Analysing opening sequences of Thrillers- Silence of the Lambs

The Silence of the Lambs

Jonathan Demme (1991)

 

From this extract, I will be using the segment of 0:00-3:00. The use of the title "Silence of the Lambs" creates a sense of mystery and brings attention to animals. Sheep are often slaughtered young because that's when their meat tastes better, perhaps this reference to lambs is the implication that the people who die in this film, die prematurely as means of murder. As well as this, the thought of consuming lamb can be connected to the idea that Hannibal also consumed the flesh of his victims, like a farmer may eat their produce. This idea seems rather morbid and creates a sense of unsettlement in the audience even before the film has begun. As well as this, to 'silence' something, is often a euphemism for killing someone, which fits with the nature of this film. Somehow it seems to imply that the victims are referred to as 'carcasses' rather than 'bodies' and 'dead' rather than 'deceased', or 'slaughtered' rather than 'murdered'. The removal of the humanity leaves the antagonist in a rather inhumane position and the audience question his psychological self.

Camera

The establishing shot is a static shot of the silhouette of the forest trees in which the woman is running. The shot immediately establishes the setting in which this sequence is produced before the text which confirms the location appears in the bottom right-hand corner.

The static shot (which is the background for the text with the main actors' names) slowly turns into a diagonal pan downwards from the left-hand corner and onto the woman running. This slow introduction to our protagonist (as suggested by how much screen time she gets, and the fact that she is the first character seen by the audience) raises the awareness of possible danger and thus sets up an anxiety that the audience may experience for the welfare of this woman due to the innocence of the task which she is performing (simple exercise/ training).

Furthermore, there is also a tracking shot of the woman running between the trees which creates the illusion that someone or something sinister is following her; Although there isn't significant danger of the person trying to catch up with her, the impression which is created by this shot could be representative of the woman's own fears of being followed.

Sound

There is a sound bridge of non-diegetic sound from the graphics at the very beginning (introducing the studios etc.) to the fade in of the establishing shot. This is done to create a sinister atmosphere before the audience is introduced to a woman running alone in the woods, especially because the music itself can be described to be 'crawling' and create feelings of unease. The long tones of violin and occasional drum beat further strengthen the feelings of anxiety, and also reflects the pace of the editing which is similarly tedious.

As well as this, the audience is also able to hear diegetic, ambient sound of the crickets and birds, likely to be inhabitants of a natural forest setting. This helps to create an organic atmosphere and is a reassurance that everything is normal and as it should be in this sequence; it subconsciously helps to calm the anxiety which the audience would possibly feel (because of the knowledge that nothing unusual can be heard) while maintaining some level of tension by allowing these sounds to be blanketed by the non-diegetic music.

Another piece of diegetic sound is the woman's heavy breathing introduced at 1:29 minutes and ending at 2:58 minutes just before she says "I'll go sir". This is a continuous reminder of the effort and hard work this woman is putting in to achieve whatever her goal is during this exercise and is perhaps also a reference to the desperate situation one may be in if they were to run away from danger for an extended period of time.

Editing

A fade in from black is used to introduce the establishing shot. The slow fade helps contribute to the tedious, but mysterious start as it is quite a gentle transition. As well as this, editing is used to confirm our belief that this scene takes place in a forest by displaying the words "Woods near Quantico, Va" in Courier font.

The idea that this location is not exact, as suggested by the word "near" is quite worrying and raises suspicion in the audience about whether these forests are known to services which could aid our protagonist if she may encounter harm. Alternatively, the location may not be precise in order to 'protect' this FBI/ Military base, as suggested to be by the obstacle course the woman is training on and the costume of the man who informs her that there's someone waiting for her in their office as he is wearing an FBI agent baseball cap. 

Another way in which text is used is the centered, bold, sans-serif font which is used for the actors' names, production company, and movie title "The Silence of the Lambs". This font is probably chosen to introduce this story in a more modern fashion which fits the publication date of the novel by Thomas Harris in 1988 and also the time in which this movie was released: 1991. This was a time of experimentation and new technology so a sans-serif font not only fits the purpose (to clearly introduce the movie) but also fits the provenence of the film. In addition to this, as mentioned beforehand, the editing during this short sequence is very slow and is avoided where possible. For an example, the camera often follows the woman's movements rather than straight cuts between them (providing the audience with a series of long takes, the first one being one minute long), however, when an edit is used, it means that it makes a bigger impact on the audience's experience while watching this scene. This is partly due to the expectation that when a cut happens, something new would be introduced, maybe danger of some sort.

Mise-en-scene

Firstly, the main thing I noticed while watching this clip is the low-level lighting used to achieve a foggy, dewy atmosphere which seems quite dim and eerie, almost surreal, contributing to a typical setting in which danger lurks and thrillers often occur.

Furthermore, the forest contains military style training obstacles, which creates the verisimilitude of an army camp or some other form of base for disciplined forces. This plays with the stereotypical representation of women in American movies, often being meek, dainty and unable to perform physically straining tasks. This also helps reassure the audience that should this woman happen to encounter danger (which is highly likely, given the nature of thrillers set in these environments), she would be able to easily defend herself and would not be afraid to do so.

Another reason for which I believe that the location is of some sort of military/ police base, is because of the costume which the man is wearing. His FBI baseball cap is a very clear suggestion that this woman is part of such an organisation, especially because the man is able to address her by her name. Not only that, he does not use any form of derogatory or imperative language towards her which suggests that possibly, she is respected within this organisation.

Order of Credits

Metro Goldwyn Mayer

An Orion Pictures Release

A Strong Heart/ Demme Production

Jodie Foster

Anthony Hopkins

Scott Glenn

The Silence of the Lambs

Ted Levine

Anthony Heald

Brooke Smith/ Diane Baker/ Kasi Lemmons

Charles Napier/ Tracey Walter/ Roger Corman

Ron Vawter/ Danny Darst/ Frankie Faison

Paul Lazar/ Dan Butler/ Chris Isaak