A Short 'Slience Of The Lambs' Opening Scene Analysis

A short 'Slience Of The Lambs' opening scene analysis

The scene starts with a establishing shot of a forest. The camera then pans down to a girl on her own in the forest. This is a typical opening for a horror thriller genre. They show the girl to be vulnerable by using a high angle shot looking down at her climbing the hill. This camera angle makes the girl look smaller and makes her look like a potential victim of a murder. It then shows her running through the forest. This is done to make it look like she is running away from the murder. It then shows us that she is working with the FBI by a man saying 'He wants to see you in his office'. It then shows four signs saying 'Hurt', 'Agony', 'Pain' and 'Love-It' which foreshadows the film. It then show her going into the compound walking through the rooms and getting into the lift. The have put taller men in the lift to make her look smaller and more vulnerable.

I have researched this opening because  it has a good, typical setting for a thriller.It also subverts convention of a normal thriller by making the woman a part of the FBI and not a victim.

Analysis of 'The Secret Window' opening sequence

Analysis of ‘The Secret Window’ opening sequence

The opening sequence is taken from ‘The Secret window’ starring Johnny Depp and written and directed by Paul Kepp.

It starts with a close up of Johnny Depp in a car looking forward and then a voice says ‘turn around’. He starts to turn around and then starts to drive towards to motel. He then rushes in towards the reception and takes one of the room keys. He gets back in the car and drives towards to room. He enters to room and his wife with another man.

This film is a Psychological thriller which follows the character of Mort, played by Johnny Depp. In psychological thriller they make certain editing and sound techniques to create suspense. They also set up many enigma codes to keep the audience interested. They also show a taste of thing to come to make the audience keep watching. In some psychological thrillers they try to create a false sense of security to create suspense for the audience.

The opening sequence is made of 3 main long scenes.  They use camera differently in each. It opens up with a medium close up of Johnny Depp face using a direct gaze towards the camera. They use this to make 'Mort' look intimidating, and to create enigma codes like 'why is he there'. This medium closes up last almost the whole scene but at the end it goes into a long/establishing shot of the motel, which Mort is driving to. They do this to show the audience where he is and where the location is. Mort then walks into the reception to take the keys. This is medium/long shot and continues all through the scene. It is a medium/long shot for Mort walking in to the reception and it is the same for the man when he walks out of the room. They also use panning for the camera tracking to show Mort walking into the reception. The next shot is a medium shot of Mort getting into the car and start to drive to the hotel room. We then see a POV shot of Mort as he is driving towards the room the POV shot shows him going to the room and opening the door. They do this to show what the character would be like in this situation then as he is opening the door it turns into a medium shot of the room and his wife in the bed. The camera then tracks back out of the room to the outside and then fades to another scene.

In the opening ‘splash screen of Columbia’ there is the diegetic sound of window wipers in the background creating a sound bridge with the scene. Without seeing the scene the sound could also be interpreted as heartbeat, which will create suspension with the audience. After when Mort is in the car a voice tells him to turn around, they make this dialogue sound like there is another person in the car to create more enigma codes. They then show that the voice is inside his head because he is the only one in the car. They add this to create tension for the audience. It then plays the sound of the tyres driving across the floor. They have added this to create suspense and to show that he is angry. The next sound would be near the end; this is when Mort enters the room. It is a non-diegetic sound as he opens the door to create a sudden and tense atmosphere for the audience. When he is in the room the sound becomes distorted and blurs out the conversations they are having. In all of that you can only hear Mort shout. The blurred sound represents Mort's mind at the time, suggesting that he is having a break down. As the camera leaves the room there is a similar non-diegetic sound as it does when it enters. When the camera leaves it then begins starts by playing one note with the orchestral music which sets the mood of what happened, as the scene fades out which will leave the audience with an enigma code of 'what's going to happen'

As far as the mise-en-scene is concerned, the first scene one of the main things what stick out would be the ring on his finger which suggests that he is married and that might be one of the reasons why he is there. Another thing in the scene would be the window wiper; it is one of the only things you can concentrate on so it creates tension for the scene. In this next scene it shows him driving towards the 'Motel', the motel sign is red as well as all the doors. This shows monochromatic colours because they only use dark colours and red. They have made the motel sign red to suggest danger and lust in the scene, they do this to show the mood of the character or atmosphere, in this opening sequence they are setting the mood to be depressing and miserable. In the next scene it shows Mort taking the keys from the reception and show the audience that he want to go fast.  Another thing in the background is the weather, they have purposely made it cold and rainy to show the mood of the main character. They have done the same with the time of day to show the same reasons as the weather.

