Blog Entry Assignment #6

The movie I want to discuss a couple scenes from is Silence of the Lambs. In some respects this is my favorite movie ever.

The first scene of interest to me is when Agent Starling visits the mental institution to meet Hannibal Lecter for the first time. Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwlh9uJrQl4

The scene starts with a medium shot as Dr. Chilton is explaining Lecter's history to Clarice. It stays at a medium distance as more information is gathered. Then, as the 2 descend down the stairs to the maximum security wing of the hospital, the camera begins to zoom in on them. The audience is subtly tipped off by this that the story is about to turn from informational to very interesting. Sure enough, from seconds 20-24 in the video above, it cuts to an extreme close up of Dr. Chitlin's face, and we learn for the first time just how evil Hannibal Lecter is, and how calm and calculating he is even when relieving female orderlies of certain facial features. I love this scene because if it weren't for the changes in camera positions, the feel of the scene wouldn't be nearly as chilling. Instead of Dr. Chitlin's unchanging tone of voice during a story of attempted cannibalism feeling off, the extreme close-up creates the first spine chilling scene in the film. Then, just to make the audience feel a touch more off balance, the camera immediately cuts back to a medium shot of the two and Dr. Chitlin moves them along as if he didn't just talk about Lecter eating a woman's face. 30 seconds, three shots, and all of the sudden the audience anticipation for meeting Lecter for the first time is ten times higher.

The second scene is Lecter's escape, which I could only find here http://www.tvokay.com/redir4.php?l=aHR0cDovL3d3dy50dWRvdS5jb20vdi90dVdNSWRIVjhwVQ==

The shots I love in this scene are right as the police bust into the gym where Lecter was being held and discover his handiwork. We get a closeup of the door before they open it, and see a silhouette resembling a bird or something of that nature. When they finally burst in and a medium shot captures six of them pointing their weapons and preparing for Lecter to pop out and attack them, we get a close up as the captain's face to see how horrified he is by what he saw. The scene cuts straight to another close up of what we saw as a silhouette throught the window: a police officer cut up and strapped to the cage. Slowly, the camera zooms out to show how the light shines through him, and we finally see what the significance of his body's positioning is: the moths, and how they represent the rebirth the serial killer is attempting to achieve.