Deconstuction of The Silence of the Lambs Opening

In the first two opening minutes of Silence of the Lambs an establishing shot is used to identify the location in which the film will be set. In this particular film the setting is commonly used for horror type films as it is located in an isolated area in the middle of the woods. The colour used when filming is quiet dark as to show that it is being filmed during the winter months, the mise-en-scene also identifies this as the trees are dead and leaves are lying on the floor mainly decomposed. Not only this however in this image a heavy fog lies across the woods creating further ideas of danger and mystery.

The establishing shot then tilts down slightly in order to show a female character climbing towards the camera. The camera then continues to follow the woman using a tracking shot, this helps the audience to identify that this is the main female character that the story will be following. The idea of isolation is then amplified when the camera slows while tracking allowing the scene to change from a medium shot in to a long shot. The surroundings shows that the female character is alone in the woods.

The camera then continues to follow the main female character towards a rope in which she climbs. This conveys that the female character is most likely to be in the military doing her daily training course, subverting the common representation of females being weak and dependent on others. However the female character also conforms to the common media image of women being attractive as the actress has very famine features.

During the first two minutes of the opening there is both diegetic and non-diegetic sound. The diegetic sound is the quiet noise of bugs such as crickets in the background accompanied by birds flying away occasionally. Not only this, however there is also diegetic sound of the woman breathing heavily due to the woman completing her exercise, the sound of her foot steps on the leaves bellow is also used during this time period. Non-diegetic sound is also used throughout the scene and increased when the woman is seen to be climbing the rope netting. The non-diegetic sound is most likely created by string instruments such as violins and a lower sound of wind instruments played bellow the violins.