This is the opening of the film 'Silence of the Lambs', this is a crime/horror film directed by Jonathan Demme and was taken in 1991. It stars a few a big named actors such as Jody Foster and Anthony Hopkins.
The film begins with a mid shot of a tree, we can see that it was taken in grey woods because everything looks foggy and it you can’t see beyond. This gives the film a mysterious feeling, and the audience can not guess what is going to happen next, but we can easily guess the genre by this. We can see that it must be autumn or winter because all the leaves have fallen out of the trees. Still on the shot of the tree, the actors names ‘Jodie Foster’ and ‘Anthony Hopkins’ start to appear in bold black font. The film also opens with non-digetic sound, which goes really good with the woods because we get this cold feeling and we can hear another non-digetic sound which seems to be some sort of bird, but it sounds like a strong but such as an eagle or a falcon. This gives us a sense that it’s morning.
Straight after the first actors name appears there is a panning shot from the tree and it moves slightly to the ground but we cannot see the ground due to the fog instead we can two trees which form some sort of gate or even door, then the title ‘Silence of the Lambs’ is displayed, by this is feels like that they’re saying the journey begins here would you like to enter.
As the camera moves slightly lower we can see the ground, which is brown because of all the leaves that have fallen to the ground and between these two trees we can see a little figure appear. As she moves a bit closer we can see she is holding on to a rope. The woman moves closer and closer to us while holding the rope and as soon as she reaches the end we can hear a bird flying away; this shows that she may be a main character and she maybe mighty. As soon as she lets go of the rope the person stands still for a second and looks around she seems to be out of breath and her jumper has sweat stains on it. Straight after she begins to run through the woods and this is a tracking shot from the back taken from a low angle, this makes it feel like she maybe running from someone or is in a race. As she runs through the woods her foot steps sound like a clock ticking, this could show that she is in a race against time.
The music starts to change and it sounds faster now and we have a mid shot of the woman from the side, which is still a tracking shot with good headroom and good nose room. Then immediately we have a close up of her shoes but it’s still a tracking shot. As she keeps running a net appears which she immediately jumps on and starts to climb over and it seems sunny on the other side of this net, which could that it is better on this other side or something awaits her on the other side. We can see that this is a very strong healthy woman and she may be training for something because she has over come all these obstacles.
After the net she runs on for a while and we can hear a loud male voice calling out the female characters name. And he soon after enters the frame also running. There is a mid shot of the mans face and we can clearly see his hat with the letters ‘FBI’ written on this reveals to us that this is a ‘Police’ or ‘FBI’ training centre. Then there is a panning shot from top to bottom of a tree and on this tree there are signs or boards nailed on with the words ‘Hurt’, ‘Agony’, ‘Pain’ and ‘Love-it’ the first three are negative words but the last one is a very positive one.
After this we have a change of scenery, we go from the dark grey woods into a sunny green place with buildings. The woman enters the building and then an elevator and in this elevator there are all men wearing red polo shirts and she’s the only female in a blue jumper and all the men are much taller than her, this can show power and who may be superior, but the woman may end up saving the day. The elevator door shuts this is like the gate closing. She is the last person to leave the elevator and she walks towards a place where the board is pointing to with the words ‘Behavioral Science Services’. She then enters someone’s office and as she looks around something catches her e attention and there camera moves straight into her face till there is a close up of her face and then what she’s looking at is revealed and there are these horrible pictures on this persons wall, which shows we’re not expecting a good person.
