Sound Analysis: Kill Bill

Analysis of Sound: Kill Bill

In class we were asking to watch a scene from Kill Bill Vol. 2, and the first time we watched it we had to close our eyes and try to guess what was going on in the scene.  As I had never watched the film before I found that this experiment was very effective as it made me understand how important the use of sound is when making a film.

The sequence begins with the sound of loud banging, which is overlapped by a western style short piece of music, which is further overlapped by the sound of heavy breathing which progressively gets louder and louder as the sound of both the bagging and the music stops.
I found it quite difficult to really understand what was going on, but the heavy breathing indicated to me that someone was in some sort of distress.  When watching this part of the sequence I found that I was correct about the distress, and the reason for it became clear when I found out that the heavy banging was the sound of them being enclosed in a box.

The next noticeable sound that we hear in the sequence was something that sounded like thumping, or something falling on top of something else. The loud breathing has stopped by this point, but then begins to pick up again with the beginning of the thumping sound.  This sound continues in short periods within the sequence gradually becoming quieter as if it is getting further and further away. The reason for this thumping sound doesn't become a lot clearer when watching the who sequence with my eyes open, but the title of the clip states that she is being buried alive and therefore the sound must be the sound of earth being poured on top of her.

woman's screaming becomes more urgent and hysterical, she has short bursts of screaming and it sounds as if she is bagging on something.  When watching back it can be seen that she has pulled out a torch and is banging on the box that she is trapped within in an attempt to escape the situation.  

The scene ends with all the sound cutting out to create a very tense and suspenseful ending.

When putting the who sequence together with my eyes open I found that being able to see what was going on didn't really make the whole sequence that much more suspenseful as the director hadn't put many shots of what was going on and a lot of the time the screen was black anyways.  This proved to me the importance of sound within a sequence in that it can give a lot more away than what the actual images show.

Final Idea

25.11.2014

Gymnastics Sequence

In our second meeting as a group we reviewed each others ideas and after discussion amongst ourselves as well as with Adam, we decided although the ideas for each of them were good and interesting, the practicality of each of them weren't so good.

 

We then decided to scrap our ideas and began looking at some of the previous years title sequences and eventually and collectively we came up with an idea of our own that is completely different to  what any of us had initially wanted.

We have decided to base our sequence around gymnastics as although a very beautiful sport, there is an underlying sense of danger about it, a feeling that anything could go wrong at any point.  Another reason that we chose this was because of the amount of camera work that we would be able to use on the day of filming.

We believe that by simply having one gymnast doing a lot of different elements with a gymnasium and also in a dark studio we will be able to create a title sequence that a) doesn't give too much away about the movie and b)will be appealing to watch to any audience.

Top Two Thriller Ideas

11.11.2014

My Top Two Thriller Ideas:

Idea 1: 

Whole Movie:

My main idea for the movie is that it would be based on the conspiracy theory that all the children that go missing are taken and sold to wealthy people who then send them out into forests and hunt then as a pleasure activity. My movie would follow the story of a young girl who ends up in one of these places but doesn't know why.  She gets killed but her soul won't rest until she finds out the sotry beind how she got there. I would probably end it somewhere on the lines that she had never actually been abducted but in fact her parents had given her up for money.

Opening Sequence:

My initial idea for the sequence was that there would be a group of children laughing and playing in the woods.  'Ready of not would then be heard' coming from a mans voice,but we cant see his face.  i would have then put in a change of atmosphere as the children frantically run around in an attempt to find a place to 'hide'. The camera would have then shot to a pan of a mans legs walking through the woods, and a close up on a gun hanging down at his side.  screams and shots would have been heard, and the sequence would have then cut out of the song 'If you go down to the woods today...' but the eerie version.  As the screen fades to black the title, 'Ready or not' would come across the screen and the same time that a gun shot is heard.

Changes:

People liked the initial plot of my movie once i had presented it to the class but the point was made that i was giving too much away within the opening title sequence, so I went away and came up with a less complicated idea of how I could open up my movie:

Little girl running and laughing in the wood, holding a toy.  Held camera following her around and she keeps on looking backwards, happy music but a distressed face.  There is a loud bang and the scene fade to black.  If you go down to the wood todays begins playing, camera shot of her toy on the floor, ‘Ready or not comes onto the screen.’