They use different editing techniques in the opening scene one of which is juxtaposition. They use juxtaposition by showing the outside to be harsh, icy and cold and inside the motel to be warm and welcoming. They also use editing techniques such as match on action. They use this when Mort is looking at the motel. He is staring at the motel and in the same scene when the car is driving to it shows what he is looking at. They also show a reaction shot when Mort walks in to the room where his wife is.  They pan out of the main scene which is his wife I bed, to look at the reactions of Mort. The last editing technique is the eye line shot. They show this in the first scene, where Mort is looking at the motel sign. The sequence is cleverly editing to make the audience aware and Mort’s erratic behaviour.

In conclusion I think this is a typical thriller opening, because it fits most of the codes and convections. One way they did this is including lots of enigma codes. For example ‘Why he there ’and ‘what is he going to do’. They also meet all of the typical editing and camera convections by including a list of shots and editing techniques such as juxtaposition. They also make great use of sound in this thriller by making a narrator and including sound bridges to create enigma codes  

Analysis of a Saul Base opening sequence

Analysis of the Opening Title Sequence of Vertigo

This is one of the many opening title sequences by Saul Bass. Saul Bass also created the movie poster for this film. In the start of this opening title sequence it is a close up of a woman's face and then going into a extreme close up of her eyes and her looking around. Saul Bass use's titles well in this opening sequence because the titles appear in a good position on the screen. The whole sequence pauses as the titles come up. The whole scene goes into a red blood like tint while it is still on the extreme close up on the eye. Then the title of the movie comes out of the eye. Then one swirl appears in the eye and then the eye disappears and then its only the swirl on the screen. Then after the swirls appear it then fades back into the eye. Saul Bass has created a lot of enigma codes for the audience. He has made his title sequence to fit the thriller genre by inserting these enigma codes.

  

The Saul Bass Research

Saul Bass Research

Saul Bass was an American graphic designer and academy award winning film maker. He is mostly know for his opening title sequences, corporate logos and film poster. He was born in May 8, 1920 and died on April 25, 1996 at the age of 75 years old. He designed logos for company's like 'United Airlines' and 'Bell System'.

But he is mainly know for his film title sequences such as 'Psycho', 'Exodus' and 'Goodfellas'. Bass said one of his main goals is to "try to reach for a simple visual phrase that tells you what picture is all about and evokes the essence of the story". His movie titles opening have changed how film titles are today. He used his opening sequences in a different type of way than other openings. He saw his opening sequences as a art work. His opening sequences have effected films today. Films like 'X-men:First Class' and 'Catch Me If You Can'

He also created movie posters for such films as 'The Man with the Golden Arm' and 'Vertigo'. His work with movie posters inspired numerous other poster and graphics designers to follow a similar design type.

Continuity Finished video

Continuity Exercise 

This is the finished continuity video. 

Evalution 

I was overall very pleased on how this continuity edit turned out. I was proud that our continuity went well because it was the first time my group used the camera. I think my group worked well with the camera and we learned all the basic shots used in film. We used the 180 degree rule to film some of the shots. 180 degree shot is when the camera angle is maintained in within a 180 angle. We also used match on action shot in the conversation between character 1 and 2. The match on Acton shot is when one shot cuts to another portraying the action of the subject in the first shot. We also used shot reverse shot in the conversation between character 1 and 2. Shot reverse is a technique used in conversation or to make characters look at objects/ character.

We did have some problems with the video as one on of the main one was that there was a beep in the middle of one of shots. And we only noticed it once we were editing. If my group were to do it again we would add more dialogue talking on the phone about the homework. So it would be more clear why they we meeting in room 13.



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Editing The continuity Piece

Editing

To edit the continuity piece we had to use software on the Macs called 'I movie'. Two of my group members, Jay and Ashley, have Mac books. So we did the editing of the continuity out of school. Me and Jay did the first half of the editing which included location 1 and 2. Harry and Ashley did the second half which include location 3 and 4. There was a problem with the video we noticed while editing. There a random beep noise in the middle of one of our shots. Once we finished our editing we put both half's together and finished our continuity piece.

Fliming the Continuity Edit

When we started filming, we had to follow the storyboard in a sequence. There were 4 locations we had to film at. The first scene we had to film was an outside location.We had to show charater 1 calling charater 2 and asking him to meet him at room 13. We include shots such as close up, medium and long shot. The second scene was a computer room. We filmed charater 2 in the computer room answering the phone to charater 1 and having a conversation about where to meet him. The third location was charater 2 walking to room 13. This location was only 3 shots long. It was charater 2 walking around the hall way and opening the door to room 13. The final location is room 13 this is where the two character have a conversation about the recent homework. The first time we started recorded we were pressing the wrong button and we weren't recording at all. This was because we didn't practice with the cameras. But in our free lessons my group got together and filmed it again.