Analysis of: Opening scenes from ‘Silence of the lambs’
Narrative structure:
Linear structure
Beginning: We are introduced to a woman climbing up a mountain and running through the forest on a misty day, it’s unclear to the audience what and why she is doing
Middle: It’s obvious this woman is doing some sort of agility course/ training as she climbs over a climbing frame taking her once suspected vulnerability away
End: She is stopped by a unknown character to go and see someone, we then know she works for the FBI or some kind of public service as it is displayed on the unknown characters hat and as she runs through campus of all these people either training or working the building.
Thriller codes and conventions:
Like most thrillers silence of the lambs use question and answer model to make the opening sequence watchable and suspense as the audience want to find out answers for example
· What is she doing?
· Why is she running?
· Is she getting chased?
· What time is it?
Similar to questions and answer model the example of her looking left and right before going right leaves the idea of mazes and labyrinths- is she going the right way?
Camerawork
Throughout the opening credits the shots are very long to show distance with the use of long panned shots. The first opening shot is a crane shot as the camera crosses the tress going from high to low.It cuts to a long shot of her a girl in the distance climbing up the hill through the fog. The use of close ups of the characters feet as she runs through the leaves could be precieved as her running away from someone.The establishing shot of the training base changes the whole perspective of the character through th e opening sequence as it adds power and strength to the character which contridicts to the medium long shot of her running which could be percieved as her running away from the killer, meaning the use of a point of view shot. To captures this vunerablilty in this character they use tracking shot of her running, music also builds alongside to create suspense as she picks up speed.Mise-en-Scene
Natural light is used to show either morning or dusk in the opening sequence. Your first impression of the character seems to be the stereotypical vulnerable girl on her own in the woods but her style in her running contrasts with that last image as it’s not frantic but calm and collected. Her surrounding ads to this idea of vulnerability as all those trees around her make her seem small and vulnerable. The climbing frames 
Obstacle course is a signature point in opening scene as all vulnerability fades away as you understand why and what she is doing, suddenly changes from stereotypical vulnerable girl to more in control, strong woman as she is interrupted by a guy wearing FBI cap insinuates she is either working for the FBI or training to be an FBI agent.
Sound
Fade in of instrumental is heard before image comes on the screen. The use of music is a calming sound which doesn’t create suspense or tension, it’s not anything iconic either, relates the surrounding very calming morning music. The only diegetic sound in the sequence is her breathing and the slight crunches of leaves underneath her feet to show it’s only her running by herself. It’s unusual the choice of music as it doesn’t add tension to scene meaning no danger is going to happen to this girl yet.
Editing
There is very little editing other than variety in camera shots and when the opening image of the trees fades in other than that it is very editing s as it only uses long takes. Comparing ‘silence of the lambs’ editing to other thrillers such as ‘Jaws’ or ‘Se7en’ it doesn’t come across as a thriller nor does
Graphics
At the start of the opening credits we are told the location of this character but the graphics are almost miss able as its only small and in the corner but throughout the rest of the opening credits the text was central of the screen and plain as its just black , bold, capital letters with white shadowing to contrast on the background image
Silence of the Lambs
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