The Silence of the Lambs Opening analysis

How does the opening engage/create interest for the audience?

The opening of this movie starts of with a long shot to confirms the setting  of a deserted  misty and perhaps frosty woods with the trees taking main focus suggesting that it is set during the early morning and something has either happened or is about to happen; as the woods in thrillers are usually associated with the fear of the unknown as you don't know what could be lurking around. The opening engages the audience as it shows a woman running suggesting she's the victim; this is depicted through the use of tracking shots from behind her, which makes the audience think she's running fro someone, thus creating a sense of sympathy for her. This is because in most thriller the female is usually portrayed as the victim as she is the "damsel in distress" so the audience automatically assume she's in danger.

Furthermore, the camera angle is a high angle shot slowly coming down show a women running and trying to climb a rope. This use of shot gives the impression that someone is watching her and it illustrates her isolation, thus creating suspense and interest for the audience as they want to know who she is and why she's running. However it is only after she climbs the rope when we realise that she isn't running due to fear but she's doing an assault course as when she gets to the top she stops and takes a look around and shows no sign of distress. The first shot of the female character helps to establish her as an enigma through the juxtaposition of the tense spooky mood created by the mise-en-scene and her running through the woods.

      Through the character running, the audience can infer that she might be the main character as she's the first character we're introduced to. As the character gets closer you see that she is struggling to pull herself up using a rope which suggests that she's running away from someone or something and that she is weak. This idea of her being frightened is heightened by the diegetic sounds of her heavily breathing from running.

 Even though, her heavy breathing shows her to be tired and out of breath, this opening scene depicts her to be quite masculine as she doesn't appear to be struggling or moaning which female characters are usually stereotyped to do. Thus suggesting that she's a tough cookie, so to speak and that she's not to be messed with. Just by her tackling the assault course with ease, we already get a sense of her character.

      Within the opening scenes the audience can see the location of the woods, this helps to identify that this is a crime thriller as it is documenting the location; furthermore by doing this it takes away the enigma of the setting.  

          

      From the titles the audience can infer that this movies main character is female as it is a woman's name that is shown first in the titles. This isn't a usual occurrence as it most thriller are usually headed a by main male character being the antagonist or protagonist. 

    




The enigma is established through the miss-en-scene and how each character is introduced to the audience as the female character for example is supposed to be an officer this is illustrated through her interaction with another officer however, her costume doesn't illustrate this in anyway.

      The opening titles are displayed in a large black and white font in the centre of the screen, this also identifies that this is a crime thriller, as the font is big and bold and serious.