Analysis - Silence of the Lambs first meeting

Analysing conversations

Meanings:

1. Watch the clip. Ask yourself - what do I think of the characters? Who is the most dominant? Who thinks they have 'won' the conversation?
2. Watch the clip again. When does power shift happen? What dialogue is used?
3. Look at the shapes within the composition of the shots - have angles changed? Who fills the frame? Who spends longer on screen? Who seems big? Who seems less significance?
4. Do these changes in the composition you have identified match with power shift in the conversation?

 

Silence of the Lambs Analysis: 

Character analysis: 

Clarice: 

• Hesitant 
• Nervous - through her facial expressions
• Scared 
• Desperate 
• New
• Willing

 

Hannibal:

• Certified 
• Confident 
• Knows what he’s talking about
• Untrustworthy (to clarice) 
• Prevaricate 
• Provocative 
• Scary 

Most dominant:

• At one point in the clip, a high angle/group shot/long shot  of claire and Hannibal is shown, where Hannibal is standing up in his glass box whilst claire is sitting down quite close to the box, therefore implying that Hannibal has the most power whereas clarice doesn’t. This is also shown through Clarice’s character as she’s not a qualified agent and just a student trainee, hence showing she doesn’t have much expertise, whereas Hannibal does. He has an advantage over her and this is evidently shown through the amount of space he occupies on screen, where he takes up most of the framing. Clarice’s pov is often shown from that of a high angle shot, therefore suggesting that Hannibal is the most dominant one out of the 2 of them. Hannibal is also always looking directly at her, whereas Clarice is more averted away from his eye contact. Hannibal always looks at her when he’s talking but Clarice averts her eyes away from him every few seconds - suggesting he’s overpowering? 

• Clarice is shown to have more space in her shots but her shots look as though there should be someone else with her in the shot. Clarice hides in the corners of the frame, therefore showing her nervousness and scared self. This is shown when Hannibal looks at her (eyeline match) and it cuts to Clarice, where she occupies the right side of the screen rather than occupying the whole shot. This outlines her vulnerability as she’s straying away from being in the middle and is hiding in the corner of the camera.  

 

Who's won the conversation: 

• At the end of the clip, it's hard to properly say who really did 'win' the conversation. On one hand, Hannibal won, but on the other hand, Clarice won. 
• Both characters have seemed to get their sufficient amount of information out of each other but Clarice may have won the conversation, due to her receiving a large amount of key information. 
• Hannibal may have won the conversation as he had control over the conversation and knew what he wanted - unlike Clarice who's newness was first sensed by Hannibal. 
• Overall, Hannibal won the conversation due to his confidence and control over Clarice through framing and low angle shots.

Power shift happens when:

• Hannibal doesn’t occupy the middle of the screen, in the scene when he’s talking about jack crawford. He takes up the outer left part of the screen and is not shown with full power. 

• The shot cuts to Clarice taking up the full space of her shot, with her now being in the middle/direct centre of a close up shot, whereas hannibal is now in clarice’s previous position, away to the left of the frame.  
• The shift happens when he asks Clarice why they call him buffalo bill. 

• The constant eyeline match of clarice and hannibal is interesting because as clarice slowly gains power over hannibal, she looks at him with direct eye contact and doesn’t shy away like she did previously - hence, showing her confidence springing out of her now. 

• However, after she explains her idea, it cuts again to a close-up of hannibal’s face, but yet both characters now occupy the same amount of frame in each of their shots, both being close-ups. Perhaps this suggests they both hold an equal amount of power? 

• Afterwards, an over-the-shoulder shot from a high angle of clarice, shows her sudden dethrone in power and confidence as she now holds a much smaller and almost insignificant part of the frame, with hannibal enclosing her in it. The high angle again shows her vulnerability and newness. Subsequently, Clarice’s shots all include hannibal in it, where he has more space in the frame and encloses clarice in the right side of the frame, all shown from a high angle point of view shot.

• It cuts to hannibal from claric’es point of view but although it’s her own shot, hannibal takes up most of the space and is standing up, therefore suggesting he has more authority now. Clarice’s pov is a low-angle, over-the-shoulder shot, and she seems vulnerable.  

Dialogue used: interpolation conversation - where the direct details are not given and the person has to interpret it. 

 

• The ‘person’ in this case is Clarice, as she has to try and decipher the key parts of their conversation, in which he talks about other unnecessary and irrelevant information that isn’t beneficial to Clarice. 
• Clarice has to also engage with Hannibal and talk about herself, in order to obtain information from him. 

 

Who mainly fills the frame and when does it change:

 

• When first introduced, hannibal has most of the space whereas Clarice is much smaller on the screen and seems entrapped in it. 

• Hannibal takes up most of the screen with only his face being shown and from a close-up pov. 
• After a while, Clarice becomes bigger on the screen, where she now takes up most of the space and framing through close-up shots of her face, aligned in the middle of the frame - centered. Subsequently, Hannibal is shown with less space and much smaller framing, where he takes up the left side of the frame, in a more wider-close up shot, therefore suggesting there’s been a power shift between Clarice and Hannibal.

