The Silence of the Lambs (1991, UK, Jonathan Demme)

Camerawork

This longshot shows the woman climbing as well as showing the location of where she is at. The location is quite an eerie place where no one would like to be and it is foggy and we associate fog with danger so perhaps she could be trying to get away from something or someone. The audience would immediately feel that she is in danger. This is also a high angle shot would suggest that she is quite vulnerable especially when in the frame she is on her own.

 The medium close up shows her facial expressions and she looks to us as tired and exhausted. She looks back as if the thing she getting from is quite far away. However her clothes could suggest that she is just exercising or training and her facial expressions emphasises the pain and agony she is going through the audience could ask what is she training for?

 This two shot shows that there is some form of relationship between these two detectives. Perhaps it could show a special partnership together and they work on cases with each other to solve crime.

 This longshot shows the character running away from something. She is heading towards the fog in this shot and we immediately think that she is running straight into danger. Also this shot could act as a point of view shot of something that could be following her this builds up tension for the audience as we feel something may happen to this character so we also feel protective towards her.

Mise en Scene

This establishing shot shows the setting. It is in a deep dark forest with fog surrounding it. The leaves have fallen off the trees and shows that it is around autumn time. Leaves die in autumn which could symbolise the theme of this film which could be about death. The deep, dark forest foreshadows mystery in the film and may hint to future events.



There is only one woman in the shot and she is the only one that is standing apart from the men. This could reinforce the fact that she is vulnerable. Moreover, her costume is different from all the other men and could suggest that females are different from men and does not promote equality.

There are obstacles courses which she gets over in order to pass and continue with the exercise which could imply that this woman is a hard worker, motivated and determined to finish her course. Her costume is gym wear showing that she is most likely on a training exercise.



Editing

There is an eye line match showing her looking at these horrific pictures of victims. There is no obvious expression on her face which could suggest that she is left shocked of what she is seeing in these pictures and could be hiding that she is scared of what she is seeing.










There is quite slow paced editing which fixes on the trainer's face after says that someone wants to see her in his office. This suggests that he is thinking what for and shows curiosity or almost disbelief that this woman has been called to be spoken to.













Sound


There is diegetic sound the character breathing. This could suggest that she could be frightened and running away from danger therefore she has just had an adrenaline rush, hence the heavy breathing. Or the character could be just pushing herself to the limit and is working very hard which is causing her to breath heavily.











The diegetic, hyperbolic sound of the leaves crushing underneath her feet shows that she is running at quite a fair speed. This creates tension for the audience as they do not know why she is running in this scene. Moreover, the non diegetic, incidental sound creates a sense of fear and mystery which could be signs of negative things to come and danger lurking ahead in the film.