Dan's Textual Analysis of Pulp Fiction (Directed by Quentin Tarantino)

The start of Pulp Fiction is even less stereotypically thriller than Kill Bill's. The entire two minutes is a conversation between a man and a woman (with a waitress dropping in for a line).

While there are cuts, they transition to one of about 4 different camera shots

Since the setting never changes from this booth, it is extremely easy to identify the aspects of mise-en-scene, so that is where we shall begin.

The setting appears to be a diner, possibly retro 50's styled, with the man and woman both having ordered either coffee. It's bright, likely around midday, and as such the colours are fairly rich. The costumes and hair are fairly casual, indicating just a conversation between two friends/partners.This is very atypical for a thriller, there is no tension or suspense being created from the mise-en-scene alone.

"He walks into a bank with a portable phone..."

That being said, the sound is where the tension comes from. There is no non-diegetic sound, just off and on screen diegetic. The off-screen is just typical diner sounds, conversations at other tables and cutlery scraping on plates, as one would expect. The conversation that the two main subjects are having in front of us is where suspicion and a small bit of tension creep in.

While it is a friendly chat between two friends, the subject is on robbery. They both heavily imply that they are going to rob a place tonight, with that being their last heist. As a viewer, we can't be sure if they are planning on robbing the establishment that they are in, or somewhere else. We know that they have not robbed banks before, as the man in particular explains how, in rather in depth detail, it is easier to rob a bank than a convenience store. As usual from Tarantino, if you do not pay attention to the conversation, you are going to get lost and/or be taken by surprise.

In terms of editing, the pace is fairly average for a conversation between two people. Since the mood at the moment is relaxed, there aren't too many cuts per second, but very few shots last longer than 10 seconds.

The camera work is not too noteworthy. Since there are only about 4 different camera positions, there are few properties for the total 2 minutes.

OTS/POV are quite common for this type of scene

The main shot, in the first picture, is a medium shot, taken at about eye level, just slightly lower. The POV/OTS shots in image 2 and 3 are obviously at eye level, and the only other shot in the scene, where we get a shot of the waitress, is a close up at a fairly low angle.

The "one off" shot