The Analysis Of The Opening Scene Of Kill Bill Vol.. 1

Kill Bill Vol. 1 - 2003, Directed By Quentin Tarantino

Staring Uma Thurman, David Carradine and Daryl Hannah 

The Bride wakes up after a long coma. The baby that she carried before entering the coma is gone. The only thing on her mind is to have revenge on the assassination team that betrayed her - a team she was once part of. - IMDb.com

The black & white opening scene of Kill Bill Vol. 1 starts with a close up shot of the heavily beaten bride covered in alot of blood, possibly laying on a bed - i say possibly because the shot is cropped so tight around her face you cant see much else, and also the tight cropping is to draw the audience in to concentrating on her and her body language ,and not on her surroundings - and with the sound of her heavily breathing and foot steps of 'Bill'. After a few seconds we skip to a tracking close-shot of the feet of 'Bill', with the light of the scene reflected of his highly Polished shoes (this Gives the audience the impression of a man that cares about his image, this may also indicate that he is also quite wealthy) and then after another few second we switch back to the face of the bride, with her still heavily breathing but the footsteps stop and we hear the line: 

Do you find me sadistic ?

This line is the first Dialogue of the entire film, this draws the audience in due to the fact that we cannot see the face of 'Bill' and therefore this creates some mystery around him, why the bride is in this situation and how these two people are linked. We then see the hand of Bill - with a gold ring and Bracelet, to further give the impression that he is quite wealthy - wipe some of the blood of of The Brides face with a handkerchief with the name 'Bill' sewn into the corner (this is the first time we learn of Bill's Name, further creating some mystery) he then continues his monologue :  

 I bet I could fry an egg on your

head about now, if I wanted to.

Pause

No kiddo, I'd like to believe you’re aware enough

even now 

there is nothing sadistic in

my actions... - Maybe towards

those other jokers - but not you.

Pause

No Kiddo at this moment, this is me

at my most masochistic.

During this Monologue he continues to wipe the face of the bride - with her still heavily breathing, this give the  indication that she is quite scared of Bill. The way the camera is angled could give the indication that we are looking at her from Bills viewpoint, and because it is looking down on her it could signify that she doesn't have much power in the present situation and/or that Bill is a very dominant figure within the scene - despite the fact that we have yet to see his face. The Director could be doing this the keep as much mystery around the character of Bill as if the keep the audience watching and interested in the film.


At this Point we hear Bill pick up a gun and load it and The Bride says :

Bill... It's your baby

we then hear the gun fire as soon as the bride finishes hr sentence and then the scene finishes almost instantly after this.


Within this scene was mostly about drawing the audience in and to get them interested in what is going to happen in the rest of the film, and i think the director has done this quite well. The fact that it was entirely filmed in black and white and the mystery that the screen play creates around Bill really draws you in for more.