As you can see in the title, the first attempt to analyze audiovisual language may be immature or over-analyzed. I hope you will understand! If there are any errors or deficiencies in the understanding of the film, I am willing to listen with a learning attitude at any time. Thanks!
The film critic tells a story about Agent Chris hunting down the perverted murderer Buffalo Bill and discussing intelligence with another perverted murderer, Hannibal. The heroine is a strong, independent and individual woman. Buffalo Bill is a "transvestite" who aspires to be women and kills women and puts their skin on their bodies. Among them, Hannibal, who I think is the most attractive, is due to the study of psychology and human behavior. Science, thinks that humans are just animals composed of hormones, and the perverted murderers who gradually despise humans can analyze a person by simple observation and at the same time manipulate a person's heart by simple conversation.
At the beginning of the film, the light in the forest is dim. The tall and straight trees block most of the sunlight. Only the dappled and sparse light shines through the branches and leaves of the trees and shines on the looming fog. In the quiet forest, there is only the heroine Chris. Footsteps, a distant shot, the heroine from far to near, close to the camera, followed by a period of follow-up shots, the heroine ran into the mist. (I think the director may also deliberately arrange this fog, which may imply that the main female is in the "mist") The subsequent period of quite rhythmic editing, not fast or slow, coupled with the dark environment and tones, soon established the main theme of the movie. Mood and atmosphere. At the same time, the heroine Chris runs alone in such a dark forest, which also highlights the heroine's uniqueness and strong willpower.
Then as the heroine heard the call, she walked into the FBI building (I don’t know if it was), followed by a short long shot, (long shots can enhance the audience’s sense of integration into the environment, often in bars, during wars, for example In scenes such as "Son of Humanity", the directors like to use long shots to make the audience more immersive. Some horror films are even directly presented in the form of video follow-up to increase the sense of immersion. In contrast, the heroine Chris did not show any obvious discomfort. He walked in without hesitation when he saw the elevator full of "male +" uniforms. The same profile highlights the status of the heroine and the disagreement with everyone. Same and unique.
After a brief conversation with the director, the heroine was sent to ask for information from the murderer Hannibal. During the director’s conversation, the director’s words also introduced part of the heroine’s background, such as a double degree in psychology, etc., directly from here The background of the heroine Chris was spoken by others, which added another touch to the plump character.
Following the introduction of the police officer, Chris gradually went deep into the prison where Hannibal was being held. For the camera going down the stairs, the director chose a top-down overhead shot. The chaotic stairs, the guards downstairs, and the sound of footsteps downstairs form a good rhythm. Looking from the top down, it seems like a god’s perspective. , Giving the audience a sense of surveillance and oppression, and at the same time, it seems that the heroine Chris has fallen into a quagmire, going down and getting deeper and deeper, while the audience is watching her from the perspective of God but not acting. In the conversation with the police officers in the prison, we can learn from the side that Hannibal is a cold-blooded and inhuman monster (also a plump character from the mouth of others, but also to increase the tension of the audience and repeatedly pave the way for Hannibal. Just like waiting for dessert to come up, I gradually become nervous), the same in order to increase the atmosphere, the director chose Hongguang here. I don’t know if it’s like this in prisons (I haven’t gone in to see it), but I tend to believe that this is the director’s intention. Arranged, the director seems to use red light before the emotional climax in the eyes of the audience. (As shown in the picture below)
I boldly searched on Baidu, the meaning of red, and made rough notes, and circled a few keywords. From this, I believe that this red light should be intentional by the director, to stimulate the audience’s senses and emotions, to make the audience’s adrenaline soar, and to create a tense atmosphere. Like most mobile phone manufacturers, the number of messages in the upper left corner is colored red. In the same way, I believe that the director also wants to tell the audience. "The excitement is coming! Focus!"
Then a 360-degree subjective shot after the heroine goes deep into the prison. The subjective shot not only gives the audience a better sense of film substitution, but also looks at the world from the heroine’s perspective. At the same time, the 360-degree surround shot allows the surrounding environment and objects. Directly into the eyes of the audience, while creating a good atmosphere (really a director who can create an atmosphere-Japanese accent) allows the audience to quickly understand the environment. I found that this is also a rare film where the director allows the audience to understand their surroundings. Environmental shots, if I remember correctly, there are a total of 2 surround shots, and the other is the first time Buffalo Bill's "Lair" debut.
