Opening EG1: Pulp Fiction (1994)

Pulp Fiction

Quentin Tarantino (1994)

BBFC 18, MPAA R

Film Opening Length: 07:05

Budget: $8m
UK/US/World Box Office: £10.7m, $108m, $214m
Theatrical Distrinution in 

Production Companies: Miramax, A Band Apart, Jersey Films
Distributors: Miramax, Buena Vista International 

LINKS:
IMDB, RottenTomatoes (Tomatometer 94%, Audience 96%), BoxOfficeMojo, Wiki


Trailer for 'Pulp Fiction':
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'Pulp Fiction' Opening Scene:
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COMPANIES/IDENTS
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There is only one film company ident shown in this film, which is 'Miramax', an indie film company. A few years later after this film was made, Miramax was then bought by Disney, therefore becoming a subsidiary. Disney is one of the 'big six' conglomerates. 




IDENTIFYING ANY PROTAGONISTS
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The opening shot of the film is a medium two shot that introduces the two main characters of the opening scene (a couple having a conversation while eating breakfast). The male character is smoking and lying back with his leg up and foot on the chair signifying non-conformity, this and his use of swearing connotes that he is rebellious. 

The female character is sitting up straight connoting that she is a nice, polite and respectful contrast to the male character. This connotes that she may be less rebellious and cares more about seeming polite in public situations than the man does. There is also use of high key lighting. 

Usually, the first characters shown in a film are the main protagonists. However, in this example, the first two characters are not the main protagonists. 

SOUND/GENRE SIGNIFICATION
There is continuous diegetic sound of a café throughout which can be denoted as traffic sounds (car noises) and muffled background conversations. These sounds remain the same throughout this entire scene in the diner, which connotes a relaxing atmosphere. There is also diegetic sound of dialogue between these two characters which provides the audience with some exposition - that they are criminals therefore signifying/connoting the genre immediately as being crime, gangster. 


A normal couple eating in a diner goes against the conventions of a gangster genre film. This film opening is very countertypical to the stereotypical gangster film opening you would see. The setting here (a café) is very countertypical for the gangster, action, crime genre of the film. Stereotypically, the gangster, crime genre includes dark hoods, guns, weapons, thugs and is usually set at night time in shady, run-down areas such as the place now termed as the 'ghetto'. This goes against the brightly lit daytime scene we see here in this film opening. 

At the end of this film opening, the man pulls out a gun and slams it on the table which gives a harsh contrast to the relaxed, calm environment before and lets the audience know that they are serious about robbing the diner. Then they kiss each other and the man stands up while the woman turns and hides her face connoting that the man is the dominant figure in the shot, and in the criminal relationship.


SHOT VARIETY

There is some variety of shots throughout this film opening. The opening shot is very countertypical to the usual opening shot you would see; it is a two shot of two characters sitting at a table/booth in a café. Usually, you would see an extreme long shot as the opening shot, because this establishes the setting to the audience. This two shot consists of dialogue between the two characters. The audience is made to feel uncomfortable while watching this film opening through the use of long takes which are then broken by the use of close ups. An example of this is within the opening shot, this is a two shot of the two characters sitting at a table in a cafe in a conversation. This opening shot also has a very long take (35 seconds) which is then broken by the use of a close up on the waitress's face. This makes the audience become aware that they need to focus on the waitress only so they can see her facial expressions, connoting that there is something wrong that the waitress has picked up on. Another example of this is when the couple are in conversation in a two shot then this gets broken by the use of a medium close up on the female character. This makes the audience focus on her emotions and facial expressions. 

There is use of two shots, close ups, medium close ups, 'dirty' and 'clean' over the shoulder shots, medium shots, medium long shots. The two shots are used here to connote that there is a relationship between the two characters in the scene. The 'dirty' over the shoulder shots are used in the conversations between the two characters as part of the shot reverse shot sequence, alongside the 180 degree rule. Since the 180 degree has been applied, there is continuity editing. 

Further into the film opening, the shots on the character's faces talking start to have shorter takes connoting that action and drama is coming and that the couple are serious about robbing the diner right now.

