Analysing Thrillers - Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction - opening scene

Pulp Fiction is an American film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, and produced by Marimax, A Band Apart and Jersey Films in 1994. The film begins in a stereotypical American coffee shop filled with diner-like furniture and red booths. A couple is featured sitting in a booth together having what appears to be a normal conversation over a cup of coffee, but once you listen to their dialogue their conversation is anything but ordinary.

Sound - The dialogue in this extract has a comedic effect as the conversation between the couple is so unexpected and breaks the stereotypes that would usually be associated with this particular couple through their appearance. The female character's voice is stereotypically very high pitched, sweet and innocent which contrasts with the conversation at hand as the couple are talking about murder and committing robbery. She also sounds childish with some of her dialect, for example she makes multiple 'quack' noises when referring to her partner as a duck, and also when she lays her head on the table and says "I'm not gonna kill anybody". Her high pitched voice is the binary opposite of what you would expect from such a violent conversation, which reinforces the comedic effect it creates for the audience. This effect is then increased further at the end of the scene when the couple stands up and announces that they're robbing the café, as her voice completely changes. Her original childish and innocent voice changes to a maniacal shriek as she shouts "'I'll execute every motherf***ing last one of you" to the customers in the building if they dare to move, which contradicts her previous statement.

On the other hand, the male character's voice sticks more to the stereotypical connotations of a criminal, as his accent and dialect reflect a common and lower class attitude. The male character has a London/Cockney accent which is often associated with being common and rough which would be stereotypical of a criminal, and his frequent use of explicit language further reinforces this impression.

Camera - A two shot is used multiple times throughout the extract to highlight the couple's close relationship with each other. The two shot features both characters' together in the frame, and shows them as the main focus of the camera which implies that they're together and in a close relationship. It also implies that they're partners in crime and work together.

A close up shot is also used in this extract multiple times throughout the scene to highlight the characters' intrigue and excitement towards their plan. A close up of the female character is used during their conversation about the bank robbery to highlight her interested and quizzical facial expression towards her partner's story, and implies that she is fully engrossed in the conversation and the idea of stealing from various establishments without a thought for anyone else.

Editing - Shot reverse shot is used throughout the conversation between the two characters to capture the progress and growth of their plan and the increasing excitement as the idea develops. As the conversation progresses, the shot reverse shot pace increases slightly and the facial expressions of the two characters' become increasingly more excited and joyful at the prospect of robbing the café.
An over-the-shoulder shot is also used in the extract to reinforce the couple's close relationship even further. This shot shows the scene from each character's perspective, however in this scene you can still see a small portion of the character who's perspective is being shown so both characters are still featured in the scene together. This suggests that they're relationship is very close and that they're never without each other, which is mirrored in the editing.

Mise-En-Scene - The female character's costume is highly stereotypical of a typical female role in thrillers, who usually portray a 'damsel in distress'. She is featured wearing a pinky-purple dress with a gold necklace and natural makeup which would usually portray her character as being girly and defenceless, when in reality her character is the binary opposite of that portrayal, which highlights that many stereotypes have been broken in the beginning of this film.
The male costume in this extract is less stereotypical and more unusual for a male leading character. He's featured wearing a tropical/Hawaiian style shirt and jeans, which is unusual for his character as his personality and attitude is quite violent and rebellious which is the complete opposite of his costume. However, his accent creates the impression that he could be a tourist, so this costume could be relating back to that portrayal of his character at the beginning of the film.

The screen then wipes to a black screen with the title of the film Pulp Fiction written in bold, block, orange font in a reverse block manner to make it stand out from the dark screen and grab the audience's attention as the title could be essential to some part of the narrative.

All titles featured in the opening sequence:
Miramax Films presents, A Band Apart and Jersey Films Productions, a film by Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Ficition, (Actors) John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman

Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Maria de Medeiros, Ving Rhames, Eric Stoltz Rosanna Arquette, Christopher Walken, and Bruce Willis, co-starring Paul Calderon, Bronagh Gallagher, Peter Greene, Stephen Hibbert, Angela Jones, Phil LaMarr, Robert Ruth, Julia Sweeney, Quentin Tarantino, Frank Whaley, Duana Whitaker, Casting by Ronnie Yeskel C.S.A (and) Gary M. Zuckerbrod C.S.A, Music Supervisor Karyn Rachtman

Costume Designer Betsy Heimann, Production Designer David Wasco, Editor Sally Menke

Director of Photography Andrzej Sekula, Co-Executive Producers Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein (and) Richard N. Gladstein, Executive Producers Danny DeVito, Michael, Shamberg (and) Stacy Sher, Stories by Quentin Tarantino & Roger Avary, Produced by Lawrence Bender.

Original Clip: