Success of the Silence of the Lambs

Over the weekend I rewatched one of my favorite films of all time, Silence of the Lambs. The film has be hailed by many a critic and it's easy to see why, simply stated it's a goddamn masterpiece.

It's writing, it's production design, the casting, it call comes together in such a harmonious way. Each scene is rich with subtext and detail, and it does such a fantastic job of showing rather than telling.

In trying to write the character of a maniacal psychopath it's hard not to take a few pages out of the good doctor Lecters book. I see so many movie villains now a days with traces of his marvelously malevolent personality. I love the way we're introduced to him as a character.

First off we're given snippets of his backstory, how he killed and ate his patients for seemingly no reason. Secondly we're informed by an orderly escorting Clarice to Lectors cell of the unbridled brutality that Lector inflicts on others, even while he's still incarcerated. We're told that we aren't allowed to get too close to his cell, and that we can't tell him anything other than the information that we've been cleared to disclose. Every shred of information that Lector learns about you is ammunition he can use against you. With that in mind it makes it all the more chilling when before engaging Clarice in conversation, Lector smells the air for a moment and tells her what skin lotion she uses, and the perfume she wore the night before. It's chilling, invasive, and remarkably thrilling. While I don't think I have the writing chops to crank out a character with the complexity of lector, it's still extremely interesting to watch the ways he unnerves us, and take that as inspiration. 

Stand-offs: How to Know A Character is Winning

It begins with a video catching my eye, the maker catching my interest, and ends with me five hours into the future having watched every other video they’ve made. Luckily, Tony Zhou’s “Every Frame a Painting” series doesn’t go much longer than eleven videos. Each tackles on aspect of filmmaking in a unique and addicting way, but the one I want to focus on specifically is his “The Silence of the Lambs - Who Wins the Scene?”

It’s safe to say that a lot of the content produced by Park students tends to toe the line of action, with a flair for the dramatics. And that isn’t bad. But when it comes down to it, it’s two opposing forces facing off in a figurative showdown, guns drawn and clock tower booming.

Unfortunately, the way this comes across is too overdone by someone who isn’t experienced or knowledgeable in the art of power-dynamics. And in this segment of Zhou’s series we look at the power-play by iconic film figure, Hannibal Lecter. To those who may not feel like sitting through the entire two minutes and fifty-eight seconds, here’s what you need to know:

• Power comes in the angle - lower is dominant, higher is weak
• Eyelines matter - two figures looking into the lens are on common ground and when the eyeline shifts then they no longer see eye-to-eye
• Blocking - a character inserting themselves into a scene (be it over-the-shoulder or otherwise) is setting up a stand-off, confronting both physically and mentally
• Positioning - When the characters remain in their same power positions on screen they are winning, if the camera forces them to the side they’ve lost