridge of having the sound before the shot draws the audience and then we are able to understand the sound to be associated with the character bound on the floor. The shots are in greyscale and there is a strong contrast of black and white lighting in the frame which extenuates her innocence. However this image is also distorted because even though it is a close-up, which creates an enigma for the audience, the mise-en-scene of the shot shows the female character wearing a white veil and so there is a conflict between the white bride suggesting purity and innocence and her distressing situation of violence.
An uneasy atmosphere is created which echoes onto the audience in their confusion as the establishing shot is like a cut in and effect shot where we want to see the cause. Her eyes turn as the sound of loud sonorous footsteps becomes apparent and even though we are unsure of the character, the fear conveyed by the 'bride' creates a foreboding. Then there is close-up of ‘Bill’s’ black shoes with heels connoting power and his wealth. The lighting is very low key and Tarantino portrays aspects of a film noir genre. The female character portrays her fear the man approaches and he puts his foot into the very corner of the shot, conveying his superiority and he begins to speak in a low confident tone.
We take an immediate disliking to the darkly humoured male character who exposes his ambiguous motives as he uses his customised handkerchief, with the name ‘Bill’, suggesting his wealth, as he wipes some of the blood off the actress but we can assume him to be the culprit of her pain. Even though we cannot see 'Bill', the woman's expressions give us an insight into her feelings upon his actions. For example her eyes wider and appear even more fearful creating panic within the audience but the ambient sounds of the man loading a gun also support our panic. Her courage is conveyed as she confronts 'Bill' showing he may not have complete power and she says "Bill it’s your baby”. Their relationship is then established however this also gives more tragedy to the scene as we are aware that she is pregnant. The gun is fired very quickly after this, as blood is splattered on the floor and then there is a quick cut suggesting the audience to see no more than the character that we can assume to be dead. After this scene music is played with the related lyrics 'bang bang... you shot me down’ suggest a slightly ironic aspect which can also be seen as comical. The music is fairly unique suggesting a more indie genre but it also has a poignant tone too. The remaining titles are shown on a black screen finish on a side shot of a greyscale silhouette which we assume to be the dead bride and the lighting is shown as quite important as there is white lighting which enters diagonally.
An uneasy atmosphere is created which echoes onto the audience in their confusion as the establishing shot is like a cut in and effect shot where we want to see the cause. Her eyes turn as the sound of loud sonorous footsteps becomes apparent and even though we are unsure of the character, the fear conveyed by the 'bride' creates a foreboding. Then there is close-up of ‘Bill’s’ black shoes with heels connoting power and his wealth. The lighting is very low key and Tarantino portrays aspects of a film noir genre. The female character portrays her fear the man approaches and he puts his foot into the very corner of the shot, conveying his superiority and he begins to speak in a low confident tone.
We take an immediate disliking to the darkly humoured male character who exposes his ambiguous motives as he uses his customised handkerchief, with the name ‘Bill’, suggesting his wealth, as he wipes some of the blood off the actress but we can assume him to be the culprit of her pain. Even though we cannot see 'Bill', the woman's expressions give us an insight into her feelings upon his actions. For example her eyes wider and appear even more fearful creating panic within the audience but the ambient sounds of the man loading a gun also support our panic. Her courage is conveyed as she confronts 'Bill' showing he may not have complete power and she says "Bill it’s your baby”. Their relationship is then established however this also gives more tragedy to the scene as we are aware that she is pregnant. The gun is fired very quickly after this, as blood is splattered on the floor and then there is a quick cut suggesting the audience to see no more than the character that we can assume to be dead. After this scene music is played with the related lyrics 'bang bang... you shot me down’ suggest a slightly ironic aspect which can also be seen as comical. The music is fairly unique suggesting a more indie genre but it also has a poignant tone too. The remaining titles are shown on a black screen finish on a side shot of a greyscale silhouette which we assume to be the dead bride and the lighting is shown as quite important as there is white lighting which enters diagonally.
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