Idea 2:

Whole Movie:

 A girl, who, for the first 14 years was isolated from any human contact in her bedroom.  She has nothing but a mattress on the floor and deprived form any human contact.  She never saw her parents but only heard their voices, only thing she has seem are there hands as they pass food under the door.  One day whilst her parents out she managed to escape, when they return she is no where to be seen .  years pass and the father dies, the mother is left alone in the house, when the daughter one day returns.

Opening Title Sequence:

Nice house but there is a loud banging coming from upstairs, playing nice clam classy music. Suddenly cuts to a grey room, we can see the young girl, jump cuts as she frantically looks around the room.  She is screaming and tries to get out, parents not paying attention. Shots of left over food on plates and a dirty matress on the floor.  Zooms into the childs face, cuts out and then the words 'Isolation' come up onto the screen.

Getting Into Groups

Being Split Into Groups

In order to be split into groups out teacher, Adam, randomly picked out names and put us into four different groups. Initially I was placed in a group with three other boys, however Adam decided it would be wise to place me in another group as I feared that I wouldn't have had any say in the ideas if I was in a group with all boys.

After making a few changes to the groups I was placed with Crerar, Lauren and Igor.  Unfortunately for Igor he was now with three girls but he didn't seem to mind too much, and as a group we agreed to make sure that he had his say, as I knew that he was in the same situation that I was previously in.

I believed that our group would work really well together, especially us three girls as we all had similar ideas of what we wanted.  The one problem I could see occurring was the language barrier between Igor and the rest of us, and many a time he would have to tell us to slow down because we were talking way too fast.  Apart from that I thought that we would blend well and get the task at hand done as we all had different strengths that we could play to as a group.

First Group Meeting:

I unfortunately missed the very first meeting as a group in which they discussed all of our ideas and tried to come up with something that we could all agree on.

I was told that this didn't go as smoothly as they had hoped, as when I returned on the second group meeting they hadn't really come to a decision at all. I believe this was because everyone was so fond of the ideas that they had come up with that they didn't really want to have to change them.

Thriller Idea 4

11.11.2014

Thriller Idea: 4

Idea 4:

Whole Movie:

 A girl, who, for the first 14 years was isolated from any human contact in her bedroom.  She has nothing but a mattress on the floor and deprived form any human contact.  She never saw her parents but only heard their voices, only thing she has seem are there hands as they pass food under the door.  One day whilst her parents out she managed to escape, when they return she is no where to be seen .  years pass and the father dies, the mother is left alone in the house, when the daughter one day returns.

Opening Title Sequence:

Nice house but there is a loud banging coming from upstairs, playing nice clam classy music. Suddenly cuts to a grey room, we can see the young girl, jump cuts as she frantically looks around the room.  She is screaming and tries to get out, parents not paying attention. Shots of left over food on plates and a dirty matress on the floor.  Zooms into the childs face, cuts out and then the words 'Isolation' come up onto the screen.

Thriller Idea 3

11.11.2014

Thriller Idea: 3

Idea 3:

Whole Movie:

Young boy was already afraid of the dark, childish fantasies of monsters living under the bed.  As he gets older and gets on with his life, he fears seem to get better, stops believing.  Until one day he moves into his own place, that evening as he goes into the bathroom and as he turns out the lights, he sees a figure crouched at the other end of his room, staring back at him. 

Title Sequence:

Sequence begins with a young boy sat in bed, parents turning out the lights and saying goodnight.  Once the lights are turned off the boy slowly pulls the covers over his face, he is breathing heavily.  A loud thump is then heard and the boy turns on a flashlight which he has had hidden under his pillow.  He slowly eases himself over the edge of the bed, shines the torch underneath, we see his eyes widen, and he opens his mouth as if to scream, the sequence then cuts out.

Thriller Idea 2

11.11.2014

Thriller Idea: 2

Idea 2:

Whole Movie:

Man once died driving on the deserted road in a car accident, but his wife survived the crash, she was the driver.  The ghost of the man now murders all women drivers going along that road, thinking that his wife killed him on purpose.

Title Sequence:

My idea was to have a woman driving in her car, during the night.  She is on what appears to be quite a deserted road and she is in the car by herself.  As another car drives past the light goes across her face and a face that is in the boot of her car, staring at her.  The sequence ends when we see the woman’s eyes looking into to rear view mirror, another car passes by and we see a shocked expression come across the woman’s face, that is when the sequence cuts out.