Projector - "Quentin Tarantino uses specific music in his films, can this be seen as his key signature and does this make him an auteur?"
Speaker - Quentin Tarantino is a 50 year old American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is probably one of the most iconic Film Directors of all time, as his films all consist of the same thing, very dominant, popular music, and I believe this, which I will go into more detail about later, makes him an auteur. "Auteur Theory suggests that a director can use the commercial
apparatus of film-making in the same way that a writer uses a pen or a painter
uses paint and a paintbrush. It is a medium for the personal artistic expression
of the director" (Item 11)." Quentin Tarantino said "he would listen to music in his bedroom and create scenes that correlated to the music playing" (Item 9). All over the world Tarantino's films are recognised instantly and never ignored, "Quentin Tarantino is not what anyone would call a music ignoramus" (Item 14) Tarantino tries his very best to get the perfect soundtrack for his films, and in all of his films so far, he has succeeded. "If you put the right piece of music, with the right scene, the right sequence, then I actually truly think it's maybe the most cinematic thing you can do" (Item 11) Tarantino explained in an interview on the Culture Show.
Projector - Image of Reservoir Dogs poster. (Item 15)
Speaker - In 1992, Quentin Tarantino released the film 'Reservoir Dogs' (Item 3). This was probably seen as his first iconic film, the film that started Quentin Tarantinos career. "The content of the soundtrack is very much a case of quality over quantity. For the most part the songs are used in a manner that compliments the scenes they accompany and in particular there are two scenes that feature here that have become so iconic that it's impossible to hear the song and not think of the movie. These are, of course, Little Green Bag by The George Baker Selection and Stuck In The Middle by Steelers Wheel." (Item 6).
Projector - Ear cutting scene, Reservoir Dogs. (Item 3)
Speaker - This scene in Reservoir Dogs has become one of the most iconic scenes in the film industry. In this scene, Mr White checks on Mr Orange, who at this point is tied to a chair, gagged & very bloody, the camera zooms in onto his face to show how scared he is, normally, at this point, the music would fit the atmosphere of the scene, and become very tense, not in this scene, and this may be why it is so unnerving. "The generic yet perfectly pleasant pop tune bobs along, unaware of the cop’s plight. Tarantino’s camera looks away as the cop screams yet the music blandly continues." (Item 7). A lot of people could see that the fact that a pleasant pop tune came on whilst something as tense as this was going on was quite ironic, "Tarantino was free to draw upon a variety of different songs and manipulate their values as ironic counterpoints to on-screen action" (Item 7). I think that the fact Tarantino did this is what has made this scene so iconic, because whenever I hear this song on the radio, I can't help but picture this scene, and I'm sure that goes the same for anyone who has seen this film.
Projector - The opening scene, Reservoir Dogs (Item 3)
Speaker - "It's hard to say what difference it would have made had Tarantino not chosen the song Little Green Bag to effectively introduce himself to the world, perhaps it would have made no difference at all, but that is the song he chose" (Item 7). The opening scene in Reservoir Dogs is seen as Tarnantino's other iconic scene in the film. There really is no true reason as to why it's so iconic, maybe it's because the music is so different to the atmosphere and style of film, that the song is almost personal to Tarantino, either way, just like the ear cutting scene, when someone listens to the song, this scene immediately pops into their head.
Projector - Image of Pulp Fiction poster (Item 18)
Speaker - 2 years later, Quentin Tarantino did it again, playing around with film conventions and using pop culture references, he was able to make an iconic, post-modernist film, Pulp Fiction. "Tarantino's second feature as writer/director was produced on a modest budget and became an international smash that ended up being one of the biggest films of 1994 and one of the most influential of the decade" (Item 6).
Projector - The Dance Scene between Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega (Item 1)
Speaker - There are many scenes in Pulp Fiction which can be seen as iconic, so I will start off with an obvious one, the scene between Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega dancing at Jack Rabbit Slims restaurant. In this scene Mia and Vincent do the 'twist' to the song 'You Can Never Tell' by Chuck Berry, the reason this is such an iconic scene is because of the chemistry between the two characters, the usage of performance as they both stare at eachother and mimic, the usage of the camera shots, putting them both in the same shot the majority of the time, and from this, whenever someone is to listen to this song, they picture this scene and chemistry the two characters shared. "The scene is a homage to a similarly spontaneous dance scene in Godard’s A Bande Apart (after which Tarantino named is production company) and the dancing is deliberately amateur, yet the scene is one of the most iconic dance scenes in movie history even though it doesn’t even need to be there, which is perhaps what makes it so good" (Item 7). I think what also makes this scene so iconic is the fact one of the characters was played by John Travolta, 16 years before was playing the character
Danny Zuko in Grease, and the fact he is once again dancing, breaking out some of his old moves, makes it that more iconic.
