Soundtrack Research

" Silence of the Lambs"

For further research in support of our thrillers we watched specific scenes from the film "Silence of the Lambs" analysing the use of soundtrack music used.

The psychological thriller is based all around the story of the case on the vicious serial killer Buffalo Bill of which FBI student trainee Clarice Starling has been assigned to. In need of an insight to get the case going Starling visits the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane where she requests the help of Hannibal Lector, the imprisoned cannibalistic serial murderer.

The film has many times been regarded as the best psychological mind twisting thriller and it has been rewarded by a number of Oscars, including: Best: Actor, Actress and film which is a huge achievement for just one film.

First scene of analysing - The opening

The opening of the film has a eery , dark music which makes the audience feel immediately uneasy although nothing actually happens. The first view shots are of the main character (Clarice Starling) running through a forest. Although the sudden thought of a young woman running through a forest may seem like a threat the audience soon establishes what is really going on from the clues given in the props. These show equipment matching to an assault course of some sort of training. From the start the music is an eery kind of classical music yet has an unsettling effect on the audience. In fact the audience is lead on by the music which makes us predict something in the visuals, expecting and waiting for something dramatic to happen.

The Interview

The interview is taken place in the hospital/prison of the Criminally insane between Hannibal Lector and FBI Clarice Starling. Red lighting is used which adds to the suspense of the atmosphere as red is often connected to blood, anger and evil. The music that is played in this scene again is an eery similar soundtrack that is used in the opening. As Starling walks towards the Hannibal Lector edging closer and closer the cold, eery music is used to unnerve the audience without going to its full tempo. Also the way the shots are angled showing the surroundings of this unpleasant place and showing close ups of this calm yet potentially viscous man.

The Escape Scene

The escape scene - I thought that this scene specifically was very cleverly planned to trick the audience into believing. The scene opened with diegetic classical music playing. This musical suggested the peaceful scene and the audience was not expecting what they were about to see. As soon as the action began the music immediately switched into a dramatic musical tone increasing the tension. The scene cleverly joined two different sounds together and the high tempo soundtrack created an immediate sense of anxiety for everyone. As Lector's job is done the soundtrack again goes back to the calm classical musical that we originally heard at the beginning of this scene. Strangely enough the audience is intrigued as Lector conducts the classical musical acting as if nothing has even happened.

Buffalo Bill is killed

This was the final scene that we analysed. Clarice has just drawn her weapon out to Bill and follows him to the basement. Soon later the lights go out and she is left in total darkness. This alone makes the audience feel on edge. As Clarice staggers around in the darkness of the basement the soundtrack builds up to its highest peak until to all of our satisfaction she shots him dead, this is when slowly the music dies down. This soundtrack is already familiarised by the audience in the earlier scenes of the film. At this part when the music is so loud it can in a way be draining which adds to the emotions the audience feels.

The beginning of the film Clarice running through a forest, alongside the eery music already sets the scene and tells the audience what sort of film they are about to watch. We also used this type of establishment. We introduced the audience to firstly a shot of a young woman approaching which could potentially be a normal house although with the anxious music sets the mood. As in many thrillers there is almost always a person that is dangerous to the main character therefore we decided after watching "Silence of the lambs" we were going to add a killer which would be a man. Although stereotypical we feel this is most effective in this type of genre film.