Silence Of The Lambs (1991-Johnathan Demme)-Research into Thriller Openings-All Scene's-Jess Smith

Mise en scene

Camera

Sound

Editing

Scene 1

~The opening of the film begins with cut to a low angled, wide long shot (figure 1) of a woman, placed in the centre of the frame in a comfortable, exercising costume with her hair tied back and no make-up climbing over a high, wooded obsticle. 

~It's set in the a natural area; the woods, therefore there is natural light coming through the tall tree's. Although there isn't a beaming sunlight in this shot the sky is clear and gives a nice light blue colour to the frame, contrasting well with the dark brown tree trunks and wooden frame.  

~During this shot there is the Foley sound of fast, yet heaving breathing as she climbs the rope which works well because it shows she's working hard and that this is physically tiring for her. 

Figure 1

~There is also an off screen orchestral sound on top of the breathing which is off high volume and a mixture of tones. 

~The camera actually began behind her, when she fist climbs the rope (figure 2), however it pans round from the back to the front after she's flipped over it (figure 3).

Figure 2

Figure 3

Scene 2

~Following this, the camera then cuts to a close up, eye level image of a male's face. 

~His facial expression is quite reserved in this shot, therefore it's hard to read anything major so we can't suggest and what type of person he is. Similarly, his body language can't be seen from this shot, therefore we can't look at that either. 

~There is a darker lighting to this close up, however we can still see his face, because of the close up of him and the positioning of him in the centre of the frame. 

~This man is wearing a navy blue cap which has *FBI* written on it in bold, capitals letters in a white font which strongly suggests he's works for the force. In addition, he's also wearing what seem to be exercising clothes also. 

Figure 4

~The sound used in this shot is the continuation of the off screen orchestral sounds, however when he turns to face the camera the noise level rose, creating a more tense atmosphere. 

Scene 3

~Next, there is a cut transition to a long, straight angle shot of a new, yet still outdoor setting (figure 5). All the audience can see is a large, cream colored brick building with a group of people climbing down the right hand side of the it in the frame and a group jogging out of it on the left hand side of the frame. 

~There is a grassed patch taking up the majority of the frame, adding a green colouring to the shot and there is also a beam of sunlight reflecting on it, adding some brightness, which this shot was lacking. 

~There is little decoration to his shot because it is outside of a building, however because of the people around it/ on it are all dressed in uniforms, suggesting it could be a training camp. This can be supported by the next shot (figure 6) as she is surrounded by people in uniform. However because this is unknown it creates enigma. 

~This shot has the same off screen orchestral music the previous two scene have had and it's at the same volume as scene 2. However there are also ambient sounds and on screen Foley sounds, such as a quiet sound of something heavy dropping. 

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Scene 4

~Following this, figure 7 is another cut transition to a medium, eye level shot and included the same female character, still dressed in her exercising costume, but with around 9 men in the frame surrounding her too. 

~All these male's are dressed in the same red polo top with clear badges on the side on them and cream coloured trousers with a brown leather belt, which brings a variety of colouring to the frame that they are positioned centre of. 

~The sound used in this scene is simply just an on screen sound of her feet moving into place to stand in position in the lift. 

~And because this is shot from the outside of a lift there is no decoration to this shot and is purely lit with the artificial lights from the lift. 

What inspired me?

~I liked the way they used the same soundtrack for the whole opening. I believe it gave it that good continuity. 

~This opening didn't personally interest me, in comparison to the other openings because I didn't find it as enjoyable due to the lack of thrilling action. Therefore I think this is for an older age range and not for my target audience because of the narrative structure.