• However, Clarice doesn’t hold the power for too long, before it shifts again to Hannibal being shown with close-ups, and Clarice is shown with high angle, over the shoulder shots, all from hannibals pov. One shot that’s particularly effective in displaying this, is when clarice is shown through hannibals pov, from a high-angle, over the shoulder shot, with barely any space for her through the framing (as Hannibal occupies more of the shot, hence showing she has very little power and is vulnerable in her current position)
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• Shortly after clarice hands the paper to Hannibal, the camera slowly zooms in to Hannibal during his lengthy dialogue. This shows that Hannibal gains more power and confidence as he’s talking and the camera doesn’t cut to clarice at all during his dialogue.  Hannibal never ceases to break eye contact whilst speaking directly to Clarice, therefore showing his confidence. The final shot before it cuts to clarice is a close-up of Hannibal sort of smiling at clarice whilst looking directly at her (through eyeline match). 

• Afterwards, the camera cuts to clarice and zooms in on her, whilst she’s listening to Hannibal talk. The camera slowly zooms in on her, showing her tense and concentrated facial expressions. The final shot of clarice in the zoom in sequence is a medium close-up of her from a high angle shot (hannibals pov), where she is positioned in the left-most side of the framing. This shows that Clarice doesn’t have much power, as she’s constantly displayed from either the right-most side of the frame or the left-most side and is never fully in the middle, until she gains some power but it doesn’t’ last for long before Hannibal regains it. 

• After clarice leaves, the atmosphere in the prison becomes chaotic and everything breaks in the equilibrium. Hannibal projects his voice to clarice, who comes running to him, whilst obtaining key information from Hannibal. This shows that Hannibal only gave up the information after a very long conversation between the 2 of them and it could also suuggest that Hannibal had to know he trusted her before giving out key information - which is why he gave the information at the very end, perhaps knowing he could fully trust her, and she could trust him to an extent. 

• The last shot is of both, Hannibal and clarice, from a low-angle shot. Hannibal has both his hands up on the parts of his holding cell, which makes him look as if he’s overpowering her with both his hands, whereas clarice looks desperately at him, whilst also being scared of her position. The 180 degree rule is broken at the very end, where a shot-reverse shot and a two-shot is shown of the 2 characters, as the camera slowly rises up from a low angle to a eyeline angle. Hannibal shouts in clarice’s face and she quickly runs away with her new information. 

• Clarice seems less insignificant throughout the whole clip as she’s always displayed through either hannibals pov, in which he occupies most of her frame, or, when she’s shown on screen with medium and close-up shots from the corners of the frame, in a sort of square-like shape, not taking up the entirety of her shot. However, at some parts of the clip, she obtains some power over hannibal when there’s a shift in framing, where she’s then displayed with more-centered shots, taking up the full frame with being in the centre - but it doesn’t last for long. 

• Hannibal is more significant and has ultimately more power throughout the whole scene, as he’s always shown with close-ups and medium shots and is really never shown from clarice’s point of view with small framing or less space. One shot shows hannibal from her pov but it’s a low-angle shot, where hannibal evidently has larger framing and is standing up, therefore showing his jurisdiction, whereas clarice is small and sitting down, therefore showing her vulnerability and exposed self. 

• Hannibal loses power after clarice quickly speaks with more confidence but he manages to regain his power and it remains the same throughout the rest of the clip, where he’s displayed with either low-angle shots from clarice’s pov or medium shots and close-up shots of him. He spends a much longer time on screens and mainly fills up his shot whilst clarice spends a shorter amount of time on screen and doesn’t take up her shot but instead hides in the corners of the frame, possibly suggesting she wants to get out of here or she’s scared and very nervous. 

Do the changes in the composition match the power shift in the conversation?

• The changes in the composition do match the power shift in the conversation, in some cases but not entirely. The framing effectively changes when, either Clarice or Hannibal gains power, or when either regain power. 
• The framing changes from giving the character the most space and much larger framing to the least space and much smaller shaping. The shots also help with the power dynamics, as close-up and medium shots are used at eyeline angle, to display who has the most power (with their full face being on display and taking up most of the framing and space). 
• Medium shots and close-up shots from a higher angle (Clarice) are used to effectively show who has the least power (as they don't take up the full frame but rather 'hide' in the corner of the shot, or to one side of the shot). This person is Clarice and the one with the most amount of power is Hannibal. 
• The different angles from which the shots are displayed, also give insight into who's more significant in between their conversation. The high angle shots of Clarice from Hannibal's pov., are evident in showing her vulnerability and unconfident, timid self. 
• Comparingly, the low angle and eyeline shots of Hannibal from Clarice's pov. are evident in showing his confidence and determined self. Clarice is always positioned below Hannibal, whereas Hannibal is always at eyeline match or at a mid-low angle, but never to the extent where he seems vulnerable.