Opening Sequence - Pulp Fiction

1) What does the set up reveal to the audience about setting? Where is this place? What gives you information?

We first see these characters in a diner/some kind of restaurant and we can see some trees in the background and so they are clearly in a town or a village instead of a big city. The whole movie is set in various locations and if you watch the whole film, you do not see these people in the diner or the diner itself until the last bits of the film, so it is important to remember this place.

2) What does the set up reveal to the audience about characters? Choose one and explain HOW the set up reveals this information.

The set up makes us think that these two people who are obviously in some kind of relationship, are an innocent couple complaining about something that the male character is doing, which he says he is going to stop. This is a red herring as we are lead to think it is maybe a drug problem or a bad habit but then they go on about robbing places and the man says 'Remember that time we held up that liquor store?'. The woman seems very innocent throughout the conversation and that is what shocked me the most, she went from being innocent to this crazy woman in such a short period of time.

3) What does the set up reveal to the audience about interrelationships between characters? About their goals? 

We see that these two people have a very strong connection and are quite clearly in a relationship of some sort together. The very indiscrete goal they pursuit is the goal of getting as much money as they can from this diner by holding it up, but what we dont know is if they have a specific purpose for doing this, are they being made to? do they work for someone?

4)What is this ‘world’ like? Safe? Happy? Dangerous? How do you know?

The world seems very safe and happy to begin with, it is sunny outside, they are having a nice breakfast together, but then the innocent just falls as we find out that they are criminals and then suddenly there is a Dangerous feel to it, but in a way it still feels quite happy.

5)How does this film opening fit with the codes and conventions of a thriller film?

The main thriller convention that the set up has is the massive 'Narrative Retardation' when i first watched the film i did not expect that to happen at all. This also kind of goes against most normal Thriller conventions in which normally the 'bad guys' are normally concealed from us throughout most of the film. But their innocent act could be seen as a personality concealment. There is then another close up on the man's gun when he slams it on the table.

There is a close up in the first minute of the film. This is a very typical shot for a thriller film. The close up is of a waitresses face, who looks like a very innocent young girl. This could be a juxtaposition for the very non innocent that is about to happen.

Another very typical camera shot they take is a 'Shot-Reverse-Shot' This is to just show the two people in the conversation.

There is a Low Angle Shot that happens when he gets up on the table to announce that he is holding the diner up. This is to make him look intimidating and that he is in-charge of the situation at hand.