Dan's Textual Analysis of Kill Bill (Directed by Quentin Tarantino)

Kill Bill's introduction is not a very traditional one, which is to be expected from Quentin Tarantino.

The first 2 minutes have a total of 3 cuts. This is unusual for a thriller, but does not take away from the tension. The first shot has the same camera properties (angle, size, location, etc) as the third, the only different shot we see (aside from the opening credits) is the second one, with a character walking towards the injured woman.

The second shot

The majority of the opening (shots 1 and 3)

As shown, it is shot in black and white, which is possibly indicative of the dangerous condition that the woman is in, or giving a noire theme and feel to the film.




Thanks to the lack of colour, it is also difficult to see that the woman is wearing a veil, heavily implying a wedding having been interrupted. If you count it as a prop, then it is one of two. The second is a very significant one.

"Bill"

This handkerchief clearly belongs to a man called "Bill". We can safely assume that Bill is the man cleaning this woman's face. Thanks to the title of the film, "Kill Bill", we can also safely assume that he's the villain and very possibly the one who caused the damage. From very few props, restricted camera work and no colour, we can still pick up a fair few elements of story.

The first couple of shots only involve heavy breathing and footsteps as sounds, but during the third, the only sounds are dialogue. Not going into too much detail, we find out that Bill feels very little remorse for the pain caused to the woman, and his actions are "nothing sadistic".

We are not sure where the bullet hits the head

The split second before the third shot cuts to the opening credits, we hear an off-screen gunshot and a quick splatter of blood. This could imply that the narrative is not in chronological order. She could be dead and this be the end of the story, however she could only be comatose. We cannot confirm either at this point in the film.

Throughout the entirety of the two minutes, there are no non-diegetic sounds, two props, three cuts