Most of the time in the film, the director tries to make you unfamiliar with the environment around you as much as possible, so as to create a sense of uncertainty and insecurity. Speaking at the camera gives the audience the feeling of being stared at. The close-up not only does not show the audience any scenes around the character, but also magnifies the performance and emotions of the actors (the actors in this play are indeed great!) and enhance the emotional expression. People often look directly at the eyebrows to communicate comfortably and respectfully when they are talking. In the film, it seems that the eyes are looked directly at many times, creating discomfort for the audience.
Different from the normal two-person dialogue, such as the two-person dialogue (also used in the film) in the over-the-shoulder shot, the first-person dialogue is used here. It can also be said that it is a subjective two-person dialogue. It can be found that the director is really very good. I like to use the "subjective lens", even if I enter the prison through the dark corridor (the setting here is also unique, a lone chair, dim light shines on the damp ground, and the corridor looks extremely narrow under the telephoto lens). The subjective lens of, the sense of substitution is very strong, unfortunately, you can find that the corridor is only lit up at the chair in front of Hannibal’s cell, and a little detail adds the finishing touch to the atmosphere.
The heroine Chris confronted Hannibal repeatedly. (Here is also to praise the acting skills of Judy Foster and Hopkins. This confrontation is really never to be tired of. The subtle changes in expressions depict the struggle in the heart. And competition), in the end, the confident heroine Chris was easily stripped of her heart during the conversation facing Hannibal, and her defense was breached little by little. Finally, the next cell was mentally ill and threw JY onto her face. It became the last straw that crushed the camel, completely letting the tough Chris lose control.
At the same time, I also think that maybe it’s over-analysis here. Hannibal’s face has a side light, which makes the face appear black and bright. Maybe it’s a coincidence, maybe it’s another finishing touch of the director, telling the audience through the light, Han Only half of Nibal is bright, that is, only half of what is said is true, true or false.
The flattered agent Chris obviously did not expect this to happen. He stood at the prison door for a long time and couldn't calm down. Here was a close-up shot. Agent Chris' face was stiff and his eyes were red. Such a strong agent showed this. The face of Hannibal highlighted Hannibal's horror. A profile description is also used here. You can see the prisoner in the background yelling and being supported and sent to the cell. However, Agent Chris' eyes are dull, and his mind seems to be constantly wandering about the scene just now. The performance is not enough. It is also necessary to deepen the depth of Agent Chris’ emotions from the side of her inaction towards the prisoners behind her.
In the following paragraph, a fragment of the childhood of Agent Chris, a close-up of the hug of Chris and the police father after childhood, and the shot of the girl Chris running at the police academy. There is also a lens specially designed to let the group of boys passing by to look back at Chris. Actually, I don’t really understand what it can reflect. As a gentleman, I also know that this is a bit disrespectful and uncomfortable. Behavior, but I don’t quite understand what the protagonist wants to do from here, or explain her character. After all, I am a male. Maybe a female friend can better explain the impact of being stared at by a guy like this. There are similar lenses behind the same.
After a quick recollection, the camera returned to the heroine. The heroine learned from the phone that JY was thrown on her face in the prison to humiliate her mental illness. After a brief communication with Hannibal, she bit her tongue and committed suicide. Then a close-up heroine Chris showed a frightened expression. (The picture below is just a simple close-up, but I just like the actor's interpretation very much. After learning this news, the expression of horror is not pretentious or exaggerated)
Then Chris went to interrogate Hannibal again. During this interrogation process, instead of using the usual close-up dialogue between the two, he gave a close-up shot (maybe because of the audience’s aesthetic fatigue, or this The language of the lens shows that the heroine Chris is not as nervous and immature as when he first came here) It can be seen here that the heroine is already sitting on the ground, which obviously shows a very relaxed state, Hannibal Although he hesitated for a second, he picked up the towel handed over. (It should be a chair on the left side of the lens, if it is, then it’s sitting on the ground) In this lens, we can also find the missionary’s TV behind him. In the black-and-white and dark-colored picture, he appears to be particularly prominent and even uncoordinated. Although we later learned that this TV was set up by the prison to punish Hannibal, but from a single screen, a little conflicting color was added to the almost uniform tone of the screen, which caused the screen to appear incomplete and disharmonious. To make the audience feel uncomfortable and insecure (perhaps because of obsessive-compulsive disorder?), I believe the director also deliberately arranged this set. (Friends who are interested can try to look at this picture without focusing, so that you can better feel the incongruity brought by the upper right corner)
To over-analyze a little bit, the conversation with Hannibal was dim at first, but even the dim one can still see the light on Hannibal's face. It's still black and white. The left-most part of the lens is completely black, and it may be similar, showing Hannibal's true and false, the real and the real, the dark and the light.
