Silence Of The Lambs - Facts, Summary and Analysis

Ben Bowen, Toby Harvey, George Jackson and I analysed the editing, sounds, mise en scene and camera angles in the horror film - Silence Of The Lambs. Below are a few facts and the summary of this film.

· The silence of the lambs was the first horror movie to win an academy award for the best picture.
· Also has the distinction of being only the third movie in history to win the five major Oscars.
· It is an adaptation of Thomas Harris’s bestselling novel.
· The film was a deserved winner featuring superb performances from Jodie Foster who played the main role of Claurice Staling a young FBI agent, and Anthony Hopkins who plays the role of Hannibal Lector.
· It was directed by Jonathan Demme, previously best known for comedy but also had directed a few gore films.


Summary

· Claurice Staling is asked by her commander at the FBI, Jack Crawford, to visit the notorious serial killer Hannibal ‘the cannibal’ Lector a former psychiatrist held in a high security asylum/prison, who may have an insight into the case of a murderer named Buffalo Bill.
· The witty cultured Hannibal is too clever to give up such valuable information easily.
· He draws Claurice into an uneasy disturbing relationship in which he demands insight into her childhood in exchange for information on the case.
· They move Hannibal to a better facility but once there he manages a thrilling and physiological escape which involves the death of policemen and medics.
· Claurice eventually manages to discover the whereabouts of Buffalo Bill and resorts to killing him her and the lives of the girl and possible other girls.
· At the end Claurice is awarded with her full FBI status and gets a phone call from Hannibal telling her congratulations and that he won’t harm her but doesn’t plan to stop killing others.
· It is left with the camera panning out on Hannibal in a foreign country following a man who has done him wrong.


Analysis

We chose a horror film to analyse and decided that 'Silence of the Lambs' was a good one to do. We had to analyse the 4 elements which were; Mise En Scene, Editing, Sound and Camera Movements/Angles. Below is a link to a video of us presenting.

Click here -->  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoqtmb24E10&feature=youtu.be