ANALYSING OPENING TITLES - Kill Bill Vol.1

Kill Bill Vol.1 (2003) - Quentin Tarantino

 

• First thing shown on screen - "Revenge is a dish best served cold" - Old Klingon Proverb 
• Automatically, the audience gets an inkling the film will feature revenge of some sort. (Revenge - sub-genre of horror). Also Tarantino appeals to his fan base mostly because of his quirky inside joke references to geeky sub-cultures of film and television (i.e. using a Shakespearean quote and saying its from Starwars). 
• "A 4th Quentin Tarantino film" - comes across as slightly pretentious? However it is an interesting way of introducing the director, and not one that many would choose (yet another thing that sets him apart from the rest) 
• Sound of breathing during the distribution/production company title begins to build suspense as you hear the sound before you see anything. 
• Beginning scene in black and white, not only complimenting the plain black and white title but also highlighting the fact that this part may be in the past, or not exactly what it seems. 
• The first shot is a high angle shot of a woman, who has been beaten and is bleeding. She is breathing heavily, which shows she feels threatened and frightened. 
• During this shot, footsteps can be heard behind the breathing, seeming to be getting closer. This heightens the anticipation of the scene as the audience is unaware of who the person is, but assumes that they are a threat. Also, the footsteps are quite rhythmical, almost mimicking an increasing heartbeat.
• The extreme close up from the beginning along with no establishing shot begins tension immediately from the beginning - using an enigmatic narrative device. 
• The second shot is a low angle tracking shot of someone's feet walking across floorboards. This connotes him as a threatening character, as we are not shown this character's face. In fact, in this film, Tarantino creates an enigma, as the audience is not shown Bill's face throughout the whole film.
• Narrative automatically comes across as non-linear. Quentin Tarantino is infamous for using non-linear narratives in his films; a great example being 'Pulp Fiction' 
• There are two different types of font seen. One large and interesting and one rather small and incredibly plain. However the smaller font is used for the main actors.
• Interestingly, the four main characters are listed with numbers, again a feature for the geeky community following Tarantino as they are listed in the order they are eventually killed in, seen later in the film.