The first shot of the opening sequence in 'The Silence of the Lambs' is an establishing shot. The shot reveals the setting and location which is a forest which is overlooking a lake and this shot is used for a few seconds to set the scene for the audience. The camera then begins to track downwards which makes the setting seem darker, constricted and much more isolated. These two shots create an important atmosphere and the audience are focused on the setting. The background music at this point has a slow tempo which helps the audience focus on the visual side of the opening sequence. Throughout the opening sequence there a variety of different tracking methods which are used such as frontal tracks and side tracks. These tracks are important and useful because they begin to quicken the pace of the film. The camera then focuses on a character climbing up a hill towards the camera so the character becomes bigger and bigger to audience as they start off in the distance and slower get closer. The sound at this point in the opening sequence is also slow paced which helps the audience focus on the character and the mise-en-scene.
The character has been established as a female by a mid-shot which shows the setting and the characters clothing as dirty and her facial expressions as quite afraid and confused. A tracking shot is again used as the female character begins to run and this allows the audience to guess what she is running away from or what she is running to. The more the character runs the further she is away from the camera and this is to demonstrate the fact that she is alone. As she is running the music begins to speed up to build up tension and suspense and to match the movements of the character which are fast paced and the music is also slightly mysterious which is a common convention of thrillers. The camera then shows a close up of the characters shoes and then cuts to a close up of the characters face. A climbing wall is used which the character climbs over, this can be slightly confusing to the audience, and as the character climbs over it the camera pans from right to left. Tracking shots are also used to engage the audience because it makes the audience feel like they are following the character.
The sound is another key aspect to thrillers and adds fear to the film to frighten the audience. There is non-diegetic music which is playing throughout the opening sequence which starts of slow paced but then the tempo builds and as the character is running the sound is than more fast paced and the sound creates a mysterious and scary atmosphere and this is what the director had intended the sound to do which also make the audience feel uncomfortable. Diegetic sounds are also being used in this opening sequence via ambient sounds. There are a variety of different ambient sounds being used throughout this opening sequence such as birds, footsteps crushing leaves, insects such as crickets and the wind and these are all used to add to the atmosphere which is created by the non-diegetic music and these sounds also make the character appear isolated, afraid and vulnerable which is an old negative stereotype of women saying that they need someone to protect them. Also the non-diegetic music used starts before the first camera shot is used which is done to already set the tone of the film before anything visually has been revealed. Another sound used is the breathing of the character to show that she is out of breath, this also shows that she must have been running for sometime which is why it creates suspense. Another diegetic sound used is the ambient sound of the bird flying away as the women reaches the top of the hill which could imply something dangerous and scary could happen.
The majority of the shots in the opening sequence in 'The Silence of the Lambs' are fairly long. The first shot used is faded in and lasts for just over a minute and the second shot then lasts for around fifth-teen seconds. These long lasting shots create a slower pace which is not conventionally of thrillers. However after these long lasting shots are then replaced by shots which last for about seven seconds because the pace of the editing is increasing with the pace of the music. The cuts used during this opening sequence are straight cuts. These are the most common type of editing and are extremely simple and this editing technique is another convention of thrillers. Unlike 'Se7en' there is a large setting and location for the opening sequence of 'The Silence of the Lambs' which makes it more revealing.
There is only one character shown in the opening sequence which means that she must be an important character to the film. The location is important because it is outside in a forest which means that the character is isolated and alone and a connotation of a forest is murder and this film being a thriller the audience will begin to think this event will occur. Mist is also used in the setting to make it seem more scary as well as using an empty lake and an empty forest. The lighting is dark and it is at sun-set which makes it seem that the character is trying to escape the forest before it becomes too dark. The film looks like it was filmed in autumn because there are leaves falling off trees and leaves on the floor. Also the weather is dark and dull which is common weather for autumn time. The character's costume isn't stereotypical of what the audience would expect a women to be wearing because women are normal wearing skirts and are dressed up however the character is wearing casual clothes which are a jumper and a pair of jogging bottoms.
Only one character is revealed in the opening sequence of 'The Silence of the Lambs' and this character is female. Also because only one character is introduced it implies that this character is one of the most important and main characters in the film. However the director might have chosen to only reveal one character in the opening sequence so that the audience continues watching. The character does not say anything during the opening sequence but we can tell that she is running however this does not give the audience an idea about the character's personality etc. The character is also wearing casual clothes which the audience would not expect women to be wearing especially in the 1990's.
The narrative and plot are not revealed in the opening sequence of 'The Silence of the Lambs' because the director does not want to reveal too much about the film at such an early stage because they want the audience to continue watching. It is difficult to work out the plot or narrative in the opening sequence because we only see one character and that character is running. The audience does not find out anything about her or what she is running from or what she is running to and this keeps the audience engaged as they can guess why she is doing this. The slow background sound and long lasting shots also help the audience think and guess about what the character is doing this and why because it gives them time to think and does not distract them and the sound also gives a sense of mystery and the music used allows the audience to realise that the film is a thriller because it can slightly scare some of the audience.
Typical codes and conventions to the opening of thrillers usually use fast paced editing. However instead of using fast paced editing in the opening of 'The Silence of the Lambs' the director chooses to use slow paced editing which means that the shots used last longer and this is unconventional for a thriller. The music is usually fast paced however in the opening it is fairly slow to match the editing and camera shots which are being used and the director has chosen to do this on purpose to create and scary and isolated atmosphere. The credits are displayed in the colour black and a connotation of the colour black is death which implies that death will occur in this film. Also in thrillers women are usually the victims and in the opening sequence the only character revealed is a women which implies that she will probably be a victim. Another convention of thrillers is a dark, isolated location and setting which is done superbly in the opening by having a isolated forest next to an empty lake and it is also set in the evening in the season of autumn making it more scary and the character more vulnerable and alone.
I watched this film on my DVD and the only video available on http://www.youtube.co.uk/ of the opening sequence of 'The Silence of the Lambs' was flipped and this was done to avoid copyright.
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