20 Camera Shot for 6 Seconds of Film
Remarks on cinema of the 90s. Excerpt from the book 'Movies of the 90s', by Jürgen Müller
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Movies of the 90s contain imperceptible images. Shots can be accelerated so that they lie below the perception threshold. An example of such acceleration occurs at the end of Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs (1991, p. 34), in what is perhaps the shortest showdown in cinematic history. The exchange of fire between the FBI agent Clarice Starling and the mass-murderer Buffalo Bill takes no more than six seconds, even though it comprises twenty camera shots. It seems odd to devote only six seconds to the most exciting part of a two-hour film, but Demme allows the climax to implode in the true sense of the word and uses extremely powerful visual images.
The director skilfully and expertly creates the build-up to the showdown: after a tense parallel montage, at the end of which we expect the murderer to be caught, it is not the FBI task force that is standing at his door but Clarice on her own. She doesn't know it, but she has found Buffalo Bill. Before she realises who it is standing in front of her, he is able to take refuge in his cellar, where he is holding his latest victim captive. The murderer switches off the light when the FBI agent follows him into the cellar. While her adversary watches, Clarice gropes uncertainly in the dark. Throughout this scene, the audience sees through Buffalo Bill's eyes, his night-vision device turning everything a ghostly green. During the chase, Clarice's irregular, panic-stricken breathing is all that can be heard. Only when the young agent hears the pistol being cocked behind her is she able to guess the murderer's position. At the speed of light, she spins round and the gunfight begins. In the silence, the cocking of the gun sounds like a thunderclap, as though we are hearing it through Clarice's ears, for in the darkness she has become acutely sensitive to even the tiniest of sounds. When we in turn find ourselves in absolute darkness, we not only hear through the ears of the FBI agent, but also see through her eyes.
The next shot shows the flash from Bill's revolver, which is reflected in the lenses of his night-vision device. The explosion from the gun looks like an abstract painting, and the fight does in fact develop into a symbolic duel. Whereas at first the murderer had the advantage in the darkness, the situation changes when the shooting match begins, as the adversaries dazzle each other when shots are exchanged. The flash from the gunshot allows the camera to show the murderer, who has been hit. This is then followed by a black screen, which lasts longer than the view of the people. Again we see a shot being fired, then another black screen. Now the audience can make out Clarice taking aim, but she is blinded by the shot fired from Bill's pistol.
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Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Movies of the 90s contain imperceptible images. Shots can be accelerated so that they lie below the perception threshold. An example of such acceleration occurs at the end of Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs (1991, p. 34), in what is perhaps the shortest showdown in cinematic history. The exchange of fire between the FBI agent Clarice Starling and the mass-murderer Buffalo Bill takes no more than six seconds, even though it comprises twenty camera shots. It seems odd to devote only six seconds to the most exciting part of a two-hour film, but Demme allows the climax to implode in the true sense of the word and uses extremely powerful visual images.
The director skilfully and expertly creates the build-up to the showdown: after a tense parallel montage, at the end of which we expect the murderer to be caught, it is not the FBI task force that is standing at his door but Clarice on her own. She doesn't know it, but she has found Buffalo Bill. Before she realises who it is standing in front of her, he is able to take refuge in his cellar, where he is holding his latest victim captive. The murderer switches off the light when the FBI agent follows him into the cellar. While her adversary watches, Clarice gropes uncertainly in the dark. Throughout this scene, the audience sees through Buffalo Bill's eyes, his night-vision device turning everything a ghostly green. During the chase, Clarice's irregular, panic-stricken breathing is all that can be heard. Only when the young agent hears the pistol being cocked behind her is she able to guess the murderer's position. At the speed of light, she spins round and the gunfight begins. In the silence, the cocking of the gun sounds like a thunderclap, as though we are hearing it through Clarice's ears, for in the darkness she has become acutely sensitive to even the tiniest of sounds. When we in turn find ourselves in absolute darkness, we not only hear through the ears of the FBI agent, but also see through her eyes.
The next shot shows the flash from Bill's revolver, which is reflected in the lenses of his night-vision device. The explosion from the gun looks like an abstract painting, and the fight does in fact develop into a symbolic duel. Whereas at first the murderer had the advantage in the darkness, the situation changes when the shooting match begins, as the adversaries dazzle each other when shots are exchanged. The flash from the gunshot allows the camera to show the murderer, who has been hit. This is then followed by a black screen, which lasts longer than the view of the people. Again we see a shot being fired, then another black screen. Now the audience can make out Clarice taking aim, but she is blinded by the shot fired from Bill's pistol.
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Stills from 'Silence of the Lambs', USA, 1991