Kill Bill

USA, 2003.

Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Music Selection & Original Music: The RZA
Cinematography: Robert Richardson
Producers: Quentin Tarantino, Lawrence Bender, E. Bennett Walsh
Director: Quentin Tarantino

Genre: Action (blood and violence)

Narrative

Uma Thurman plays a man called “bride” of the female killer, her cherished children, Bill was the assassination of their respective organizations want to leave, so their wedding was organized slaughter of heads of Bill and their henchmen, the first Department shot a whole in a coma for 4 years to start chasing after waking action. Describe the scene to kill the film footprint, from California, Mexico, to mainland China, Hong Kong and Japan. Martial arts film the active role of women living in a Japanese restaurant 25 minutes too amazing fight scenes, the actress nearly bit the face of the attacker, stabbed, and blood spattered at the scene of the bloody start radiance.

Themes

The film director, the story is divided into titles, the first chapter: “The second list of five people”;the second chapter: “Assault on five steps of the bride” the third chapter :”Big Sister Lotus in the background”the fourth chapter :”The Man from Okinawa”; the fifth chapter: “house of life and death battle Aoba”.

Titles: (Memories Death – Hospital) Bill begins with the heroine and his gang were beaten, shot in the head scene. Then is by the commencement of revenge.

Part 1: This section is to carry out revenge. Known as “Copperhead”Killer is a black female married housewife, her to kill the list in second place. Actress drive to start the witch hunt in his home.

Part 2: This section for the flashback story. Black Cobra actress nicknamed was a “deadly viper assassination organization” a member of the organization they want from their wedding in the Bill, a pedestrian was killed, detectives rushed to the crime scene (a church) that the bride Dead, coma four years after the hospital was finally wake up. Bill, another killer, dressed as nurses for the murder of bride and sneak into the hospital failed. The nurses whistling, dressed in white, the cross symbol on the eyeshade.

Part 3: This section for the flashback story. This section tell about “The deadly snakes” members Yuki how to become a gangster’s experience in Japan. The story of her parents were killed a child witnessing the beginning, this fragment is presented by the way of hand-drawn animation. The narrative at the beginning of the Royal Lotus as the center, left and right, the relevant figures appear as if the comic-like. Then, hours later from the palace of lotus eyes hiding under the bed curtain, the lens is still about camera work by the way: from the left eye saw the gangster from the left to see their loved ones.

Part 4: This section is to carry out revenge. Actress went to Japan, revenge, revenge to the cast before the sword master to seek for the knife. Actress in a restaurant a dialogue with the Japanese samurai, tool selection, and the warrior heroine guidance.

Part 5: Actress went to Japan about to start a life and death battle. She by a plane present a unusual sky blood red, there are arguments to interpret feelings of revenge involving actress. Actress wearing yellow tights there, (with Bruce Lee similar clothing). When enemies met in the middle of the red light signal is deliberately arranged under way to exaggerate the red light bathed the ground. This description of the fight scenes, gore, violence, revenge and hatred.

Editing:

The editing style in Kill Bill series is no-linear. The film popularized the use of a large number of re-combination of elements of new ideas, a blend of Hong Kong, Shaw Brothers kung-fu, martial arts films, Japanese samurai movies, horror, Japanese animation, comic books, strong women in films like Revenge and other elements. In the animation, comic books, film animation to join a long movie about ten minutes. During this animation, there are emerging from the mouth of the export figures of the screen text language.

In the application of horror films, beginning in the film in black and white close-up depicts the heroine's face bloodied, and the use of breathing to create a tense atmosphere, reminiscent of black and white theme of vampire-related movies.

The film will also cut into several fragments of the story, the use of temporal dislocation editing techniques, a large settlement in the sub-chapter headings, each paragraph in different ways to break the story flashbacks or recall of time and space, the use of color to the story sound clip or other means of convergence have to lay out the screen or the story more lively and diverse. The film is like a cultural collage, focusing from the fusion of aesthetics and innovation breakthroughs.

Special camera work

This repeated use of the feature film, a scene in slow motion and multi-angle shooting. It is a combination of a variety of lens, including long shot, medium shot, close up and extreme close up. In the fight scene in which the use of a variety of lens switching, more vivid demonstration of the actress’s hatred. Local feature to give viewers visual impact, gore, violence, terror.

Color and Sound:

This film shows a good use of color diversity, which are commonly used colors: black, white, green, yellow, red, blue, orange and so on.

The beginning of the film using a black and white, with a close-up actress head injury, creating a climate of terror and bloodshed. Black and white is also used in the memories of the past practice of using film.

Revenge of the fragments in the red element is used several times. Red stressed the danger of bloody revenge mood. Yellow is main color in this film, the actress wore yellow tights, fighting in the snow scene and the scene in sharp contrast. Showing revenge’ passion and killer’s cold. Blue is cool color, here is applied to the hospital scenes and fight scenes. Hospital with a touch of blue in the desolate, a quiet. The fight reflects the blue of a great use of murderous, a life and death of the border. Green is the color of nature, there is peace, a symbol of security. According to the story, after the fight scenes of view, this green has to create a “calm before the storm” symbol.

