Murderers have such Pretty Eyes

  This article showed the simple techniques Silence of the Lambs used to create one of the most masterfully crafted movies in existence. I figure for this analysis I'll compare the presentation of Silence of the Lambs and the Star Wars prequels. Silence of the Lambs used a close up on Hannibal staring directly into the camera, provoking dominance by domineering over the viewer, making them uncomfortable. Star Wars uses exposition and actions to provoke a dominance, which can be a bit to much at times and only serves to say: that's the bad guy. To create the sense of character fear Star Wars uses the basic body language and facial expression like cowering and wide eyes with a gaping mouth, Silence creates the feeling of a person restraining fear by showing the intimidating maniac staring into your soul in a close up before showing an expression less FBI agent looking slightly off camera with a shot a bit more pulled back. Silence of the Lambs crafts a feeling of true tension in the dead stares of each character, a simple tactic that works flawlessly, Star Wars on the other hand usually depends on the exposition, dialogue, and fighting. However that's not to say Star Wars fails cinematography, in the scenes without corny dialogue emotions can be conveyed perfectly, and the best scene in the prequels (the opera house scene) the dialogue, setting, and presentation were perfect, not boring, not cartoonishly over-the-top, but perfect. I find that better technology is worse for films since the filmmakers never find a need to improvise or experiment. I really hope more modern movies use the more simple tactics in the future, because no movie made me shift in my seat like Silence of the Lambs did, and I fear no one is even trying to anymore.