Immediately after the conversation, the lights suddenly lit up. I don’t really understand why the mirror image on the left reflects the preacher’s arrangement. Maybe it’s a simple coincidence, but maybe it’s also for the immediate "special two-person dialogue." "The most foreshadowing (at the same time I feel like the picture in this frame, the perspective structure is patchy). What we can also see is that Hannibal's face has a top light, and the face has formed a few large shadows. It's like a skeleton devil. It shouldn’t be that I over-analyzed the villain’s face with overhead light often used in movies to form facial shadows, making him look like a devil from the shadow of the light.
The following shot has no substantive meaning (I can’t explain it), but I just think the left side of the screen is so cute haha
Immediately after the confrontation became tense, Hannibal stood up to be wary of Chris. You can see the lens in the picture below. This top-lighting effect is even higher. Hannibal's facial features become full of shadows, and he can't even see his eyes. From a distance, he looks like a devil. This is also a good director who can create atmosphere and characters by simply lighting.
Then the scene turns to a woman driving and singing. As the light behind her gets closer, it indicates that the danger is getting closer. This is the difference between a good director and a rookie director. Maybe he can directly give a mid-range or long-range shot, and directly capture the car behind the woman, but here a shot contains the relationship and explains everything, as follows The back of the picture increases from small to large, and from blurry to clear. Ingeniously tell the audience, "This girl is now in a group of HIGH, and it will be cold later."
Then the camera turned, and the woman parked the car skillfully into the parking space. This scene was explained by the subjective shot of Buffalo Bill. At the same time, night vision goggles are still used here. There is actually no need for night vision goggles here, but here is also a pavement for the competition in the room at the end of the movie, otherwise the night vision goggles at the end will look a little abrupt and sudden, otherwise it will give the audience a surprise, like " Oh, my God. Yes, he still has this."
Then the audience saw how this woman was tricked into getting into the car by Bill Buffalo, who pretended to be a disabled person carrying a sofa. There is another shot here. I don’t know why I like this shot very much, but I can’t say why, and I don’t know what he is particular about. If you have insights, you can tell me in the comment section. The effective information I can see in the screen may be that this woman has a cat. After watching it a few times, I cleverly discovered that all the victims in the film have cats. Maybe it's a coincidence? The director is a cat control? Maybe it has some other meaning? Or another fetish of Buffalo Bill? Or is it because Buffalo Bill is a dog lover, so he is at odds with a cat lover?
Then the screen shifted to the police academy, where Agent Chris was trained. The attentive audience must be able to see that except for Agent Chris, all men hold the pads while the women punch. And Chris is the only one who plays a male role among many people, which can also reflect the unique strong personality of the protagonist Chris, and the protagonist's status. This role is also getting fuller.
Later, in a close-up shot, the police officer and Agent Chris were walking and talking about Buffalo Bill. Here, the "woman in the water for a week" is the woman singing in the car in front. At the same time, we can see that Agent Chris Faced with the prisoners arrested by police cars in the background, he remained unmoved and undistracted. It is also similar to the previous prison section, which shows from the side that Agent Chris's heart is gradually becoming stronger, and his attention is focused on this case.
The screen then shifted to Agent Chris and a group of police officers to attend the funeral of the woman, also doing an autopsy for her. Seeing the coffin, Chris was a little bit divine, and learned from the previous words that Chris lost his father in his childhood. This scene obviously also evoked Chris' memories of the police father's funeral. In a very beautiful clip, Chris gradually walked towards the coffin, and then a subjective shot looking out from the coffin. The girl Chris appeared in the shot.