Projector - The scene where we first meet Mia (Item 1)
Speaker - Another iconic scene within Pulp Fiction has got to be the scene where we are first introduced to Mia Wallace, played by Uma Thurman, Tarantino decides that the soundtrack that should be used to support this scene, is the song 'Son of a Preacher Man' by Dusty Springfield. "All that we know of her to this point is there’s a rumour doing the rounds that one of her husband Marsellus’ men got thrown from a 4th storey window for giving her a foot massage". (Item 7) At this point of the film, we know about as much as Vincent does, and Mia is a mystery, Tarantino keeps Mia as a mystery and as Vincent enters the house, Son of a Preacher Man begins to play quietly. Tarantino creates the scene almost like a dream as he continues to keep her identity hidden whilst the song plays, we only see the back of her head as she talks into the telecom and then a close up of her lips as she speaks, she even sounds mysterious, a mid shot of Vincent is used to show he is startled.
"As drink and drugs are consumed the music gets louder. The camera follows Mia’s bare feet into the room where Vincent is waiting and the music stops. Tarantino is playing with the audience just like Mia is playing with Vincent and just like Vincent, we don’t know what just happened but we’re intrigued." (Item 7).
Projector - The opening title sequence of Pulp Fiction (Item 1)
Speaker - After Tarantino's massively first successful film, people were dying to see what he would do next, and his opening title sequence was his way of saying 'sit back, and enjoy my next greatest film'. "Although the majority of Miserlou and Jungle Boogie are played over the opening credits of Pulp Fiction, the pieces of music, particularly the introduction of Miserlou, have become steeped in modern culture because of this moment, the moment Tarantino introduced the world to his second film, Pulp Fiction." (Item 7) Halfway through the title sequence, there is a change of song to 'Jungle Boogie' by Kool & The Gang, we have suddenly gone from instrumental rock to 70's funk, Tarantino did this just to make sure he was getting his audiences attention. These tracks were used at such a key time, that they have become iconic, and now whenever someone thinks of those tracks, they link it to Pulp Fiction. "I was going for this rock and roll, spaghetti western, blaxploitation vibe, it screamed we're an epic" (Item 12) said Tarantino in an interview on the Culture Show.
Projector - Kill Bill: Vol 1 Poster (Item 19)
Speaker - Then in 2003, Tarantino released the first part to his epic revenge film, Kill Bill. "The use of pop music is still evident, but the soundtrack was mostly
organised and produced by the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA. RZA is a kung fu movie
obsessive, something that's evident throughout his back catalogue, so
he was the perfect choice to provide the music here." (Item 6) After Tarantino's three very successful films, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction & Jackie Brown, expectations were extremely high, and everyone was dying to see what Tarantino could come up with next, and like always their are certain sequences where the music dominates.
Projector - Intro to Kill Bill: Vol 1 (Item 1)
Speaker - Arguably, the most iconic track in this film is 'Bang Bang' because of the moments it was played in the film. "Lyrically, it's hard to imagine a better song to fit the
tone of the film than this." (Item 6), because of the tension and mystery from the opening scene, The Bride covered in blood, panting uncontrollably with just a hand shown from the other character looking down at her, speaking to her, then the sudden gun shot, which just released all that tension, and then the lyrics 'bang bang, he shot me down, bang bang' it just fits perfectly, and because of how well it fits, it makes is so iconic.
Projector - The hospital scene in Kill Bill: Vol 1 (Item 1)
Speaker - "In Kill Bill the most famous musical choice is the theme from the movie Twisted Nerve, a film about a mentally psychotic teenager who becomes engrained with gaining the attention and affection of a young lady and in the process ends up murdering her mother and his step-father." (Item 10). This song is whistled by Ellie Driver as she dresses up as a nurse and walks down the hall to poison The Bride whilst she is in a coma on the hospital bed. This once again shows an example of a pop cultural reference by Tarantino, but I can't really answer why it's so iconic, maybe it's the build up of tension, the way it's edited with the clip of The Bride sat asleep and the clip of Ellie getting closer and closer shown at the same time next to one another, it just seems to fit perfectly.
Projector - All 3 movie posters and a picture of Tarantino himself
Speaker - In conclusion, Quentin Tarantino is an auteur, as the music he uses within his films allow the audience to really connect with the film and be drawn in, and because of how well the scene and music are constructed, the scene never leaves their mind, because of this, anyone who watched a Tarantino film would know it was a Tarantino film because of the highly dominant and specifically selected soundtrack.
