The Silence of the Lambs 1991
The Silence of the Lambs is a thriller film directed by Jonathan Demme in 1991. This film is starred by Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, and Scott Glenn. In the film, a young FBI trainee Clarice went to a prison to visit Dr. Hannibal, a psychiatrist, in order to find out the clue of a serial killer “Buffalo Bill” who cruelty skin female victims’ corpses. Hannibal gave Clarice some clues, and finally, Clarice found the bison Bill and killed him. In 1992, it won the 64th Academy Awards for best picture, best actor, best actress, best director, and best-adapted screenplay.
The first shot is the dense forest, fallen leaves, and thick fog. The lights of the film were dim. This is a daytime scene, but the natural light during the day is obscured by fog. Then the shot starts to roll down from high. The protagonist runs into the picture from the perspective and runs from the perspective to the close-range, a long shot. Such a slow-paced lens effectively sets off the atmosphere at this time and the basic tone of the whole film. The open and cold forests make people feel uneasy. The protagonist runs in such a forest to show her character or life: she works hard, at the same time she is lonely. Then the camera focuses on the protagonist and the rhythm is suddenly accelerated so that the audience feel the protagonist’s perseverance and competitiveness. Long shots and scenes here have successfully shaped the heroine’s character and laid the groundwork for the subsequent plot development. The protagonist sweats a lot, wearing the school uniform of FBI College and constantly brushing past the detective in suit and leather shoes. Visually, it is obvious that the difference in dress and state, highlighting the identity of the protagonist. In addition, the protagonist does not know why the chief officer wants to see her. this strong visual contrast also creates a sense of tension or depression (THR Staff).
In the scene from 48’ 47’’ to 49’45’’, the director uses a about one minute long full-length shot to show the killer’s home. Because the time shown by the long lens is the same as the time actually watched by the audience, the audience seems to be in the murderer’s house when the lens walks. This shot shows the murderer’s home while increasing the audience’s curiosity about him. This scene has been accompanied by music and a female voice tearing shouting. After a second or two, the camera moves slowly to the right, and the transformed butterfly enters the lens. Next, the lens pulls back. The lens is like a human eye looking around, knife, female model! Cold, gloomy, dark, crowded, chaotic is the summary of what we see. The use of this lens makes the audience feel more truly the atmosphere of terror and tension. When the lens reached the end again, the direction was forced to shift. The murderer ‘s back constituted the visual center of the picture. His snow-white body was very conspicuous in the cold tone. The camera kept pushing forward, trying to get close to the murderer, but as we were about to see what the murderer was doing, a dog diverted our eyes and followed him to a deep well, where we were gradually approaching the scream. But the director apparently didn’t want us to see the desperate figure of the girl in the well. The camera stayed at the edge of the dry well, because the right to solve the mystery was left to the next news. Viewers have a desire to see what’s happening, and if they don’t, they feel fear, tension or mystery. This setting arouses the curiosity of the audience and leaves room for further plot development. Besides, it allows the audiences to clearly know the surrounding environment and even things outside the scene in the shortest possible time by setting the design but also can show the reaction of the surrounding people and the subjective state of mind. Most importantly, the camera setting creates successfully an atmosphere of suspense and dread.
Sources
Wikipedia contributors. “The Silence of the Lambs (film).” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2 Jun. 2019. Web. 3 Jun. 2019.
THR Staff. “The Silence of the Lambs’: THR’s 1991 Review”. Hollywood Reporter. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/silence-lambs-review-1991-movie-1084731 February, 14, 2018. Web. June 2, 2019.