Textual analysis- silence of the lambs

Silence of the Lambs- Representation

Although I haven't seen the feature film of the silence of the lambs so this analysis is based on the extract alone:

The clip starts with a man who due to the costume is represented as a prisoner because of his clothing which is an all blue jump suit. In comparison to the women talking to him through the plastic wall which divides visitors from the people inside prison she is wearing  fairly formal clothing which shows she is of no association to the man but may be a lawyer or something of that kind. He is located in an isolated cell which does not look pleasant, this tells us that he has most likely done something wrong and is not in there for anything good the fact he is isolated also tells us he may have something mentally wrong. The lighting is used to portray the importance of what the man his saying, as he begins speaking he turns his back to the women and we see a close-up of his face in the light as he speaks this creates the feeling that he is saying something of significance and to highlight this it is only his face which has been highlighted by the light.

At one point in the extract the women seems to nervously get up out of the seat this shows she is unsure and possibly scared, another reason maybe that what he's saying has come of shock to her and she is not sure how to react. The mans facial expressions seem to change throughout as at the beginning he begins by smiling whilst speaking he then looks into the light and his becomes emotionless then back to smiling. This creates confusion as no one is really sure how he feels.

The score used as the man is speaking creates tension and allows the viewer to become more hooked on the film. It also makes us think he is saying something important or tense and the music is used to help us understand this. The music doesn't seem to change throughout the extract I feel this is because he is always the one in control and that never changes.

As the man stands up the camera swiftly follows his movement and  he is seen from a low angle this shows that he is beginning to take control of the situation. It allows the viewers to see who is in control as the women stays sitting down. A shot reverse shot which is used in this extract shows us the divide between the two both are mentally on two different levels and this is clear from facial expressions and also movement.