Ellie Stephenson

The Silence of the Lambs Film Poster Analysis

Her eyes are red; the initial connotations of this colour are danger, anger, violence, evilness and threat. As a result, we assume that this character is either the villain or she is watching something that has caused her to feel/act this way. The centre image is a close up of a womans face. Her skin is very light and the white lighting emphasises the paleness. This suggests that she is young, innocent and pure. Moreover, we assume that she is the one in danger and we begin to sympathise with her instantly. Her facial expression is blank, meaning that they didnt want to distract from the most significant image - the moth. The person who created this poster opted to use just one image. This, however, is effective because we are immediately drawn to the lone face and we assume that this character is the protagonist of the film. This is effective because we instantly make a connection with this face and the audience will always associate this fact to the film.

The actors names are given an obvious placement on the poster, above the title. The marketing company have done this in order to attract their fans to the film, and as these actors are big names, the firm have instantly gained viewers.

In contrast to the whiteness of her face, the right side of the posters background is black. This suggests that danger shadows her wherever she goes. It could also suggest that she herself has a dark side. By doing this, the poster poses questions to the audience and we are compelled to watch the film and see for ourselves the meaning behind it.

The title of the film is revealed clearly to the audience. Likewise, we understand that this film has been adapted from Thomas Harris 1988 novel. Although the author is not named directly, the poster still appeals to people who have read the book, because they are familiar with the story. The name of the film itself is interesting, the noun lambs, excluding the white background, isnt explored in greater depth in the poster. However, the single word silence has been displayed in a very creative way. The poster has made this word very literal by the use of the moth covering her mouth, meaning that she cannot speak. This could mean that she alone is silenced or it could suggest that women as a gender are silenced in society; as a result, the audiences curiosity is expanded.

Ellie Stephenson

The Moth
An apparent image in the poster is the moth covering her mouth. We are drawn to it immediately and at first glance we assume that it is just there to disable her speech. We can also form our own opinions of a moth as a creature. Evidently, it is a symbol of transformation, as it has turned from a caterpillar into a moth. Yet it is usually classed as a negative being, as it is drawn to a flame, we wonder if the principle character in the poster will be drawn towards disaster in likeness. Nonetheless, when you look closer you see an image that appears to be a skull. There are in fact moths that have this appearance; the Deaths-head Hawkmoth resembles this species with its distinguishable features. However, if you look in even more detail you will see that it is not just markings on the moths body that create the skull -like image. It is made up of seven naked womens bodies, apparently signifying the victims in the film. This image was used from the work of Salvador Dal. He was a draftsman who is recognized for creating shocking and surreal images. The creators of this poster have used this image as a means of symbolizing the victims in the film. The victims of the antagonist of the film, Buffalo Bill, are each found with a moth cocoon in their throats. This is because his dearest ambition is to become a female, so he brutally murderers women and skins them in hope of his own transformation.

Overall, this poster is very effective in capturing the interest of its targeted viewers. It asks us questions and makes us look at it in more depth so we gain more of an understanding of what message it is trying to tell us. I believe that the most important image in the poster is the moth because it is unusual and we do not generally associate this creature with power, but it seemingly has power as it restricts her from speaking. For our thriller poster, we will have to explore a number of ideas in order to get the audience thinking and interested in our video. We will have to explore a lot of creative and imaginative ideas and think about the remaining plot of the film so the poster hints what will happen but not spoil the plot.