Film Analysis (9 Frames)

The Silence of the Lambs (1991) — Art of the Title

Silence of the Lambs:

We are presented with a forest background with trees that are not covered with leaves. This suggests that the setting is played during Autumn or Winter. Big, black letters are introduced on the screen to show who the starring actors are and who the directors of this film are.

Our protagonist is introduced as she runs through a course that is made for the FBI. We know she is a member of the FBI because of the embroidery on her jumper.

The music throughout the whole section has low notes and comes out as mysterious. The music does not fit in with our protagonist training which implies something more sinister will happen later on in the movie.

Forests are known to represent trials or labyrinths for any character. This means that later on in the film our protagonist will face an important trial. We get a lot of long shots that are taken while our protagonist runs the course. We see the entire forest and we also see the fog surrounding the environment. The colours also imply that the course our protagonist is doing is hard. The fog supplies the grey texture we see on screen and the jumper the protagonist is wearing is also grey and covered in sweat.

The setting changes once more by following the protagonist within the FBI building. We see an office section as well as a firing range.

The sound of guns being shot means that later on in the movie there might be a shooting scene. The colours in the office represent a homey feel as the lighting is dimmed but we have more colour. Especially in the last shot where we are presented with a room surrounded with a yellow glow and a lot of books.

The Shining (1980) — Art of the Title

The Shining:

The entire opening contains blue credits over a montage of locations. The main focus of the opening shot is the journey the yellow car takes from 1 place until it reaches its destination on top of a snowy mountain.

The music is ominous and does not fit with the pleasant scenery. This indicates that this film is not all love and joy. This long journey accompanied by the music makes it seem that whoever is in this car is far from home and reaching this destination is not going to lead to anything good.

The camera shots are all taken from above which suggests the use of a drone. All the shots are extreme long shots as the main focus is the scenery and locations. We also get a lot of cutting as one moment we are in one location while the next we are somewhere completely different. (example: We are in the plains and now we cut to the mountain road.)

Conclusion

The Silence of the Lambs segment where the female character runs through the forest helps me take inspiration for some of my shots. The difference I want to implement is the lighting where instead of having a dark / foggy setting, I will instead use brighter, natural lighting. In this case filming during the day when it is sunnier even though the story is a thriller/horror. This will emphasize the weird situation the character will be in.

“The Shining” also starts on a sunny day but the difference between my film and the shining will be the time it takes to convey the genre of the film. My film will tell a part of the story right at the beginning where the antagonist, the morpher, is introduced. In “The Shining” the start of the movie is a simple road trip with thriller-like music, but does not show us what the cause of the thrill is.