Kill Bill - Sound Analysis

The film I will be analyzing the sound of is Kill Bill Vol 2, the scene where Beatrix is buried alive.  

At this point we can hear hammering. The hammering is much louder than it would be in reality, but this is so that as an audience member it is the sound we are primarily listening to. The non-diegetic sound is a piece of western style music. The long notes create a sense of calmness which juxtaposes with the hammering and the heavy breathing going on in this scene. It creates a slight discomfort for the audience with the contrasting sounds.

At this moment, the hammering slows down which suggests that it is nearly finished. There is one final hammer and then the screen goes black, this tells us that the coffin has been properly sealed. The final hammer is extra loud and has a certain weight about it which suggests that the man using the hammer puts a lot of effort into the final blow.

After the final blow, the screen goes black. At this point we can hear a few things. The music that plays throughout the whole thing continues.  Beatrix's breaths are heavy and deep. Having a plain black screen makes the audience focus on her breaths. The heaviness of them suggest that she is having a hard time getting oxygen, which is expected if you were trapped in a coffin alive. Then over the top of her breaths, you can hear shoveling. It is much louder than her breaths, which create the idea that her breaths are insignificant. The shoveling sounds are muffled, this is because it’s what she is hearing from inside the coffin. The crunching noise suggests that the shovel has a pointed edge and is heavy as it ploughs through the mud.

The sound of the mud then being dropped on top of the coffin is strong and identifiable yet muffled. The fact that it’s strong implies that there is a lot of it being shoveled on and that it’s quite thick and dense. The muffled sounds suggest that the wood of the coffin is quite thick hence the thud of the mud is muted slightly. Also, it is what Beatrix would here, this makes the audience feel that they are in the coffin with her.

At this point, the shoveling is still going on but she tries to scream. Her screams are so quite in comparison to the shoveling sounds, to signify that no one can hear her outside of the coffin. Her screams are full of distress and frustration, not sadness. This suggests she is more angry about the situation than she is sad.