Kill Bill Vol.1 Opening Scene (2003)

Director:  Quentin Tarantino

Tarantino has very cleverly devised the opening scene to his film, Kill Bill Volume 1. As an audience we are introduced to a blank screen with diagetic sound of a woman heavily breathing in a panicky way. The first shot we then see is in black and white with chiaroscuro, noir lighting of a woman's face lying on the floor, covered in blood. The use of black and white could be a reference to the old 1950's thrillers that Tarantino respected greatly. 

The shot then cuts to a low angle, tracking shot of a man's feet as they approach the woman. The diagetic sound of the footsteps adds emphasis to how frightened the woman is as well as showing that this man is a villain. 

The shot changes back to the woman's face which shows the struggle of power over these two characters. The two different shots establish a relationship or connection between these two characters. The shot continues to stay on the woman's face as the man begins to speak, the first line said is, "Do you find me sadistic?". The line implies that the man has inflicted these injuries upon this woman. As the shot stays on the woman's panicked face we feel sympathy for her as a character, which is the classic femme-fatale.

The man then begins to wipe her face with his handkerchief, which has the writing embroided onto it, 'Bill'. She turns her head away from this action, we can tell that she is uncomfortable with his actions. We now know that the objective of this film is to kill this man, hence the title of the film- 'Kill Bill'. 

We then hear diagetic sound of a gun being loaded, as the woman looks up we can see the fear in his eyes which indicates that he is about to shoot her. She then says her first line, "Bill, it's your baby". As soon as she says her first line he shoots her, we get the impression that she said what she did to prevent him from shooting her, or maybe to panic him after she has been shot. We now know that Bill is a very powerful man and a danger to society for he is carrying a lethal weapon. We get the idea that this film is very dark.