As a group we have analysed the Sound in the opening sequence of Kill Bill Volume 1, which is classified as an American action thriller film. Within the opening 2 Minutes there is a variety of sounds and sound techniques used in order to convey the theme of the film.
Initially, the film begins with the sound of a female who is breathing heavily, this is a form of diagetic sound- her breathing initiates that she is in some kind of trouble, injured and in need of help. As the film progresses the females breathing increases in pace as she fears the footsteps that are gradually approaching her sight. The sound of footsteps is parallel in accordance to the atmosphere and mood at this specific moment within the film. It is the the sound of a wooden thick heel banging against the floor which lurs the audience in to create tension as to what is going to take place next and who the man is. The sound of breathing and footsteps is effective in creating tension which is a norm practised in thriller films. Furthermore, the audience are introduced to dialogue which is spoken in are mother tongue but also in a foreign language- Japanese. The use of foreign language is successful in decreasing the understanding of the violent act that is going to take place, the director has deliberately placed this technique within the opening sequence in order to confuse and raise enigma. Dialogue is spoken by two characters, mainly a male character, possibly the antagonist and the female character who in the beginning was breathing heavily. The female characters dialogue is a little difficult to understand as she is struggling to communicate due to her wounds caused by the antagonist, her dialogue also releases a sense of fear and her frightened nature. The Male character ironically speaks of not being sadistic and then suddenly shoots the female. The sound of a gunshot is rather terrifying and creates a thrill for the audience. More so over, we are introduced to contrapuntal music, a sound track produced by Nancy Sinatra in 1966 (Bang Bang my baby shot me down). The usage of this soundtrack creates a sense of ambiguity as it is ironic for music such as this to be played after someone has been murdered. This song represents a murder taking place however the murder taken place in the movie differentiates as it is caused physically and the murder within the song is caused mentally. This form of non-diagetic sound is a technique used by the director to convey the mixed emotions felt by the prey(victim) and hunter(murderer) himself.
Black Swan is a Psychological thriller, unlike the first film we are comparing it to Kill Bill Vol1 which is an action thriller. Throughout Black Swan a variety of sounds and techniques are used in order to have a certain effect upon the audience which would enable them to settle into a mood that suits the genre of the thriller. In the opening sequence of the black swan the first sound that you hear is sound of a train on the train tracks because it starts off by showing the producer of the film. Once the actual film has started you hear very classical ballet music. The music makes the audience straight away settle into the atmosphere that the director of the film is trying to give.
The music that has been chosen to be played at the beginning of this film is to reflect on the character to tell the audience that during the beginning of the film the main character is shown to be an innocent and sweet character which soon turns into a dark and evil woman. By using the 'Swan Lake' song as the opening song for the woman to dance to reflects her character completely and secretly lets the audience try and work out for themselves what the character is going to be like throughout the film.
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