Silence of the Lambs analysis

When watching George, Toby, Dom and Ben's presentation of the 'Silence of the Lambs' opening, we noticed there was a wide range of camera shots/angles, mise-en-scene, editing and sound. The beginning scene is of the starting credits appearing and then sudenly dissappearing in and out of the shots. This looks really effective and links to the scary horror genre as the sudden movements make us jump. It then moves on to a tracking shot movement following the main girl character, this builds up tension for the audience as we feel we shouldnt really be following her. This also feels like the camera is from the point of view of a predator stalking its prey.

We then see an establishing shot showing a view which we cant quite see in full detail as it is hidden my some tree's in front of the camera and lots of fog. This shot is really effective as it could be implying that some things throughout the story are part of the 'unknown', not everything will be revealed, and only some things will be seen. This shot also puts the audience in quite an awkward position as we want to see whats happening we dont want to be left with the 'unknown', therefore the audience feel mystified as to what will happen and what is ahead of the tree's and fog.

As she is running through the forest we hear the diegetic sound of her feet crunching the leaves as she runs over them, and the breaking of sticks and twigs. This could signify the crushing and breaking of bones which could symbolise death. But the fact that she is breaking and standing on it, could show how she is tough and is trying to fight of death and destroy and avoid it as much as possible.

We see great determination of the woman when a close up of her face is shown. It shows her looking at a rope infront of her studying it thoroughly, and because we are so close up to her face we see the detail of her emotions. As she begins to climb the rope we (as an audience) see that she is very strong and tough, as there are diegetic sounds of her breathing heavily showing the task is hard but she is gradually completing it. Also the fact she is using the rope shows she is very skillfull and resourceful. This scene could signify the hard tasks and challenges that she may come across in the rest of the film. As she climbs the rope the lighting is very dull and dark, but as she completes climbing the rope the lighting gets a lot brighter which could be saying that for every challenge she has to complete she will always do it successfully and come out better on the other side. Also the lighting could signify her mood, the dark colours as she is climbing could show she she is feel exhausted, but then afterwards the lighter colours could show how she is proud of herself and happy she's succeeded.

When she comes to the prison and walks down the steps to enter the prison, they pass some red bars. The red colour of the bars could represent how she is descending into into hell, as the colour symbolises evil and danger. Again, the camera is following her in this scene - watching her through the bars, which links to how the film is a psychological thriller. The over shoulder shot of both characters could be showing how they are on par with eachother and share the power and how there is not one dominant character over the other. As the two characters come to the bars which they walk through, a non-diegetic beeping sound occurs from behind them which could signify a countdown, showing how they might not have much time left making the audience feel nervous for them to get there so they are safe. When she gets to one of the prisoners, the only noise you can hear is the diagetic sound of her footsteps when she walks, this shows that she is now alone as there aren't any other noises around, making the audience feel scared for her and whats about to happen.