Script Analysis: “The Silence of the Lambs” — Part 2: Plot
Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule:
Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown
Tuesday: Plot
Wednesday: Characters
Thursday: Themes
Friday: Dialogue
Saturday: Takeaways
Today: Plot.
In every scene, something happens. A plot point is a scene or group of scenes in which something major happens, an event that impacts the narrative causing it to turn in a new direction.
A relevant anecdote. Years ago, I was on the phone with a writer discussing a script project. My son Will, who was about four years old at the time, must have been listening to me talking about “plot points” during the conversation because after I hung up, he asked, “Daddy, what’s a plop point?”
That’s in effect what a plot point is. It’s an event that ‘plops’ into the narrative and changes its course. So when you think Plot Point, think Plop Point!
The value of this exercise:
* To identify the backbone of the story structure.
* To examine each major plot point and see how it is effective as an individual event.
* To analyze the major plot points in aggregate to determine why they work together as the central plot.
This week: The 1991 movie The Silence of the Lambs, one of only three movies to win the top 5 Academy Awards: Best Screenplay (Adapted), Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Picture. You may download a PDF of the script here.
IMDb plot summary: A young F.B.I. cadet must confide in an incarcerated and manipulative killer to receive his help on catching another serial killer who skins his victims.
Writing Exercise: Go through the scene-by-scene breakdown of The Silence of the Lambs and identify the major plot points. Post your thoughts in comments and we’ll see if we can come up with a consensus.
Major kudos to Derek Jacobs for doing this week’s scene-by-scene breakdown.
For Part 1, to read the Scene-By-Scene Breakdown, go here.
To download a PDF of the breakdown, go here.
Tomorrow we shift our focus to the script’s key characters.
I am looking for volunteers to read a script and provide a scene-by-scene breakdown for it to be used as part of our weekly series. What do you get? Beyond your name being noted here, my thanks, and some creative juju, hopefully you will learn something about story structure and develop another skill set which is super helpful in learning and practicing the craft.
The latest volunteers:
12 Years a Slave — Georgevine Moss
Beasts of No Nation — Jacob Holmes-Brown
Bridge of Spies — Scott Guinn
Carol — Jillienne Bee
Celeste and Jesse Forever — Ryan Canty
Diary of a Teenage Girl — Cynthia
Ex Machina — Nick Norman-Butler
Frozen — Doc Kane
Gone Girl — Ashley Lara
Inside Out — Katha
Legend — Olivia
Leviathan — Piotr Ryczko
Locke — Megaen Kelly
Macbeth — Trung
Man Up — Kristy Brooks
Monsters University — Liz Correal
Mud — Kevin
Nightcrawler — DJ Summit
Pawn Sacrifice — Michael Waters
Steve Jobs — Angie Soliman
Straight Outta Compton — Timm Higgins
The End of the Tour — Steve Fabian
The Iron Lady — Leslie
The Way Way Back — The Deuce
Trainwreck — Joni Brainerd
Wreck It Ralph — Kenny Crowe
Thanks, all!
To see examples of scene-by-scene breakdowns, go here. Part of the goal is to create a library of breakdowns for writers to have at their disposal for research and learning.
You may see the scripts we can use for the series — free and legal — by going here.
To date, we have analyzed 55 movie scripts, a great resource for screenwriters. To see those analyses, go here.
Thanks to any of you who will rise to the occasion and take on a scene-by-scene breakdown.
And for those of you who have volunteered, please send me your scene-by-scene breakdown as soon as possible!
Circling back to where we started, reading scripts is hugely important. Analyzing them even more so. If you want to work in Hollywood as a writer, you need to develop your critical analytical skills. This is one way to do that.
So seize this opportunity and join in the conversation!
I hope to see you in comments about this week’s script: The Silence of the Lambs.
UPDATE: Here’s a breakdown of major plotline points in the script:
ACT ONE
The Opening (1–6): Crawford offers Clarice an “interesting errand” involving a visit to Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
The Hook (9–16): Clarice’s first meeting with Lecter.
The Lock (26–30 /30–32): After the discovery in the storage unit, Clarice returns to Lecter who offers to provide information about Buffalo Bill as part of a deal. Then the narrative shifts to Buffalo Bill who kidnaps Catherine Martin.
ACT TWO
Deconstruction Test (40–48 / 48–50): At the funeral home, Clarice has her second flashback, seeing her father in a casket, then performs an autopsy and discovers the cocoon in victim’s throat. The narrative shifts to Buffalo Bill who ‘requests’ of Catherine Martin: “It puts the lotion on its skin.” Reveal: Catherine is trapped in a pit
Transition (59–65 / 65–67): Clarice agrees to Lecter’s demand for a quid pro quo agreement, wherein he’ll provide information on Buffalo Bill in exchange for Clarice telling the truth about her personal life. The narrative shifts to Buffalo Bill, a visual overview of his lair and ends with him working on his female skin suit.
Reconstruction Test (86–93 / 93–94): Clarice travels to Memphis to meet for the last time with Lecter and she ‘confesses’ what happened to her on her uncle’s Montana farm when she was eleven. The narrative shifts to Buffalo Bill working in a garment sweatshop.
All Is Lost (95–107): Lecter escapes.
ACT THREE
On The Offensive (117–123): Having traveled to Ohio, Clarice makes a big discovery about Buffalo Bill at the house of his first victim, but Crawford thinks they’ve found the serial killer.
Final Struggle (128–140): Clarice vs. Buffalo Bill.
Denouement (141–144): FBI graduation and a phone call from Lecter.
Several interesting things. First, notice how almost all of the plotline points feature a key event in the Clarice storyline, then a cutaway to Buffalo Bill to check in with what he’s doing. This keeps him squarely in the script reader’s mind, not allowing the character to drift from view.
Second, the scene with Buffalo Bill in the garment shop (93–94) is swapped out in the movie with the character’s weird dance in front of his video camera.
Why this scene? I have a theory on that which I’ll get into when we discuss the story’s characters.
Finally, I didn’t realize there was a fourth proposed flashback:
107–108: In another FLASHBACK, we are on the cold Montana plain. We see a hunched-over Young Clarice in the snow clutching her lamb. Utterly resigned, she rises up and turns back the way she came. We next see her in the headlights of the Sheriff, walking slowly to the car with her lamb. Back at the ranch, as she steps from the car, the rancher abruptly grab the lamb from her, leaving her with an expressionless affect. We follow her POV as she looks into the barn to find her lamb stretched over the killing table. Her gaze moves from the shiny, blood-stained knife to the face of the rancher, which is now Dr. Hannibal Lecter. He flashes a vicious smile.
Such a smart decision not to include this along with the third one — Clarice witnessing the slaughter of the lambs. Better to leave it to the audience’s imagination.
The plot has a clear three act structure with Clarice’s arc following the classic Disunity — Deconstruction — Reconstruction — Unity pattern evident for Protagonists in most Hollywood movies.