Sound:

In the film the outset heroine portrayed in black and white close-up blood-stained face, and use breathing to create tension. In addition, the arrangement of the music, there are many mixed elements. For example: When Dagro. Hannah ready to play nurse to murder, the population became popular in the 60s child star Meryl blowing. Halls whistle; In the Japanese restaurant arena Age Ge-style girl bands; There Nancy. Siona bend before the hippie era of sub-theme song sung by《Bang Bang , My Baby Shot Me Down》.

Genre and Codes:

Kill Bill is a mixed genre movie. It is combines action, martial arts, violence, gore, crime and other types of expression. This type of hybrid approach can more than give the audience a stronger visual impact, and real experience.

Credits
Director and Writer: Sofia Coppola
Main actors: Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson
Other important casts: Akiko Takeshita
Giovanni Ribisi
Kazuyoshi Minamimagoe
Kazuko Shibata
Akira Yamaguchi
François du Bois
Gregory Pekar
Richard Allen
Catherine Lambert
Studios: Focus Features(presents)
Tohokashinsha Film Company Ltd. (in association with)
American Zoetrope
Elemental Films


Narrative
Plot: This is a story about two lonely American people who met in Japan. One is the out-dated movie star- Bob Harris, who was casted by Bill Murray. Bob had an advertising show in Japan, and had lost heart to his married life, but he also wanted to do something, he tried to change something, but it did not work. During this time he worked in Japan, because of language gap, he could not communicate with Japanese colleagues effective. Loneliness was written on his face. Another one is Charlotte, who was casted by Scarlett Johansson, a young beautiful married lady; she had nothing to do in US. Her husband is a photographer and worked in Japan. But her husband was invest himself totally in his work, and did not care about Charlotte. Two loneliness persons met in another country, and had a great time between them.

Narrative structure: Linear
Narrative voice: Omniscient


Themes
Story about: Lost In Translation is telling a story about two American people fall in love in Tokyo. What is really about this film I are loneliness and isolation, people need for others, culture shock and existential boredom.

Another story in Lost In Translation: Marital status. Bill Murray is facing a midlife crisis, the same situation as his career, highlighting the troubles the family chores and family responsibilities, fear of helplessness. When he got the mail from his wife, he read with silence, his picked the fax with disappointment. He and his wife had twenty-five years of marriage, the feelings between them is too ordinary and should to rely on children to contact. One scene in this film is Bob got a good mood and he told his wife “I love you”, but what he was waiting for is the busy signal from the other side. Charlotte is a beautiful girl and just graduated from the university, she got married when she was very young with a photographer, she along with his husband to Tokyo, and her husband invested himself completely to his job every day, this is a man she did not understand before, with sunglasses, pack up in the morning, ready to begin his journey or something, all of these he did Charlotte never seen before. She did know him when they fall in love, but not this situation. His husband has been said “I love you” every morning, maybe he was not going to develop this bad habit. Charlotte’s married life just begun, but she had seen herself after 25 years, maybe was the same situation as Bob’s wife.


Mise-en-scene
Lost In Translation was wrote and directed by Sofia Coppola, released in the United States in 2003.Presented by Focus Features Co. This whole film takes 102 mins long, and main characters are Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. This is the second movie of Sofia Coppola. She made this movie in 27 workdays, and all the scenes were taken in Japan. When Sofia made this film, only eight American people in their group, included herself, the rest of crew members were recruited in Japan, and most of Japanese actors and crew members did not speak English, the entire process can be described as difficult. Sofia did her best to demonstrate respect to for Japanese cultures to overcome obstacles. She hopes the film mode of operation is more Japanese style, not copied from the United States to impose a set of colleagues in Japan. It is the last we found this movie which illustrated foreigners feel loneliness but could change nothing.


Editing
The narrative structure of this film is Linear. The whole film was taken in Japan to demonstrate the urban life; there were not especially visual effects in it. But in this film, we could see many Coppola’s style, as the same as her first film- The Virgin Suicide, she prefers an emotional point of view from the front of the camera image, emphasizing performance in a mobile way to Tokyo.


Special camera work or SFX
The Photographer is Lance Acord, he has a good sense of the screen, and we can see the black pub and moving shots of Tokyo night street in this film. At the beginning of this film, we can see the most of the shots are long shot or POV of Bob, it shows the busy city- Tokyo, it is bustling, but no relationship with Bob. We can likewise see that when Charlotte feels lonely, what she can do is overlook the city view from the hotel window. In this film, a lot of moving shots, it displays the mood of actors, everything in Tokyo are eyes mist, because they are not belong here.


Diegesis and sound
In Lost In Translation, it contains a lot of background music and sound, at the beginning, we can tell Bob is very tired in the car, the music is playing when he have a look outside view in Tokyo street. When he comes in the room, he has nothing to do and feel so boring, he wants to watch TV, what he hears from TV is he in drama but speak Japanese. At the end of this film, he is in the car, just kissed goodbye with Charlotte, he feel comfortable and music is playing at this time, he look the Tokyo view again through the window on the way to the airport.


