Analysis of 'The silence of the Lambs'

We chose to analyse the thriller, The Silence Of The Lambs. The clip we are looking at involves the first meeting between agent Clarice Starling and the infamous Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Micro Elements:
Establishing Shot- The scene opens with an establishing shot looking down a corridor surrounded by withered prison cells, giving an eery sense to the location- as you cannot see in the cells, only past them. The shot also includes a lot of shadows this immediately makes it clear to the audience the genre and atmosphere of a thriller film.











Close Up Shots - The camera continually flicks between showing the location, and Clarice Starling. The close up allows you to see her nervous expression as she passes every cell. The audience then see inside the individual cells giving them an idea of what kind of character Dr. Hannibal will be, as we see other charaters in the prison cells before the audience meet him. This again creates an uncomfortable and nervous atmosphere- giving the audience a sense of Clarice's fear.


Over the Shoulder Shot- When both Dr. Hannibal and Clarice engage in conversation, a combination of over the shoulder and close up shots are used. At the beginning of the conversation we see over the shoulder of both characters. The use of seeing over both characters shoulders seems to be an attempt for the nervous Clarice to hold her stance of power against Dr. Hannibal. However after an intense close up on Hannibal Lectre, Clarice is then invited to sit down - losing her stance of power as a low angle shot of the Dr. and a high angle shot of Clarice is then used. It almost creates the sense of a stand off between the two characters.

Mise En Scene - Throughout the scene, you can clearly see its set within a prison, surrounded by creepy characters in other shadowed cells, an eery staircase at the bottom of the corridor and a cold, gloomy undecorated location. The deprived location creates an uncomfortable, on edge atmosphere for the audience as they know its not a relaxed atmosphere for the characters. The Dr. is also wearing a prison suit, again making the scene look more believeable that they are in a prison. Whilst the agent wears formal clothing and carries credentials, which is typical of someone in that career.

Camera movements- An effective use of camera movements is when we are introduced to Dr. Hannibal. A Point of View shot combined with a tracking shot is used, slowly edging round the corner of the cell wall to reveal the character standing with a serious glare. This creates a good effect for the audience, as it will create a great deal of suspension, making them almost want to look round the wall themselves. Throughout the rest of the scene there is very little camera movement as Clarice is seated and the Dr. stands. We see a medium shot of Clarice sitting down as she speaks, but a close up of Dr. Hannibal's face- suggesting to the audience he is in the position of power. The angle also creates shadows over his eyes creating an evil, masked emotion to his personality, whilst all of the female agent is revealed, making her look more vulnerable.

Sound- There isn't a great deal of non-diegetic sound within the clip, as a lot of silence is used. However before the meeting of the characters the diegetic sound is shadowed out by an eery, suspense-building piece of music. To the audience this builds up to the meeting of the characters. However when they meet, diegetic dialogue is used, with a great deal of silence adding to the suspense and uncomfort of the conversation.

Lighting- As already mentioned, non diegetic lighting is used to create a lot of shadows within the scene, again, adding to the eery atmosphere, giving the audience a sense that there is a lot of unknown. However the diegetic lighting that is present is very dull and dark- creating an almost green effect, lowering the mood of the meeting.