Analysis of Generic Conventions in Thrillers Kill Bill: Vol 1 & 2

When analysing the generic conventions I kept my focus on camera movements, framing of shot, camera angles, scene, editing, sound and the positioning of characters in the film. In order to analyse this in a very creative yet simple way I chose to analyse these conventions through another of Quintin Tarantinos Kill Bill which is a crime action thriller that has een a o! office hit when released. I found this particular film to e very interesting to analyse due to its uni"ue use of camera work and representation which Quintin Tarantino is very popular with using. I thought that y analysing this it would e a good chance for me to feel inspired and gain ideas a out how we could use different thriller conventions in our opening se"uence to make it look as effective and professional as possi le.

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To give a rief e!planation a out the plot of Kill Bill, is a out a women which is etrayed y her #$eadly viper assassination s"uad colleagues, as they her eat her up and kill her un orn a y on her wedding day. It follows her getting revenge from all of them. This e!pands onto Kill Bill %ol& ' where she kills her oss Bill and also reunites with her daughter which she had thought died. I think that this storyline could e presented in a num er of ways ut the way which I has een presented is very good and something which I can gain ideas from and work with, allowing it to reflect on to my own work. In general the whole film successfully uses all generic thriller conventions, I will e touching on ones which made a ig effect and stood out from the others and also potential conventions which I could use and feel inspired y for my own opening se"uence. (irstly when the film starts off there is a lack screen and a few credits start to appear straight into the film with diegetic sound in the ackground. This gives of the effect that the lack screen is some ones point of view and that we are seeing what they are seeing and that the diegetic sound which we are hearing is what they are hearing when their eyes are shut assumed y the lack screen. I think that this is a very effective techni"ue which has een used and also something which I have considered using in my opening se"uence, this is ecause our plan also has the film to start off with a lack screen and diegetic sound which will e representing the characters hearing and viewing. By seeing it e used in Kill Bill I have foreseen the way it should presented and can use it as an e!ample and guideline. The thriller conventions which they have used here are titling and they have used this is a very professional and e!cellence way. We are then shown close up of womens face which is implied to e the person which we was seeing the point of view from, the

shot is in lack and white which is a uni"ue and interesting techni"ue to e used due to the fact that it was at a time which colour technology e!isted. This may have een done to rein act the vintage style and presentation of thriller films and to emphasi)e on the seriousness and negativity of what it happening in the film with the use of lack and white colour. This is a part of the mise en scene convention of thriller films and it is used as small introduction into the film efore leading the way to the full credits and titling of the movie. *s the credits come on we see a non+diegetic song which is on the ackground, the song is relevant as the scene finished with a gunshot and the song is # ang ang y ,ancy -inatra which suits the moment. It represents and strong powerful ut uneven relationship etween men and women which may e representing and foreshadowing the characters storylines within the film. In the scene of the film when we see real good use of thriller conventions is when the main character .ma Thurman is laying in hospital in a coma and one of her colleges from the assassination dresses up as a nurse to come and secretly kill her in her sleep. *t this point it is "uite une!pected and we are not e!plained what is going on and the reason for why this is happening at the moment. /owever during this scene we see a range of camera movements and framing shots used to create the action and tense effect on the audience making them feel as if they were a part of the scene alongside them and not 0ust watching. In this scene we mainly see the use of close up and long shots used and not many others, this creates a very suspicious effect as the close up gives full detail of everything as we can see everything much clearer however we are limited with space on screen, and y merging the long shots together into the scene we get to see close up shots of the main events and long shots which e!plain us more a out their surroundings. This use of thriller convention is very effective and is something which I will consider using, the close up techni"ue is a classic shot which most thriller films chose to use as it leads to audience to e!pect the une!pected and cause the tension, fear and e!citement to rise even more in the scene. In this scene everything is focused in eye+level which again adds to the focus on the close ups of what is going on, however there is also a lot of high angle shots which represent someone much more powerful which may harm .ma Thurman. This makes the audience feel tense and worried as they can see she is incapa le of defending herself and that she is in a very vulnera le state. In this scene there is also very uni"ue and interesting use of editing, when we are eing shown the scene they have chosen to show oth places which is the nurse and .ma Thurman at the same time, the screen is divided into two and we see to different shots at the screen at once, during this scene there is a linkage with the divided scene as when one is showing something the other relates to it y showing something which is similar. *n e!ample of this could e that when the nurse is filling a needle with poison we are shown a shot of the tu es attached to .ma Thursday which is where the poison will travel from to get to her. The choice of music which has een chosen to accompany this e!clusive scene is #Twisted nerve which is a very creepy, catchy whistling soundtrack which adds a completely different effect to the scene ut also increases the spooky and thrilling side to it as the sound is "uite sweet and whistling is not e!actly known to e evil and y eing represented and

used in a different atmosphere and reason and it makes the sound also seem thrilling as if the slow sly whistling is preparing the audience to a master ending. *nother convention which Tarantino has so well used is the mise en scene Kill Bill, in particular his use for lighting. *s one of the ma0or conventions in thriller films Tarantino uses the lighting to represent pure thriller. *t one point during the film in %ol ', 0ust efore .ma Thurman the main character which is referred to as #The Bride get uried alive, Tarantino utilises the generic use of headlights in the dark. This lighting techni"ue which he feeling of unreality, thrilling dreams which are nightmares and also surrealism. The reason why I think that it is represented in this way is ecause it reminds me of old painting techni"ues with their peculiar use of lighting such as spot lights, dimmed lights which create a range of emotions for the audience. This convention also heightens the e!citement and thrilling effect for the audience as the use of light on the dark contrast is visually attractive. The headlights in this scene connotes and represents threat and mystery creating suspense as we are unaware of who is in the car and trapped in the darkness, this adds even more anticipation to the scene. 1ne other aspect he used for lighting was natural lighting through the moonlight giving of a gothic feeling and atmosphere, the gothic moon at a certain point is used to light up the rides face this focus on the face, with the use of also a low key light this creates the feeling and essence of an anonymous mystery making an evident reference to film noir. 1ne other convention used which is for thriller in Kill Bill is the use of location, this is ecause in general the location of the film is very isolated and remote this makes the ride which is powerful at the time actually look "uite lost, disorientated ut esteemed. In the scene where we watch the ride attempt to kill Bills rother we are shown a sha y caravan, this immediately makes the audience stereotype the character making us feel that he is #trailer+trash. *longside the location a scene which stood out most with its thriller convention was the coffin scene where watched the ride literally get uried alive. When watching this we feel the claustropho ic vi e which the ride feels and that they are trying to give of, strongly representing entrapment. *longside with what the ride is seeing when she gets uried the screen goes ack representing what she is seeing similar to first scene where she gets shot and the screen goes lack showing us what she is seeing. This is a ma0or aspect which e!cites and motivates the e!perience for the audience. When this is happening we are a le to hear the mud eing chucked on the coffin, this use of diegetic sound allows the audience to feel a part of the seen and almost feel claustropho ic with the use of sound as it is so realistic we as the audience feel as if we are eing uried.

1verall the conventions of thriller movies had een very rightfully represented in oth Kill Bill %ol 2 3 ' and has gave me inspiration on how to create my thriller opening se"uence.