Comparative Analysis

Introduction

The two films that I will be looking at are Four Brothers and Kill Bill: Vol.1. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 is the independent film of the two. The director of the film is Quentin Tarantino, who is known to make/direct films using actors and actresses that would not usually work together. One of the main companies involved in the production is Miramax Films. In this essay I will be looking for the differences or similarities between the two films using these factors:
Actors/Characters
Sound (Dialogue and Music)
Camerawork
Editing
Mise-en-scene (Location, props etc.)

Actors/Characters

In Four Brothers, the actors/characters involved in the film were chosen very carefully. The stereotype of brothers is that the youngest never gets to do what the older brothers are doing, and in this film it is shown like this as the younger brother doesn't get to use guns like the older brothers. In Kill Bill: Vol.1, Uma Thurman the main character known as "The Bride" plays the character of a lady looking for revenge as she is beaten up close to death. Although the two stories of revenge are different, the characters in each film play with similarities as they do not have any limits until they get their revenge.

Sound

In Kill Bill Vol.1, most of the music used is very dramatic because the scenes involve a lot of action, and the music increases the atmosphere for the person watching the film. Also there are some moments in the film where slow music is played where "The Bride" is injured and in hospital. In Four Brothers there is a variety of music that is used. When the mother is murdered, there is slow music that is played to help the person watching the film to feel the atmosphere, which is very similar to Kill Bill. There is also music used in some parts of the action scenes which is also similar to Kill Bill. There are many similarities in sound because both films are in the same genre and the storyline of revenge ensures this.

Camerawork

In Four Brothers the camerawork is very complex because there are scenes which would be hard to film. For example there is a scene in the film where there is a car chase, and with it being very slippery due to snow it must have been very hard for them to film. In Kill Bill, there are also some complex scenes that have been filmed. For example, the scene where "The Bride" comes to find O-Ren Ishii and then her gang The Crazy 88's try to fight her off but do not succeed. This is a complex scene to film as the fight is filmed on many different levels. There are similarities of the camerawork from both films as they both have very complex scenes throughout each film.

Editing

The editing involved in Kill Bill Vol. 1 is not complex at all. The only main part of editing involved is where The Crazy 88's and "The Bride" have their battle. There is so much blood in the scene that the editors decided to turn the battle into a black and white scene. In Four Brothers there are no editing effects which are added to the film, this makes it look more real and gives the person watching the film a better feeling of the film.

Mise-En-Scene

In Four Brothers the locations used in the film are mainly based around Detroit, USA. This is because this is a city which has a high gun crime rate, which brings reality into the film once again. Also the producers used another reality factor, where "Victor Sweet" dominates the majority of the city, which also happens in a lot of cities in USA. The main props being used in Four Brothers are guns, this is due to the nature of the film. Also there are a lot of cars being used in the film too, which shows a high budget involved in the production of the film. In Kill Bill Vol. 1 the main location is Japan, this is where O-Ren Ishii is located and the battle dominates the majority of the film. The main props that are used are swords, this is because "The Bride" and O-Ren Ishii are trained sword fighters when they meet each other. Another main prop that is used are costumes. Most of the characters involved in the film have their own costume, apart from The Crazy 88's, this helps the viewer to distinguish each character.

Conclusion

To conclude this essay, I can see that between both films, there are similarities, and although Miramax (Producers of Kill Bill Vol. 1) had a bigger budget, I believe that Paramount (Producers of Four Brothers) were the better producers and put their budget to good use. I think looking back at the factors which I have stated in the introduction, Four Brothers was the better film, because of the difficult situations in the film and how the producers coped with it.