Genre and codes
The genres of Lost In Translation are Drama and Romance, and the sub-genre is romantic comedy.
Other: Bill Murray is a comedy actor in US, Coppola said this story was written for him, if he did not join this paly, she would not direct. Form this film, we could find differences in Bob. Some scenes when we watch the paly we want laugh with sorrow. Murray used to play in Ed.Wood. He gave his audiences differences in Lost In Translation, and this is Bill Murray, this is Sofia Coppola’s Style.

Credits

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Main casts: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah, and David Carradine

Studio: Miramax Films, A Band Apart, Super Cool ManChu

Other casts: Michael Madsen, Julie Dryfus, Chiaki Kuriyama, Sonny Chiba, Chia Hui Liu, Michael Parks, Michael Bowen, Jun Kunimura, Kenji Ohba, Yuki Kazamatsuri

Crew and members: Lawrence Bender, Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, Koko Maeda, Katsuji Morishita, Dede Nickerson, Kwame Parker, Erica Steinberg, E. Bennett Wwalsh, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Rovert Richardson, Sally Menke, Daniel Bradford, Hidefumi Hanatani, Minoru Nishida

Narrative

Beatrix Kiddo (AKA The Bride) was once a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad lead by her lover ‘Bill’ ran away from the team pregnant with Bill’s child. As a consequence of her action together with rage and anger of Bill, she lost her baby and all she had as family members during her wedding rehearsal. After the wedding chapel massacre, everyone from the squad thought Beatrix has died just like other people they slaughtered during the wedding rehearsal. Miracally, the bride wakes from a coma and carries out a series of utterly brutal and satisfactory revenge for her on the entire squad who had attended the ‘deadly wedding rehearsal’.

Themes

First part of the Kill Bill franchise (Kill Bill I) tells the story of a natural born killer seeking revenge on people she had worked for and with when she was still a part of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. Beatrix’s final revenge ‘Bill’ as the storyline connection as well as cliffhanger, which leads audience through every sequence, had always kept anonymous and mysterious. This gradually pulled audience into the story by their curiosity of who Bill is or simply how he looks like and what kind of killer he is that is cold-blooded enough to kill his own lover and child in the beginning of the film. Unconventionally, Quentin Tarantino builds up the character Bill who is full of viciousness and power merely through portraying three main elements: body parts, voice and surrounding objects while not showing Bill’s face at all. (See snapshots below)

1. Body parts:

Beatrix being subordinate while Bill being dominant and showing his last sympathy

Bill’s hand gently touching and comforting Sofie

2. Close-up on objects:

Bill holding a samurai sword demonstrating his physical strength and martial arts ability

3. Quotation:

Bill: May I say one thing? You all beat the hell out of that woman, but you didn’t kill her. And I put a bullet in her head, but her heart just kept on beating. Now, you saw that yourself with your own beautiful blue eye. Did you not? We’ve done a lot of things to this lady. And if she ever wakes up, we’ll do a whole lot more. But one thing we won’t do is sneak into her room in the night like a filthy rat and kill her in her sleep. The reason we don’t do that thing is because that thing would lower us. Don’t you agree Miss Driver?

Quentine Tarantino created an environment with close-ups on details and supporting objects, diegetic sounds and the differences in the dominance of characters. From the snapshots above, we could easily spot iconic and indexical signs such as the samurai sword, which indicates Bill’s strength and martial arts ability together with the use of contrasting colours of black and white as well as cold colours, such a blue that assisted Quentine Tarantino during the encoding of certain personality into the character of Bill. When I was decoding the films, I felt a strong sense of cold-blooded personality and absolute dominance of Bill from the use of colours and framings that suggest tension. Dialogue is another method adopted in the construction of Bill, which directly communicates the motives, logic and characteristics of Bill to the audience. These methods all contribute to the success in portraying Bill as a mysterious, over-powering and hair-raising killer.

Mise-en-scene

Kill Bill I’s setting varies when the main character Beatrix travels around the world, mainly in USA and Japan. The film stretches across a four-year period. The changing emotions of Beatrix are cleverly directed with many flashbacks, sound effects and camera size and angles.

Editing

The editing style in Kill Bill series is in fact extremely fun and upbeat with many straight cuts, title theme, cross-cuts with multiple scenes in one frame and parallel cuts. As well as the editing techniques, the adoption of animation in Kill Bill I have made it a very special and dramatically moving action-packed film.

Diegesis and Sound

While visually adopting Japanese animation in the film, Kill Bill series had also adopted comic and manga like music and sounds throughout the whole film. Just like using the animation in the film, this specific type of diegetic and none-diegetic sound used in the film added more playfulness and dramatic effect to it, which made it a ground-breaking piece.

Genre and Codes

Just like many controversial films ever made, Kill Bill series mixed a wide and wild range of genres such as Kung Fu, action, thriller, crime, western etc. It is because such diversity that makes Kill Bill unexpectedly unorthodox and pioneering. Jumping among these genres give audience a passable viewing experience. The ongoing and surviving franchise of Kill Bill is the best evidence of such a success.