2. Micro element: Sound.The opening sequence of The Silence of the lambs uses a great deal of the micro- element - sound; both diegetic
and non diegetic, to express to the viewer lots of the key features as well as mood and other effects.
Lots of diegetic sound is used to set the location/environment, for example when the protagonist runs back
towards the building, before we know what it is, diegetic gunshots among the silent forest infer that it is some sort
of military or police facility, as well as that, the film has an underlying theme of law and possibly crime.
The quietness of the forest whilst she runs suggest it is an isolated area, away from civilisation, also it could be
seen as an insight into her character; a reference to her being very independant or somewhat of a lone wolf. This
effect, coupled with the non diegetic music(which has dark undertones), creates suspense, making the viewer
tense, in anticipation of something bad happening.

3. Sound part 2:
Once the protagonist enters the FBI facility, diegetic background sound is used to display the type of
work environment she is in. For example before she enters the elevator, we can hear lots of male
murmuring and banging sounds, suggesting this is a more manual work area. It also highlights the
larger male presence here, conforming to gender stereotypes of this kind of work being more suited to
men.
As she exits the elevator, the diegetic background sound changes the mood of the scene, as well as
the atmosphere. Now we can here more stereotypical office noises such as phones and printers,
showing that this work area is more catered to office style work involving boring “paper pushing” desk
jobs.

4. Micro element: Editing
● In the clip from ‘Silence of the Lambs’ uses editing to represent the mood and atmosphere; amongst other things to the
audience.
● At the beginning of the clip the editing is slow paced and flows freely in order to show a more relaxed atmosphere, even
though the protagonist is running through the woods alone, the editing placed with the sound makes the viewer feel as though
nothing bad is going to happen and puts them at ease.
● Throughout the opening scenes we see credits that have been superimposed over the original images, this gives us some
knowledge into the cast and crew that are involved in the film.
● The woman (protagonist) is doing and assault course, she is doing this with some speed and to show this to the audience a
jumpcut is used when the woman is running from one obstacle to the next to give us an idea of how fast she is running, it
makes us feel slightly on edge, even though we can see that she is taking part in an obstacle course as soon as we see
anyone running fast, our immediate thought is to think that they are running away from someone or something. The jumpcut
emphasises this as we cannot see parts of the run that she is taking, suggesting not only is she running fast but also for a
very long time.
● When the protagonist is walking into the FBI building, we see the camera hesitate on the sign that says ‘Behavioral Science
Services’ before there is a cutaway to the woman walking down the corridor, the way the arrow on the sign was pointing. This
gives us, as the audience a bit of background information into what the woman is doing and where she is going, but not so
much that we are distracted from the protagonists actions.
● Towards the end of the clip the man and the woman are in deep conversation and we see that a match cut is used during the
conversation. So when the man is talking we see the woman's face and vice versa. This means that we can see the other
person's reaction to what has just been said. For example when the man mentions Hannibal Lecters name a match cut shows
us the womans face so we see her reaction and the fact she tries to take this in by repeating ‘Hannibal the cannibal’. Without
the match cut we would only hear these words and not see her face, therefore not understanding the full intensity of the
situation.