Trailer Analysis - The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

                                                            The Silence of the Lambs

This trailer is a full trailer as it is on for around two minutes, it starts off with a clip of a main character rather than the title of the film. It does this by showing a lot of jump cuts. It cuts to the character to different scenes within the film which creates a face passed motion and builds up tension for the audience.  Throughout the trailer, non diegetic music is played, this builds the tension and suspense for the audience and creates more adrenaline which is what the audience for horror films want. There is also added sound effects throughout the trailer to make it more scarier and effective. You can distinguish the roles of the characters within the trailer as they have typical roles in which a horror film already does. There are a variety of shots used within the trailer this makes the trailer more interesting and keeps the attention of the viewer, it can also help to set the pace for the trailer, which in this case is a fast one. A long shot is used to show the location of where the character is and there is also close up shots to show the reaction of the characters. There is a scene where to characters are having a conversation and this is shown by an over the shoulder shot.

The non diegetic music which is added, creates a build up to what is going to happen in the trailer and gives an insight into the main event which will occur in the film. A scene which is in slow motion also occurs to add a dramatic effect to this part of the trailer. With this part, an effect is used to make the scene red and this colour connotes danger, blood and warning, suggesting to the audience that what is on the screen will be significant in the film. To create tension, the build up of music is added and although it reaches a climax in the trailer, it doesn’t reveal the overall plot of the film as this would ruin it and viewers would be less inclined to watch the film as they would know what was going to happen.

The trailer ends with the title of the film and the name of the actors, it is important that the trailer does this as the title wasn’t displayed at the start and by adding it at the end, the audience are more likely to remember the name of the film. With regards to dialogue, there is the voices of the characters from clips within the film and there is also a voice over on the trailer which is setting the scene and explain the film to grab the viewer’s attention. The main setting for the trailer is within a prison and from the shot types used, you can distinguish this. This helps the viewer to identify the genre of the film as being a horror as places like a prisons set the tone for murders and crimes/crime solving. The overall lighting for the trailer is dark and mysterious, creating tension and a atmosphere of not knowing what’s around the corner, which is what makes horror films successful. This film is a physiological horror, it shows the perspective of the murderer how he thinks and how he commits his crimes, showing the audience how this is done.