NARRATIVE
Many narrative theories can be applied here in this film opening such as Roland Barthes' 5 codes. This includes the enigma code, the action code, the semantic code, the cultural code and the symbolic code. The action and enigma codes are relevant here. At the start of the film opening the enigma code can somewhat be applied because the audience have just started on these two characters and have no idea what is coming; the dialogue of these two characters provides a lot of exposition for the audience however. The enigma code can also be applied when the characters are on the topic of robbing the diner, this creates and builds suspense for the audience wondering if they will actually do it and when. At the end of the film opening, the action code is evident when the male character slams his gun onto the table and then the couple stand up and hold up their guns yelling at all the other people in the café. 

Also, Propp's 7 character archetypes can be applied here. These include the hero, the princess or prize, the donor, the dispatcher, the helper, the villain and the false hero. In this film opening you only see two characters so not many of these archetypes are shown. 

MISE-EN-SCENE FOR EXPOSITION
You can denote that the female character here is wearing a silver necklace, a purple conservative dress and has short light brown hair with a fringe. She is also sitting with her back straight at the table (no slouching or putting her feet up). From this combination of things you can connote that she is quite a polite, respectable character. Through the dialogue and actions at the end of this film opening, we realise that she is actually a criminal. However, at the end of the film, we realise that she is actually not, she is only acting like one because her boyfriend is. She crumbles and breaks down, showing her true fear and weakness, when Samuel L Jackson's character talks with her as he has her boyfriend at gunpoint.

When the waitress comes over to pour more coffee into the female character's cup, the female character gratefully accepts the coffee and starts acting overly friendly to the waitress. To the audience, this connotes that with strangers, this woman is not her usual self but instead trying to appear as an overly polite woman. She wants it to appear as if everything is perfectly fine and polite at the table, that there is no talk of crime. This all connotes that this woman is actually cautious of committing crime unlike her partner. 

The male character is wearing a relaxed summery beach buttoned shirt. It is light blue with patterns on. The collar is undone. He also is wearing light blue denim jeans. This connotes that he is a rebellious and relaxed character. 

The lighting and background diegetic sounds remain the same throughout the entire film opening in the diner connoting a relaxed, nothing out of the ordinary environment. The audience believe that nothing dramatic is going to happen, they are just listening to what the male character has to say about crime (the conversation between the two characters). The man appears to be trying to convince the woman to do all these things he is talking about with him but she acts calm and gentle (the opposite of him - binary opposition). As the man mentions the possibility of having to kill someone, the woman sweetly reacts by smiling saying “I’m not gonna kill anybody” which is strongly against the conventions of the gangster, action, crime genre but also against the conventions of a couple having dinner together. 



At this point, the climax of the opening scene, all of the built up ideas about the character of the woman are dismissed. She quickly goes from her position of sitting down at the bottom of the frame, to standing up waving a gun wildly around, with an angry face, screaming obscenities. This is not what the audience would have expected when the man suggest she handle “crowd control” in the scene before. The diner scene ends with a freeze-frame of the woman pointing the gun, with the credits beginning to appear at the bottom (film institution – ‘Miramax’). The theme song starts (gangster, action, dramatic, cool song) with all the film credits coming afterwards- another film institution, the director’s name, title of film in bold large font- yellow and orange. The actors’ names appear after this one by one on top of the film title ‘Pulp Fiction’ in yellow as it decreases in size behind the actors’ names. Then more credits appear in yellow this time, with a change of song (non-diegetic sound).

TITLES
With a fade in, the second frame is a still shot of the definition of pulp, written in a dictionary style font. It is clear that the second meaning is relevant here, as it sets the tone of the film immediately. The fact that this definition is shown at the start, connotes that the director, Quentin Tarantino, wanted this definition to be kept in mind while watching the film. There is no non-/diegetic sound in this frame. The frame then fades out. 

The second set of main titles appears at the end of this film opening on the final shot. The first title shown is 'Miramax Films Presents'. This is stereotypically the first title you will see in film openings - (main production company presents).