Silence of the Lambs Introduction Essay 

silence of the lambs full video

The film "The Silence of the Lambs" is a psychological thriller directed by Jonathan Demme, in this essay I will be discussing the introduction of the film and annotating it to provide an in depth review on the camerawork, lighting and dialog throughout the introduction to the film.

     The film "The Silence of the Lambs" begins with the companies that produced the film such as Metro Goldwyn Mayer on a typical black background, it is then followed by a fade into the Orion presentation. There is a sound bridge which begins during the Orion presentation which continues through another fade into the first scene. There is a fade onto a mid shot of a tree and a view of the sky, both of which are fairly colorless. The credits then begin in a large black font with white boarders in the center of the screen, this is probably to enhance the effect it has on the viewers and draw their attention to the credits. Moreover the previously mentioned bleak view helps the credits have this effect. After a few credits the camera pans downwards and zooms slightly to give a long shot of a "runway". This is where the main character Clarice Starling (by Jodie Foster) is first seen. Clarice Starling proceeds to run up the hill towards the camera, eventually Clarice ends up very close to the camera so she can be properly seen. During her climb you begin to hear her breathing. These effects are all used to help the viewer make a connection with the character, Clarice is being introduced slowly to the viewer from a distance so the audience can familiarize themselves with Clarice's posture and body shape at the same time as letting them familiarize themselves with her face and her facial expressions. The breathing is also added to make her feel more natural, through this natural breathing which people are used to it gives a form of comfort and helps create the bond between the audience and Clarice. There is use of non diagetic sound throughout this scene to help create an air of mystery as the sounds of the birds are heard but not seen on set.

There is then a cut behind Clarice which is filmed with a hand held camera, the camerawork is done well and due to it being hand held it gives an effect of her being followed or something lingering behind her and makes the audience feel uneasy. In this shot you can see her surroundings which is a forest filled with smoke, this also makes the audience feel uneasy, this is because people like knowing their surroundings and when you do not know where you are you can develop an uncertainty of your safety. The camera then lets Clarice run off into the smoke letting her almost disappear completely, again this use of watching Clarice through a long shot and seeing her disappearance again makes the audience feel uneasy. The next cut if to a close up of Clarice running forwards into the camera, this is also done with a hand held camera and it leaves the background blurred which primarily helps us focus on Clarice's face and helps the audience further familiarize themselves with her however it also provides that uncertainty which is key to the thriller, the uncertainty is due to the background still being concealed from the audience. There is a cut to a close up of Clarice running through the forest at pace still with the hand held camera, this is done from the side to make the audience grasp the speed of which she is moving as the trees go by in small blurs, this is followed up by another close up of Clarice's feet making quick contacts with the ground to also emphasize the speed she is running. There is then a third cut of a closeup on Clarice's face from the side which shows the forest in the background, the close up of Clarice running side on and of Clarice's face help show the other dimensions of Clarice's body while letting the audience know they are still in this ominous forest. Moreover there is some heavy breathing during this particular close up which combined with being close to the character make the audience feel psychologically closer to the character and more connected. After this quick succession of close ups there is a mid shot of Clarice running from behind, there is little smoke and no blur on the forest which signals to the audience that we are coming to a safer or more secure feeling part of the film. There is also a lot of sunlight which becomes visible through the trees when the fog is gone which makes the audience appreciate the surroundings and feel more comfortable.  The next shot is interesting because it must have been shot using a dolly and rails because it glides around tracking Clarice as she climbs over an obstacle, there is also a tilt in the camera at the same time which also gives me reason to believe this was how it was filmed as there would be too much to handle if it was a hand held shot. The tracking of Clarice as she goes over the netting is well shot as you see all angles of it and as she finishes the obstacle she runs close to the camera giving a close up, the camera keeps on tracking Clarice till she has run off some distance. There is the first bit of dialog when someone runs on set to talk to Clarice, the dialog is non diagetic at first as he runs on however the conversation continues on set while the camera zooms in on the two having a conversation. Clarice is positioned lower than the other person who is giving an order putting him in a position of power while she recuperates. As she runs off to her meeting the camera focuses in on the other person to make a close up revealing his face. From here there is another cut to a mid shot of a tree, the camera then shifts downwards and to the left revealing Clarice who is then tracked by the camera as she runs towards a building, on the building you can see the shadows of the forest and the shadows cast by the building on the field. There is a long shot of her running into the building which allows the audience to watch from a distance, usually when you are at a distance from someone there is a problem with communication and this can cause anxiety in the audience. The camera then gives a wide long and wide shot of the location which helps the audience settle in to the next scene, because they know where "they are" they can relax more and concentrate more on dialog. There is a sudden cut after a pan to the right with a zoom to a mid shot of her passing down the stairs, this promotes excitement the audience as there are loud noises and there is action happening all around her, there is a quick exchange of dialog from a friend who as she walks past becomes blurred, this shows how that character is not too important to the film. It also makes the audience concentrate on Clarice.

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image tree close up
credits begin in black with a white border - central
pan to the bottom left some zoom
long shot of clarice
focus slowly as she comes up
start hearing breathing when properly visible
close up shot
birds (non diagetic)
cut to behind shot of running hand held camera
lingering behind
she runs into fog
cut to front on in fog no background
cut to side shot of sprinting very hand held
close up on feet
close up on face side on blur background - breathing
cut to behind shot background visible
sunlight
sideways around net
follow her past
watch her go
dialog begins (non diagetic)
camera follows other person
focus on conversation person higher than clarice
close up on person's face
cut to tree, pan downwards see clarice
sunlight
follow clarice sideways
long shot into shadow of building
cut to shot of building (location)
pan right with zoom
cut to closeup on feet (stairs) up to face
dialog, background noise, friend blurred after