After that, the police began to examine the dead women. After the police applied sesame oil in front of the nose (I don’t know what it was, I only knew that he was to remove the smell), a police officer opened the bag containing the dead body. Directly give a shot of the corpse, but the corpse’s nausea is reflected by the hideous expressions of mostly police officers. There is also a clever shot here. The policewoman printed with ink does not directly take the face of the camera, but is reflected by a mirror. Express her expression.
Then Agent Chris began to analyze her, and here was a close-up of her hand with two missing nails, which also paved the way for the second victim behind the film to scream and scream when she saw the nails on the wall.
Then there is a 360-degree surround shot showing the Buffalo Bill’s Lair, which has been mentioned above, so I won’t say more here.
As soon as the screen turned, Agent Chris went to the prison again to confront Hannibal. From this conversation, we learned that Agent Chris’ nightmare of the same year, a nightmare caused by a lamb, is also the first time that the film echoes the title Silent Lamb. I cleverly discovered two places in this conversation. The first is the problem of horizontal lines. Often when setting up a two-person dialogue or a multi-person dialogue, no matter the height is different, the horizontal line of sight will be tried to be consistent, so that the audience not only sees comfortably, but also visually feels that two people are talking. It can be seen that the level of dialogue between the two female agents in the picture below is basically the same, so that the audience will feel reasonable and comfortable when watching them, while the baseline in the conversation between Agent Chris and Hannibal is different. I have made two assumptions here. The first is that the director may want to reflect that Hannibal has always been in a superior position in his heart, that is, higher. The second is that the director wants to form a visual conflict. The audience will often look at the eyes of the character. The contrast between the top and bottom will form a visual gap, which will make the audience's attention go up and down, physically and mentally at the same time subconsciously. The oppression of the audience makes the confrontation between Hannibal and Agent Chris always make the audience feel depressed.
Then came the shots I mentioned above to pave the way for a special two-person dialogue. It can be seen that this director is really proficient in simple two-person dialogue, and even a little dazzling. In addition to the two-person dialogue styles such as the over-the-shoulder shot and the close-up shot, the director used another special method to achieve the two-person dialogue, achieving the effect of a two-person dialogue. (It also saves a lot of things when shooting.) It is also the above. I think the missionary reflex lens is a reasonable pavement for this lens. I think the effect of this kind of lens is not only to allow us to pay attention to the expression of Agent Chris, but Hannibal who is looming next to him is like a ghost and nightmare. It is not just a conversation in front of Agent Chris, but more It was already going to be carved into her mind.
In the subsequent plot, we learned that the female victim "kidnapped" by Buffalo Bill was the daughter of a government official. It was because of this that the official mother wanted to get information from Hannibal personally. It was not an interrogation but a deal. Use Hannibal's personal rights to exchange information. Hannibal was also condemned, and finally completed the transaction with a few simple lies. Only the keen agent Chris noticed the strangeness. At the same time, he gave a close-up of a golden pen before the conversation, and then when the police officer used the pen before the conversation started, he found that his pen was missing. I think it's impossible for the director to simply design a plot for a police officer to drop this pen, and that would be of little significance. I tend to think that Hannibal cleverly followed this pen, and Hannibal used a simple touch to move Chris's hand along. The clever thing is that the pen here is also golden, so I think My speculation is reasonable
After that, Agent Chris spontaneously single-handedly interrogated Hannibal after seeing through Hannibal’s lie. During the conversation, he always showed a close-up shot of Hannibal, and this close-up was also different from the previous one. close up. The close-up here almost takes up the entire screen with the face and even cuts off the forehead directly. The uncoordinated picture makes it seem that only Hannibal’s eyes are left on the screen, with a strong sense of pressure and discomfort, just like Hannibal. Looking directly at the deepest part of the audience's heart is the same. Director Jonathan really likes to use subjective lenses to enhance expressiveness.
