Film Opening Scenes - Research

Hannibal Opening Credits Deconstruction

Hannibal was a psychological thriller/horror directed and produced by Ridley Scott, adapted from the same novel written by Thomas Harris and had a production budget of $87 million with it being distributed by MGM.

In this film opening, it begins with a voice over from two unknown characters discussing the topic of the main character, Dr. Lecter. This immediately follows the psychological horror conventions of not showing the audience the full picture of what's happening within the scene as the viewer can only listen to what they say and ponder the meaning behind it all. By the tone of the characters that are speaking, they are all highly educated by the way they speak philosophically about psychology, saying how its not a science to him and neither did Lecter also hinting at some secret admiration for him. This creates the feeling of discomfort that psychological horrors are known for since Hannibal Lecter is an iconic character who the audience already know is a cannibal and murder, making them want to quickly move away from the subject of this man but the conversation goes on until the actual footage of the conversation comes into view. Now we see who these people are and what atmosphere they are in. The main premise seems to be one character filling in the other about the time he shared with Lecter as the other is obviously fascinated by the individual, heavily connoting this person is equally twisted as Lecter, again relating back to the conventions of the genre.

All this is focusing on the representation of the characters as, judging by the background, the one on the left is extremely wealthy from the presence of canopy beds, elegant furniture and the apparent butler by his side. But its not until we get a close up of the wealthy character, that we see his heavily disfigured face. This sudden cut to his face comes as a shock to the audience since we didn't expect to see it so suddenly. The atmosphere lulled us into a false sense of security from the charming mansion - style house and classical music that played over the beginning, linking to the conventions as these types of horrors may show one view but then drop on its head from some sudden twist. It also links in with the concept of "body horror" which is one branch of the genre. Body horror deals with the themes of degradation of the human body like disease, decay or mutilation which is the one in this case. This character has clearly suffered horrific mutilation but the audience don't know how and possibly might not want to know but subtle hints are dropped throughout the opening scene from their lengthy discussion on Hannibal. All this connotes some hidden meaning or agenda by the characters since why would someone be so entranced by such a insane individual unless, they did something to them, suggesting to the audience that Lecter is the cause behind his disfigurement. So while it may not seem to fit within the psychological horror genre, it does down to the letter but only much more subtly then most other films like Se7en. In terms of representation for the other character who is retelling his experiences of his time with Lecter, he seems to be more complicated in nature for a few reasons. The first being he talks rather highly of Lecter, always calling him "Dr. Lecter" and his comment of psychology not being a science just like Lecter hints at his own admiration for the character but his willingness to reveal all he knows about him and selling the iconic mask he used to own, connotes a more complex nature compared to the other who, while may be a victim is portrayed as a villain. His actions of siding with this individual seem to put him in the same light but could be shown rather as desperation since the character may need money and is just taking a chance, and on the other hand, he is just handing out simple information about Dr. Lecter so he is more like an impartial or neutral character.