THE SILENCE OF THE

LAMBS

Film Analysis

SOUND

At the beginning of the film throughout the production and distribution

company’s logos and the opening credits there is non-diegetic fast pace, spooky

music. This helps to create an eerie mysterious atmosphere of the first scene in

the woods as there is a sound bridge carrying the non-diegetic music over from

the credits and titles. The music in the opening scene acts as a general pattern

throughout – the pace of the music gets more erratic as the scene gets more

intense and non-diegetic is used in combination with the diegetic (dialogue)

music to create a tense and scary/thrilling atmosphere.

OVERVIEW

Title: The Silence Of The Lambs

Release: 1991

Director: Johnathan Demme

Genre: Thriller

Summary: A young F.B.I. cadet must confide in an incarcerated

and manipulative killer to receive his help on catching another serial

killer who skins his victims.

BEGINNING SHOTS

The film begins with the production and distribution

company logos of the film – conventionally with a black

background which for a thriller film helps to begin the

build of suspense.

After analysing a few thriller films and any film in general

it is a typical convention that the production company

and distribution company logo and titles come before

anything else, and generally the title of the film is shown

either at the very end or after the logos and opening

credits.

SETTING THE SCENE

The establishing shots used in this film are

very effective for setting the scene – many

different locations are used throughout the

film and so this is important to make the

establishing shots clear and effective.

These two shots are used in the beginning of the film

where the setting is in a forest and the weather looks

cold but on a bright morning – the shots are quite

ambiguous in that the scene looks particularly eerie

(typical thriller convention) but we also don’t know

what could happen next.

VERISIMILITUDE

Thrillers are generally based around unrealistic

or extreme events that you would not expect

to come across in every day life, and so the

location is significant in helping to make the

audience feel a sense of verisimilitude.

These two shots are establishing shots showing two

different every day locations – one of a large plain

building similar to a school and the other of a large

building that connotes a workplace; this is effective in

that it creates a sense of realism which makes the

overall effect of the film better on the audience.

LOCATIONS

Although producers have to consider making the

audience feel like the events are real, there is also a case

of making the audience feel scared, to do this they have

to use particular eerie or disturbing locations, which

may or may not be familiar to the audience.

The shot above is of a hallway in a prison which

seems to be located right on the bottom floor – in the

basement, which creates a sense of isolation and of

no escape. The next shot is an extreme long shot of a

house surrounded by bare trees; the shot isn’t

particularly disturbing but it does create a sense of

mystery.

CHARACTERS

The characters used in thrillers include both a

protagonist and an antagonist, however the

antagonist is not always made known to the

audience from the beginning of the film.

These shots are from the beginning of silence of

the lambs where the first two characters are

introduced; a male who wears an ‘FBI’ cap which

represents his character as part of a

governmental job (police force) which is a typical

convention of a thriller character protagonist.

OTHER CHARACTERS

The same convention of the characters is shown

again in this shot where the location is in a police

department office with two police investigators,

connoted through their uniform (suits and badges).

This next shot just shows a different side to the

characters; here we see the woman from the beginning

with a group of men dressed in the same red t-shirt and

shorts uniform, the female character stands out in this

shot because she isn’t in the same uniform as the other

men and is the only female character in view.

PROPS/SIGNIFICANT SHOTS

These shots are significant in showing the audience

important pieces of information that are part of the

narrative or to keep the audience at the same pace as

the film. This first shot is in the woods where these

signs are found on a tree saying ‘PAIN, LOVE-IT’

which builds tension and a sense of mystery.

This next shot sets the location by informing the

audience where the next scene is if they do not

understand by the setting ‘behavioural science

services’ the use of this links in with the plot and is a

typical convention of a psychological thriller film.

SIGNIFICANT SHOTS

Here we see a particularly useful shot of editing

where the camera is being used from the point of

view through night vision goggles; with a green

gel over the screen. This is effective in the way

that it is used to show mystery and build suspense

on what will happen next.

The next shot is of a tortured dead body in a scientific

laboratory. We find it gruesome yet interesting because

we get a thrill over seeing the dead body being

analysed as it portrays to the audience the mysterious

investigation – what they are investigating.

CLOSE UP SHOTS

Close up shots in thrillers are used to show the characters

emotions and feelings as well as their reaction to events

or other characters in the scene. This close up shot of

the female character shows no emotion or feeling of the

character – her facial expression is blunt and gives

nothing away, which could be interesting in that it reveals

a sense of mystery to the audience.

This next shot in the same scene is an extreme close up side

profile shot of the same character, using a shallow depth of

field with a focus pull on the female character – the use of

this focusing on the characters expression shows that she

isn’t giving anything away – building suspense.

USE OF IMAGERY

Here we see polaroid pictures of specific events that

the narrative is based around; the images are pinned

onto a brown pin board in a police office where they

are being used as part of an investigation – a typical

convention of a thriller movie (police investigation).

The camera cuts from an extreme close up of the

images to a medium shot where the camera pans across

the pin board showing an article from a newspaper and

other images from the investigation. As the camera pans

over these images it then zooms in to a close up of the

newspaper article, showing the audience what the event

is that is being investigated.

THRILLER CONVENTIONS

This low angle shot is particularly typical of a thriller

movie, as well as the use of the bars – this shot

connotes a feeling of being trapped/imprisonment,

the bars acting as the barrier and so seem

intimidating to the audience and/or the character

behind the bars.

This next shot is also a typical close up shot used in

thriller films; we have seen this character before where

she showed no emotion in the close up shots, yet in

this shot she is on the phone and her reaction is shown

through her startled eyes and half open mouth where

she looks shocked/scared.

THRILLER CONVENTIONS

This scene is a good use of connoting the genre of

thriller; the location is in a well underground and so

the lighting is kept dim which creates a dark

atmosphere, there is a woman stuck at the bottom

which creates tension for the audience putting them

on the edge of their seats.

The camera then cuts to a shot of the woman stuck at

the bottom looking up to the camera – high angle shot –

showing that the antagonist has dominance and makes

the woman look weak. Her facial expression is tired and

scared – the close up shows how distressed the character

is – a sense of danger is created in this scene.

THRILLER CONVENTIONS

This next shot shows typical conventions of a

psychological thriller – in a small confined brick wall

room with a wooden bed and a man in a straight jacket

strapped in a frame whilst a detective talks to him. It is a

high angle shot which makes the audience feel like they

are watching the scene from above, the use of these

characters builds tension.

Another shot which creates tension and an eerie

atmosphere is this point of view shot of an old house

surrounded by bare trees. The shot is interesting

because it makes the audience wonder who’s point of

view the shot is from.