Then the police came and took away Agent Chris. A bird's-eye view from the roof. I think the barbed wire in the lens should not be a coincidence. It should have some meaning or a visual effect. My skills are limited and I haven't seen it. There is a camera next to it or a light for the light. If it is a camera, it may be a help haha, but I don’t think Jonathan will make this kind of mistake. I prefer him to pave the way for the following. As mentioned above, there are very few films that make you familiar with the environment. Here I will show you that this is an art gallery and also provide a reasonable explanation for the plot later, which will be discussed below.
Then the camera scanned the painting on the table. What's interesting is that the content in this painting happened to be Agent Chris holding a lamb.
Hannibal sat dignified behind a thin curtain of gauze. (The shadow of Hannibal's face here is like a skull.) The translucent gauze curtain seemed to be wrapped around Hannibal, like his disguise, as if he was planning something.
Two police officers came to deliver food and cursed Hannibal and ordered a plate of raw lamb like a monster. Hannibal stood up and greeted the two police officers with a smile and politely, the camera pulled down and gave him his hand. Here is also the meaning of the close-up shots when handing over the documents above.
Then we saw Hannibal easily unfasten the handcuffs with this little handcuff, and handcuffed a policeman who had entered the cell to put him food on the iron fence with his backhands, and then rushed to another policeman. Here is another subjective shot of a policeman, as if Hannibal rushed towards him (the shot was taken hahahaha). Hannibal bit his face. After the policeman fell to the ground, he picked up the pepper on the ground. The spray blasted to his face violently.
This scene is a bit like the bathroom footage of Hitchcock's "Terror", almost never showed a murder scene, but the audience knows that the two policemen are dead. Then slowly extended from the plate to the ground, a floor-mounted camera followed by a bird's-eye view camera, wow, this set is really praiseworthy. Messy and quite rhythmic (just like my messy room haha)
Then the police hurriedly arrived and found that Hannibal's trace in the dim room had disappeared. The police hurriedly looked around until their sight gradually rose, and they were terrified. An angel-like police colleague who was tragically killed by caesarean section. It is hung in the air like a work of art (Hannibal is really an exquisite pig boy, he must be beautiful when he kills.) Many people here feel that the design is abrupt. Where did you get such a light? I think it’s here. The source of the light is the thing like a camera head lamp I circled above, and the location is the same. The same may be asked why there is this kind of light here. Isn’t it also a help? What I understand is the above. As I have arrived, a shot you overlooked in the film showed that this is an art gallery. I think the art gallery has some kind of lighting that should be quite normal. So director Jonathan explains two things in one shot, he is really smart and sophisticated.
When the camera turned, it was shown to Chris and her colleagues. The lighting here is very clever. When the design agent Chris learned about Hannibal’s escape, he used only one light source. The overall picture was dark, and when they talked to Buffalo Bill later, they returned to normal light. The director seemed to deliberately build momentum for "learning that Hannibal had fled."
At the same time, Hannibal’s escape here also created two tension points for the film "Capture the Buffalo Bill" and "Where is Hannibal?"
According to Jon Burstin’s book, there is a consensus among screenwriters, producers and directors that in order to create a tense passage, there must be more than one suspenseful element. In "Blue Fireworks" (1969), the chief of NASA was incredibly notified that he wanted to launch a completely untested rocket. It was not enough. He had to launch the rocket under the nose of the hurricane. . In "Alien 2", the team members just realized they were surrounded by greedy monsters when they discovered that they were still sitting on an atomic reactor that was undergoing a thermonuclear reaction. (In both examples, the second element plays the role of a ticking clock)
In the second half of the film, there are similar plots. For example, the police are about to "break into Buffalo Bill's house", and the two things happened almost simultaneously with the female victim who had just tricked the Buffalo Bill's dog into the well and the confrontation with Buffalo Bill. Two tension points are created so that the audience can have the best experience when the climax scene comes.
It's not very relevant, when Buffalo Bill puts on makeup in front of the mirror. What does the pattern on the hand mean? ?
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Dwyane Wade’s Li Ning personal LOGO??? Is the Buffalo Bill still a fan? Ha ha? But Wade was not drafted in 1991 (the 2003 draft). Didn't Li Ning steal the Buffalo Bill idea? Hahahahahaha.
