Thriller Research - The Silence of the Lambs

For some reserch in class we watched silence of the Lambs (1990), it is regarded as one of the best physchological thrillers ever made. It won Oscars for the best actor, actress and best film.

The opening

We see a charector runnign through a wood on an assualt course. The music from the start is an erie peice of classical music which is intimidating unsettling. In face we are waiting for somthing to occur. This makes us predict somthing in the visuals.

The interview

The soundstrack plays as she walks towards Hannibal Lecter. It is used to unsettle the audince without going to its full tempo.

Howard shore

The escape scene

The scene opended with digetic classic music playing. This suggests a peaceful scene. The high tempo soundtrack creates immediate anxiety and tension. Then the high tempo music stops and the classical non-diget music comes back.

Buffalo Bill is killed

As Clarice struggles around in the dark the sound builds again until she shoots him and then dies down.

The audince is familar with the soundtrack from its use of key moment in the film. its very lould which can be draining.

Overal i have learnt from this lessons that the use of good music keeps the audicne watching and builds and relaxes the audince. I will take this into account when it comes to the editing process of my film and looking for music to use in my film. I feel the silence of the lamb is a good example of how effective music is used to heighten tension. I feel i will carry out more soundtrack reserch in future posts to gain more of a knowledge on an effective soundtrack. In my next post i will look at the opening of a well known thriller by the man who pioneered phyological thrillers Alfred Hithcock movie Physco.