Analysing sound - 'Kill Bill' scene

In my lesson today we watched a clip from the movie 'Kill Bill' to analyse some sound techniques. The scene we analysed is when Uma Thurman gets buried. This scene relies on music rather than dialogue.

The sound indicates what is actually happening in the scene, as for a period of time, the screen is mainly black and the music is telling us what is happening. The audience relies on information aurally rather than visually. First of all, the scene begins with Uma Thurman being nailed into a coffin, being 'buried alive'. The light gets dimmer and dimmer as the coffin is nailed in until it completely traps the light causing a blackout on screen.

There is first of all 'diegetic' noise of the character heavily breathing creating context that she is in-trapped and is having a panic attack. This creates a sense of panic and un-comfort to the audience and this is all through just the character creating some noise. This noise is then built up with sound effects such as the noise of cranes and movement of the coffin. Again, there is no visualisation telling us that the coffin is moving, however, we instantly know this is what is happening. The noises are extremely uncomfortable and because we cannot see where the coffin is being lead to, we do not know what to expect and that's why the noises come as such a shock and panic. I could instantly signify the scraping of the coffin and the bleeping of the crane, and on top of these noises were the heavy/unsettling breathing from the character which added to the whole situation.


There is then a sudden drop of the coffin and complete silence occurs. This is very unusual on screen to have silence and a black-out, but it works in the situation as it builds the tension. It leaves a pause to make the audience wonder what is going to happen next. After the few second silence, a single drop of something falls onto the coffin but it is easily identified and this is for a reason. All of a sudden, a massive clump of dirt falls onto the coffin which breaks through the silence and makes us unsettled all over again. The noise is harsh and echo's which is very disturbing and because we know she is trapped it gives an over all noise barrier of so many unsettling things happening. Throughout this clip I struggled to watch it without not covering parts of my face because it was so nerving to hear. The sounds are also represented from her point of view, so this makes it the audiences point of view, and to only be hearing noises which are full on and unsettling it makes it harder to sit and just listen to them as we know what situation the character is in.

 

 

The noises of the dirt being shovelled onto the coffin become dimmer and dimmer and more muted showing that she is further and further in the ground as the noise becomes muffled and her breathing becomes muffled creating a sense of in-closure and panic. The end of this scene is then broken with the character flashing on and off her flashlight, this gives the audience a quick insight into how she is being shown and how she has/is reacting. To allow us to see the character who's panic-y breathing we have been following for the past couple of minutes or so is slightly reassuring as we want know she is ok.