So the climax of the feature film comes, and there is a beautiful editing here, and the editing is also one of the most praised places in this film. Here is a clip that looks like a cross montage, but is actually a parallel montage. The director cleverly deceives the audience's eyes when the audience's nerves are the most tense and the most tense.
The fraud montage and the cross montage began. Every time the black police officer pressed the doorbell, the corresponding horror doorbell at the door of Hannibal's house. It was repeated three times, and there was a scene of Hannibal wearing clothes to the door (to fool you)
Then the truth came to light, and the audience was dumbfounded. It was Agent Chris who opened the door, and the FBI broke through the door and found nothing. This ingenious editing is really a full interpretation of the charm of montage, which is really full of praise.
Then the camera is on the head of the police officer who realizes what happened and realizes that Agent Chris is in danger, and gradually zooms in (this is very simple not to mention, zoom in and highlight the subject, increase the emotion)
Then Agent Chris saw Buffalo Bill himself, went deep into the room and step by step to determine that he was Buffalo Bill himself. Here I carefully found that even if there were butterfly signs on the wall, it was not for Agent Chris to really confirm him. It is the place where Bill Buffalo, a subjective lens photographed a moth staying on the needle thread. Chris’ previous reasoning has already convinced that Bill Buffalo is a good needlework and raises these moths that can only survive in Asia. This is what fuse.
A pull-down lens (the purpose of following the movement of the character is to emphasize the action itself) was given to Chris who was about to draw a gun, and another shot was immediately given. There was another gun on the table in the room behind Buffalo Bill. The two simple shots heralded the imminent war. This is also the charm of lens language.
Then Agent Chris drew his gun! Buffalo Bill ran away quickly! Here is a medium shot. Actually, I don't think there is any other meaning, just to explain the structure of the room, but what I want to praise is that the door of the middle room is still open. Only I think if I look at that room carefully, is that room particularly weird. A window emitting yellow apocalyptic light, a solitary desk lamp. Anyway, I think it’s the finishing touch to create this climax scene
The subjective lens of Agent Chris’s perspective is substituted (I will not say what the subjective lens is for, which has been mentioned repeatedly before). Chris trembled with the gun in his hand and followed the direction of Buffalo Bill into the basement, afraid of resolutely. As I explored the dark corridor, only a burst of light came in. She kept yelling Buffalo Bill, and believed that if it were the slightly immature agent Chris at the beginning of the film, she would definitely not be able to come down so bravely and determinedly. She could quickly call the police for the police to surround him, but this climax is the agent. Chris is the pinnacle of growth and transformation in this film. (Of course, the goddess Juni Foster played a great role)
At the end the light turned off, and only darkness remained, and Agent Chris was completely panicked. From Buffalo Bill's perspective, it is a subjective lens that gradually approaches Agent Chris, who doesn't know the danger behind him, and occasionally a few Buffalo Bill's shots are also ingenious, with the same top light, wearing night vision glasses, just like a devil. Even his face melted into the darkness. In the following plot, Agent Chris Extremely kills Buffalo Bill. Then the next act j is at the awards ceremony.
Later, I discovered that the director no longer used the close-up dialogue between the two, maybe the wicked person has been punished, and there is no need to create that kind of atmosphere anymore.
Later, in the close-up of the handshake between Agent Chris and the police officer, Chris lost a bracelet on his hand, and the audience's emotions were instantly pulled back, "Where is Hannibal?!" Then the audience just made the audience aware of Hannibal. The existence of Hannibal was followed by a phone call from Hannibal. Hannibal asked Agent Chris, "have the lambs stopped screaming?"
At the end of the film, a distant shot was gradually zoomed out and frozen. Hannibal adjusted his hat and moved away from the crowd. Start with a telephoto lens and end with a telephoto lens. Many movies will end with a telephoto lens, but there are not many things like this that are not enough.
I am a senior editor and supervisor with a ambition of Nortel. This is my first attempt to analyze the audiovisual language of a film. If there is something immature, immature, or unprofessional, please understand. Most of the film knowledge is self-study, so I am always willing to listen to the opinions and insights of the viewers and supplementary knowledge with an inclusive mind. Thank you for reading and watching.
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