Textual Analysis - 'Kill Bill'

Kill Bill

After the “Our Feature Production” shot, there is a Proverb/quote which is when the diegetic panted breathing starts, first quietly then becoming louder. This creates anxiety for the audience as we can not see any motion picture and thus we can’t tell what is making the noise. The titles are in bold, sans serif, white writing on a plain black screen. This colour scheme is confusing as the DVD cover and advertisements were notoriously known for the bold use of colour especially yellow; this also intrigues the reader as they want to know why it is not in full colour as they anticipated.

Kill Bill has aspects of postmodernism, with references to the Shaw Brothers films throughout the title sequence. This intertextuality indicates post modernism, as nothing new can be created. In establishing shot we see a bride, she is presented as vulnerable- perhaps as she has not/ recently married, the lighting is extremely strong which could suggest she is being interrogated maybe as she has done something wrong. The lighting also extenuates the blood. Her pale face could suggest innocence; however the blood could suggest that she runs on evil. The sequence is in greyscale with a strong contrast between black and white- representing her strong views on what is right or wrong. The blood could also represent a sense of foreboding.  It then cuts to a close up tracking shot of a man’s feet, walking- he is wearing black trousers connoting mystery- leading the audience to want to watch on. It also could suggest a business like approach suggesting that he doest see the girl as a person, more as just business. The shoes he wears are heeled suggesting that he has to ‘fake’ his power. It then cuts back to a close up of the girl. Her eyes are looking at where we assume the man is. The guy puts his foot into the shot, invading her space, but it is in only a little bit which could suggest he doesn’t want to get his hand dirty. When the guys hand enters the shot, he cleans her face with a personalised handkerchief. The handkerchief says Bill on it which could suggest his wealth. He leaves the shot and we are left with the girl with an increasingly panicked expression, we then hear a gun being loaded. It is at this point only that she speaks. Suggesting she is pleading for her life. She says “bill, it’s your baby’ which introduces to the audience to their established relationship. He then shoots her- suggesting he is annoyed at her. Non diegetic music then comes on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaVNfZWBVhQ  “bang bang,” this is slightly ironic as maybe she already knew her fait.  After a few more titles: there is a fade into a greyscale silhouette of whom we assume is the dead girl. There is a ray of light behind her face maybe suggesting that her intentions were good. There are titles played over this shot.

The atmosphere created is one of fear. It is very tense. The establishing shot is a close up, effect frame; this allows us only to see only a small area of the environment, the audience automatically want to watch on to see the ‘cause shot’ – what put her in that position.