Title & sound ananlysis: opening sequence of 'The Silence of the Lamb'

Another psychological thriller which is in the same sub-genre as ours.

The opening started with the roaring lion as the symbol of Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) studio trade mark. They are an American media company who help to produce and distribute media products such as film and television programmes. The audience can easily identify this through the uses and gratifications theory. The fact that this is the first thing at the beginning of the movie shows the hierarchy between this company and the others. This company has the most power, hence they are mentioned first. They also distributed the product.

The non diegetic music starts, it sounds a little like mystical music and kind of mystical as well, so the audience might wonder how this film differentiates from the other horror movies. The camera rotates 260 degrees to let us get a full view of the stars in the night sky. There a stars that spin in a circle to create the ORION Pictures logo. This again helps the audience to identify the production company. The fact that they are mentioned second shows that this is the production company who actually produced the product, even though they are lower in hierarchy between MGM and themselves. It is written in the centre of the screen, therefore it also has it's importance.

The first scene is of trees in the winter without any leaves. The atmosphere and setting looks wet like it has just rained. The location is shown at the bottom right corner of the screen whilst there is a voiceover of a man talking in a different language, telling us where the location is. The location may be important for the audience to know as it creates a setting which could create fear. It could also be where the product is produced. The location is in the woods which is written on the screen in English. This can be conventional in the horror genre as mostly there are woods nearby from where the victim is attacked. The fact that it is written against the rule of thirds shows that the location is special and important in the movie. There are ambient sounds of birds and leaves on the floor which create verisimilitude. Barthes symbolic code could also apply here as the woods may represent a significant location in the film.

The location disappears and the production group name pops up on the screen in bold, black and the outside of the letters are highlighted in white. This connotes that they are an important part in the production of this movie, although their name comes up third in the opening sequence. We could use this in our product to show our company name. They are written in the middle of the screen therefore they has importance, and they can be easily identified.

The credits for the actors appear on the screen as the box of the image grows smaller. It starts to pan out of the screen whilst there is a dolly shot of the rest of the trees. The names appear in the same font, text and boldness as the production team, however they appear one by one as the man in the voiceover mentions their names. This connotes that they have equal importance in the movie.

The sound helps to portray the importance of the disequilibrium that will happen along the movie as it is mystical and scary, allowing the audience to think that something scary will happen to the woman on the screen. This reinforces their thoughts as she looks like she is running away from something but then ends up showing that she is training. Here, the non diegetic music plays slowly faster and then goes down slowly again until the man on the screen appears and tells her someone wants to talk to her.

The title of the actual movie then appears in 1 minute and 3 seconds of the opening sequence.
The names of main actors continue to appear in screen whilst the clips show a woman panting and is short of breath. She is either digging something or trying to climb up a hill.
As she runs away from the scene, the camera follows her with a tracking shot. The music continues while she pants and runs away, and the actors titles continue to pop up and float on the screen. As she runs, you can hear the crunching of the leaves, and the dark atmosphere connotes that it is very cold weather.
The audience can identify with the connotations and dark typography (with the uses and gratification theory) and recognise that it is of the horror genre.
The credits continue of the make up and costume artists with the same font to show they are important in the horror movie too.

In Hungarian language:



English version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0A-1gbJzdU