Kill Bill Vol. 1 Visual Breakdown

Morgane Hayes

Use of Color

Overall, Kill Bill is filled with heavily saturated hues and uses the primary color palette for it’s color scheme, focusing on yellow, contrasting with red and occasional touches of blue.

Due to the fast paced movement of fight scenes, the use of vivid hues allows the audiences’ eye to follow the subjects and not get lost in the action.

This technique is different from typical revenge films, which tend to be very dark. Instead, Tarantino plays with the faux-cheesy quality and focuses on a more 1970’s vibe.

Red & Yellow

Red and yellow are exciting colors that attract the eye. This is most effectively done with blood splatter, as it makes the red of the blood pop out even more.

Red & White

Red and white are used together as an interaction of color. Red is the susceptible color, while white is the neighbor, activating the red to appear more vivid.

Touches of Blue

Hints of blue are used for color interaction as a complementary color of red. The placement of these two colors together increases the saturation, creating a more visually dynamic image.

Director’s Trademark

Foot Fetish

In each of his films, Tarantino does a close-up of women’s feet, highlighting his strange infatuation with them. He not only does this with feet, but also with women’s eyes and lips. While his films remain violent and brutal, he takes the time to illustrate the natural beauty he finds in women.

Referencing Old Films

Tarantino is notorious for referencing influential films and their creators. In these two shots, he imitates Brian de Palma’s overhead shots, seen in the example below from Carlito’s Way.

The Bride’s Yellow Suit

During the peak of intensity, The Bride wears a bright yellow jump suit. This is a direct reference to Bruce Lee’s character in Game of Death, which is done to show the similarity between the two characters and highlight her incredible fighting prowess.

Tone

Contrast of Genres: Western

Tarantino evokes the Western genre during the scene in El Paso, Texas. The desaturation creates an affinity of color, which in turn adds contrast to the deeply saturated hues and speediness of the kung-fu portion of the film.

Contrast of Genres: Kung Fu

The rest of the film is high speed action and filled with deeply saturated hues. Due to the swift movement, especially during fight scenes, the saturation allows for the audiences’ eye to remain on the subject. This is especially true for The Bride, who’s yellow jump suit commands the eye’s attention.The shot on the bottom right is an excellent example of classic kung-fu choreography, as it was common for the protagonist to take on an overwhelming amount of enemies.

Black & White

In the opening and closing scene in El Paso, Texas, black and white are used for a more Western feel. In the middle of the battle at The House of Blue Leaves, it is used again but is brighter, in reference to the kung fu filmmaking style. In older kung fu films, directors would have to switch to B&W during more violent scenes to disguise blood and avoid harassment by TV censors.

Hospital

Incidental lighting and desaturation are used to illustrate the cold, harsh world that the Deadly Vipers wrongfully put The Bride in. This is later mirrored with a shot of Sophie Fatale as she sits in the hospital, disfigured as a result of The Bride’s revenge.

The use of unnatural color tones gives the Okinawa chapter a dream-like feeling, making the audience question whether they are in a conscious state. It is the beginning of her mission for revenge, serving as a “calm before the storm.”

Non-Coincidence of Tone

The tonal organization of these shots hide the subjects, creating an extremely visually intense moment. A large portion of the film is well lit, so the inclusion of these shots add contrast as well as a darker tone.

Coincidence of Tone

Most of the film demonstrates coincidence of tone, and these shots show a very stylized form of doing so. The subject is clearly revealed by tonal organization as they coincide. Frequently, this is done to put the audience’s focus on the subject’s eyes because Tarantino effectively uses the actor’s expression in them to evoke their demeanor.

Linear MotifVernita Green Fight

The quality of line in these shots alternate from contrast to affinity of line. Above, the stripes of Vernita Green’s sweater and the linear objects next to her create affinity. In the shots below, there is a contrast of line due to the horizontal positioning of their arms and the vertical lines behind them.

The shot below demonstrates contrast of quality of line. The contour of the circular lampshade adds contrast to the straight diagonal bars that cross the entirety of the screen.

During this fight scene, direction is created with a heavy contrast of vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines to emphasize visually intensity. The scene begins by using horizontal and vertical lines, and as the fight becomes more chaotic, diagonals start to appear. As the school bus arrives, the women calm down, and horizontal and vertical lines are reintroduced.

Here are the shots again in the order of their progression:

Visual Flourishes

Surface Division Using Split-screen

Surface division is used very frequently throughout the film, however the clearest example is with the use of split-screen. This is to emphasize the differences between the characters, showing that they are enemies as we are shown The Bride’s first encounters with them on screen.

When The Bride comes face-to-face with her nemeses for the first time, a close-up of her eyes is layered with a flashback of her attempted murder. Paired with an intense sound design and orangey-red color, the feeling of revenge is evoked.