Film Research - Kill Bill Vo.1

Kill Bill Vo.1 - Film Opening

In the opening of Kill Bill, we hear the deep breathing of the Bride before we see any image which makes us wonder what's about to happen. We then see the bride in black and white effect on the floor dying, this is effective as it has discontinuity editing as this should happen half way into the film, as the audience of the film we are confused as to why these events have happened and makes us extremely interested to find out more. This pace of the opening scene is very slow which reflects on the pace of her dying. After the credits appear, we are shown a colour image which shows we are in a different time, the Bride goes into a woman's house and when they see each other we are shown a flashback of what happened between them - this gives us some insight of what it going on. There is then a very fast pace editing as the two girls are fighting, in an opening scene its important for most films like Kill Bill for example to have an action scene in the start of the movie as it prepares the audience. The start of the fight scene starts with a loud energetic non-diegetic music which catches the audiences attention. This opening creates high amounts of tension as the discontinuity editing confuses us but yet excites us as we want to find out what happened to cause these events to happen.

Openings for action films should have a interesting opening to set the right mood e.g. with a fight scene or building up to one. Film openings shouldn't tell us what exactly is happening in the opening so that people are interested and want to find out what happens next. 

Titles for Films

Film Titles

The same roles that appear in all three title sequence are written and directed by, executive producers, actors, casting by, director of photography, production design, casting by, editors. the credits in spring breakers is very simple it has a black background and they have used neon lights that makes it interesting. The titles for Deadwood and The Conjuring are over images they have been blocked in the bottom and middle of the images in bright writing so it is seen clearly this is an effective way for titles to be shown as before you see the film you can see images that are related and it is more interesting to read then on a black screen which many people might not read. The order for these three films are different to most as they have Directed and Written at the beginning when they are normally at the end. It seems as though these titles were not thought about in much detail as some seem very random, for my Storyboard I followed these titles in a similar order.

Film Research - Dog Soldiers

Dog Soldiers - Neil Marshall

The opening of the scene of any film has to be interesting and entertaining. In this extract of Dog Soldiers it creates tension for the rest of the film as something big happens which makes you want to find out more about what's going to happen. We are shown an establishing shot, which sets the scene of where the film is going to take place and we get to know some of the characters.  This film opening is mysterious, as we are left confused as we don't completely know what's happening. Then after the dramatic opening it cuts to a different group of people so we are left with a cliff-hanger of what’s happened, this is a good technique to use as it makes people intrigued to keep watching. There is also a eerie music playing which makes us feel unsure of how the film is going to continue and adds more mystery.

I think that in any opening it needs to have a scene that draws the audience in and makes them wonder but also doesn't tell them exactly what's happening so the audience want to find out more. I also think that it has to have shots to establish where its going to take place and to meet some of the main characters e.g. if they are very popular people will want to see them throughout and also if they are a famous popular actor the audience will then want to continue watching as they will see the actors.

Continuity Exercise

Continuity Exercise


For my continuity exercise, we created a short clip of someone walking through a door, we needed to include certain things for this piece which included a 180 degrees angle rule, match on match action and to include shot reverse shot. 

I booked a camera and a tripod from my schools media room and tried different locations and found a good location that would make this shot be perfect for my film. I then picked two classmates that could be used in my film. I used the 180 degrees rule which is a rule in cinematography that states that two character in a scene should maintain the same left/right relation to one another. I then included a shot reverse shot which lets us see more into the conversation and makes us feel more involved, we are also able to see the people who are having the conversation and their facial expressions. I made sure that we used match on match action which is a technique that connects two different views of the same action at the same moment. they match the movements across two shots.

I enjoyed this task as it enabled me to learn about the rules in the film industry which I did not know about before which will help me in the future when I create my own film. I also got to try out the camera and learn about how it works.