Danielle Duffy

Opening sequence analysis 1: Se7en

Se7en (1995)Directed by David Fincher

Rated 17+ for violence and strong languageGenres: Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Synopsis: Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his modus operandi.

Plot summary: When retiring police Detective William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) tackles a final case with the aid of newly transferred David Mills (Brad Pitt), they discover a number of elaborate and grizzly murders. They soon realize they are dealing with a serial killer (Kevin Spacey) who is targeting people he thinks represent one of the seven deadly sins. Somerset also befriends Mills' wife, Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow), who is pregnant and afraid to raise her child in the crime-riddled city.

Introduction of genre

Imagery of a strange looking pair of hands is shown. This previews the brutal content of the film’s death scenes as

they are gory and suitable for mature audiences only. Thriller often involves gore and frightening images and so this introduces the theme of murder. The use of shadows

here blocks out the surrounding parts of the image so that we are focused on the disturbing picture. The image is in

the form of a photograph attached in a book which I think relates to the theme of crime, as it looks as though

someone is recording images taken from a crime scene of murder.

An establishing shot reveals that the movie is set in a city.The sound is rather bizarre; a simple beat accompanied by

what sounds like grinding metal and a squeaky marker which could almost be mistaken for screams, making the

viewer feel on edge. It becomes more complex and suspenseful, building up the tension which is reflective of the thriller genre. At the end, there is one line sung: ‘you

get me closer to God’ – a religious reference which is relates to the film as it involves the seven sins which were

devised by God.The cuts are rather jumpy and so some images are only shown for half a second or so to conceal something we

should perhaps not see – the details of the ‘confidential’ crimes.

Introduction of the day

Crossing out of potentially sinful words

Actors names are credited in typical fashion, white text against a plain background. The font

looks hand-written correlating to the clip showing somebody writing things. Simplicity

works best in title sequences. Throughout the sequence the production team’s names are

credited alongside images which relate to the film.

The title jitters and flashes across the screen, in capital letters and a bright white font.

The person seems to be crafting a book recording evidence. We seen them cutting,

writing, sewing, sticking and arranging various images into a book. This could suggest they are

some sort of investigator; documenting the victims of a brutal serial killer, relating to the

film’s narrative.

This opening is very well crafted, reflecting the thriller genre and themes of crime as well as

enticing the viewer to watch on (enigma codes) as we wonder who this person is and why all these people have been murdered. I

especially like the silhouette of the hand writing seen through a page of text which

shows the profuse amount of writing they are doing.

Again this image shows how the person is scrap booking images and information of

people: could they be the victims?

A black marker is shown colouring over the eyes of people; this could represent their

demise – is the killer eliminating them one by one?