Silence of the Lambs

This scene is one of they key scenes from the film "Silence of the Lambs" which features a conversation between the character of Dr. Hannibal Lecter and Clarice. The scene contains very basic shots of a head and shoulders shot of each character and a close of up each character and this is all of the shots and what they consist of for the whole scene. However, the importance of this scene is within the dialogue between the two characters and there is no need for shots from a variety of angles as it is the conversation that is the main focus and this is where the focus should remain. So in order to keep this focus there are only these two types of shot used within the entire scene and as the dialogue is so engaging the scene is still kept interesting. However, when there is a head and shoulders shot of each of the characters the bars of the prison cell are in shot which shows that there is a barrier between the characters, however when it changes to the close up shot of each of the characters the bars have disappeared and this shows that the character of Hannibal Lecter has got mentally closer and into the head of the character of Clarice. This has not just happened by accident but has purposely been put there and edited in to show this.

This has shown me that meaning and the build and purpose of a character can be shown through the simplest of shots and the way in which you can edit a series of shots can show and mean so many things. In this scene there are the small variety of four different types of shot used in total, however it is used effectively as when it moves to the close up of Hannibal Lectur you feel as the viewer that you are too close to him and that you want to step away. It has shown me that every single shot needs to be taken into consideration and to have thought about what effect it has of putting that shot in that specific place. What does it add to the edit? What does it say about the character? What does it say about the situation and the atmosphere? All of these things are of great importance when editing and needs to be taken into consideration when editing. For future editing i will take this into consideration and will think about why i have decided to put a shot where it is and to make sure that every single shot has a meaning and progresses the edit forward.