2. The plot.
• FBI trainee Clarice Starling works hard to advance her career, while trying to hide/put
behind her WestVirginia roots, of which if some knew, would automatically classify
her as being backward or white trash. After graduation, she aspires to work in the
agency's Behavioural Science Unit under the leadership of Jack Crawford.While she is
still a trainee, Crawford asks her to question Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a psychiatrist
imprisoned, thus far, for eight years in maximum security isolation for being a serial
killer who cannibalized his victims. Clarice is able to figure out the assignment is to
pick Lecter's brains to help them solve another serial murder case, that of someone
coined by the media as Buffalo Bill, who has so far killed five victims, all located in the
eastern US, all young women who are slightly overweight (especially around the
hips), all who were drowned in natural bodies of water, and all who were stripped of
large swaths of skin. She also figures that Crawford chose her, as a woman, to be able
to trigger some emotional response from Lecter. After speaking to Lecter for the first
time, she realizes that everything with him will be a psychological game, with her
often having to read between the very cryptic lines he provides. She has to decide
how much she will play along, as his request in return for talking to him is to expose
herself emotionally to him.The case takes a more dire turn when a sixth victim is
discovered, this one from who they are able to retrieve a key piece of evidence, if
Lecter is being forthright as to its meaning. A potential seventh victim is high profile
Catherine Martin, the daughter of Senator Ruth Martin, which places greater scrutiny
on the case as they search for a hopefully still alive Catherine.Who may factor into
what happens is Dr. Frederick Chilton, the warden at the prison, an opportunist who
sees the higher profile with Catherine, meaning a higher profile for himself if he can
insert himself successfully into the proceedings.
3. About my
chosen film.
• Budget of $19 million.
• Directed by Jonathan Demme, who has also worked on
the films Rachel Getting Married and Philadelphia.
• Staring Jodie Foster, Antony Hopkins and Scott Glenn
• Certificate of 18 in most countries, however is on Now
TV and is only a 15 certificate.
• It has a rating of 8.9 on IMDB
• It gained $272,742,922 as a world wide gross.
• The genre of the film is a psychological thriller/ horror.
4. Film poster analysis.
On the film poster it shows the
names of the people staring in
the film.This attracts audience
due to things like star power.
From looking at the film poster I can’t sense what the genre the film is or what the film is a about.
There are no reviews of the film just a small sentence at the bottom stating it is terrifying.The
actual layout of the poster is interesting, it is a close up of a woman’s face with a moth over her
mouth.Which portrays that this film may not be a main stream film and is focused on a more
niche film audience.
The red eyes can connote
danger and warning or can
symbolise that she is staring
danger in the face.
‘terrifying’ suggests that it is similar to the
book and it is an explanation of what to
expect.
The title at the bottom is in a bold red colour,
this conveys the meaning of the title very
well. It is red because that connotes blood and
danger however the word lamb portrays the
depiction of innocence. Lambs are seen as
innocent and the killer prays on the innocent
people.
The main focus you are drawn to is the piercing
eyes and the moth covering the mouth. If you
look closely you can see a skull on the back of
the moth.This also connotes death presuming
that there is a lot of death within the film.The
moth is also silencing the woman from talking.
Hence the title silence.
The colour scheme of the title is mainly
black and white with key colours of
red, yellow and orange.The colour is
centred on the eyes mouth and title of
the film.This is to contrast and show
the importance of the red eyes and the
moth over the mouth.
The poster uses black and white to show Good
vs. Evil.The women are shown in white
meaning that she is possibly the hero/victim in
the film.The black background seems
mysterious as it appears to engulf part of the
women’s face.This could refer to the women
being ‘brought to the dark side’ or the darkness
coming to get her.
The look on the girls face appears innocent and
relates to the word ‘lamb’ in the title. Lambs have
connotations with God and purity.The butterfly over
the girl’s mouth also refers to the title ‘the silence of
the lambs’ as it is preventing the women from
speaking. The butterfly however is not an ordinary
butterfly it has a skull on the back of its head. Skulls
have connotations to death. Meaning that whatever
is ‘silencing the lambs’ is going to be violent.
