Pulp Fiction Analysis

Pulp Fiction

00:00-04:18

Analyse the use of micro-elements
The micro-elements you would expect within a film include: mise-en-scene, genre, characters, mood, location/setting and dialogue. In this blog I am going to analyse the use of these micro-elements within the thriller film Pulp Fiction. I watched the opening ten minutes of the film.

Mise-en-scene
In the opening ten minutes of the film we are introduced to the opening two characters at the start of the scene. The scene is set in a cafe in America where there seems to be a laid back atmosphere. The two characters, a young male and older woman are discussing their recent robberies. From the opening scene we work out that the two people work together with each other. The male character is sitting in a laid back position in the cafe seat - from this you can tell a lot about his character. You can also see what the character is like from his costume as well as the dialogue he uses. He is wearing jeans with a t-shirt with a casual shirt which isn't buttoned up. On the casual shirt he is wearing he has the sleeves rolled up to his forearm. From this you can tell he is quite workman like and likes to get on with what he has to do - in this case it is robberies. The woman in this scene is seen as his sidekick. The both of them are wearing casual clothing which doesn't give away the impression that they would do what they do - especially the woman. She looks quite mumsy which makes it quite obvious from the clothes she wears - a purple top for every day wear. In the scene a numbe rof props are used - ones that would be expected to be seen in a cafe but also ones that would be expected to appear in a thriller film. The normal everyday props expected to be seen in a cafe include coffee cups, coffee plates, a sugar jar and ketchup bottles etc. The thriller props that would be expected in a thriller film are seen in this clip. The prop is a gun, both the characters have one when they spontaneously decide to take part in the robbery of the cafe. The lighting in the scene is all diegetic as the audience can tell where the lighting is coming from in the scene. The lighting is what is expected of a cafe in the middle of the day where the light from the sun can get through their big front of shop windows. Finally in the mise-en-scene section I will discuss make-up. The make-up in this clip is used so it portrays a natural look for the characters.

Sound
The sound in this scene from Pulp Fiction is all diegetic apart from at the end of the scene when the soundtrack comes in when they start threatening the people in the cafe. The music used at the end makes the scene seem quite funny. The dialogue of the characters is diegetic as we know that the sound is coming from their mouths. This sort of sound is expected in thriller films.

Editing
I only analysed one scene from Pulp Fiction as it is hard to analyse the editing techniques between scenes but I can analyse the cuts used in the opening scene. The two characters are in conversation so the shot reverse shots are being used. The characters are having a fast-paced conversation therefore there are jump cuts between shots of the characters speaking and the characters reacting to the dialogue.

Camera Angles/Shots
In the scene there is a conversation taking place in a cafe between a man and a woman. The shot reverse shot is used during their conversation with close ups being used on their faces for reaction shots. There is also a medium shot of the two characters sitting opposite each other over a table. This shows the audience the surroundings of their location. The over the shoulder shot is also used on the man so the audience can see the reaction of the woman to what he is saying.