Opening Sequence Analysis – Se7en

Firstly se7en begins with an extreme close up of an object which makes it look quite deformed to what it may be, however the major possibility is that it is a person flicking through a book slowly which may give the impression that this person may be reading it and analysing the text. The dark shadow of the hand also suggests horror as the image is distorted making it quite eerie, perhaps for it to look like a creature, like a black widow, suggesting that this person may be the antagonist as they will be the one to commit crimes or kill someone. There is also low key lighting used to give off the dark atmosphere which may surround this character giving the impression that they may be concentrated in their work or someone else’s which may influence them later in the film. From the blurred background, you are given the impression that it is set indoors as the book is rested on a table, this may also appear to the audience that the person is a recluse and would prefer to be indoors alone rather than outside socialising. In the bottom right corner, it introduces the titles of the companies who made the film happen and created it. The music in which is used, is non-diegetic sound as its simply a score for the opening as the same texture and sound is followed on throughout the opening therefore its also a sound bridge and there is no objects which may appear to be making this sound. The theme of this piece sounds quite surreal and eerie as of the low octaves of percussion being used and how it echoes the slight cymbals give the opening a slight beat to it to with the heavy bass which feels quite unnerving.

Following this, the titles are glitchy and reflect up and down making it seem quite sketchy, as it’s black and white this also gives the impression that it is quite dark, sinister film with the font of the text which resembles quite lunatic handwriting. The two separate fonts may represent the two types of people in the film as the type writing may portray detective side to the story and the scratchy handwriting may be the killers. At this point in the music, there is a sound effect which sounds like thunder, this is non diegetic which has a slight sound perspective to it as its louder than the rest, this maybe to shock the audience and get them prepared for what they are in for from this film. Also this may reflect the atmosphere later on in the film as it stormy weather seems to be quite a horrific setting commonly used in thriller horror movies.

This is followed by a range of close up shots of distorted images of sketches and books. The image of the hands imply that he cuts body apart off his victims, the reason why he may razor his finger tips off (to loose his identity when committing the crimes) or the fact that it’s a biblical text and it may represents god’s hands or Jesus in reason of the atonement and the bible in general. As it may also suggest the lack of identity and what he may want to do to his own hands for him to be secretive about what he is doing and this is why it’s followed by a razor blade as that’s what he will use to this certain body part. The lighting is still low-key lighting with shadows going over the paper, which may suggest movement. The extreme close up of the razor blade is hinting that this will be used shortly but doesn’t give too much away as you may not even recognise it at first, by all the multiple shots, its giving away clues on what the killer does, refers do and believes in but this isn’t un ravelled to the end of the film when the story comes together so for now it seems quite surreal so that the audience will question to where it is as there is no establishing shot and to what he (or she) is doing and why.

This is then followed by an extreme close-up of him razor blading his finger tips of which answers the images where beforehand. This shows us that he will get away with his crimes as the lack of DNA on the crime scenes if they can’t match his finger prints (because he doesn’t have any) this is also low key to follow the setting on and black runs throughout so the images follow each other chronologically for them to fade into one another. The sound is still non diegetic (same throughout) which the occasional minor chords which sound like they are coming from a mixing tape to make a quite surreal soundtrack.

There’s then an image, which flashes, on the screen which looks like a flash, this is of an obese man wit his mouth sewn looking disturbed, this may reflect his murders In the film and is the victims. As he’s obese this may reflect the idea of

the title being seven to be the seven deadliest sins (gluttony). The soundtrack is made by nine-inch nails as they lyrics include theology and god. This is towards the end but backs up the idea of god in the film. This implies that he’s working for god and doing his work or just fulfilling the bibles instructions to get rid f sin in the world so that he may be forgiven. This shows us that he’s mentally unstable and be have been taught in a strict way of religion so he’s using religion to commit murders and killings but in fact he believes he’s doing it for a good cause. The song at this point says along the lines of “closer to God”.

the title is flashed into the opening sequence by darkness at first then with a background, this time the title is overlapped onto a type writer which may suggest he types out what he does and may work a lot. Indulging in writing and books. As of the religious context, it may give you the idea of the bible and what it has to do with the storyline. The close ups are followed to distort images and make you question what the film is actually showing us but these objects are significant to the background.The close ups of the text also suggest this, but you can see the insanity as he has started to re write it and scribble out valuable words so that it becomes in context. He may be trying to work out what it’s trying to say and interpret it. Then he’s writing out his ideas, which he has around it.The images overlap when he’s writing which suggest how much he is writing and that he’s doing two lines at a time.

Not also is he looking at books but the recurring images are flashing to one another of the different things he is doing. He is also developing pictures, you can’t make them out but since you need dark surroundings this also suggest the sinister atmosphere and that this may be linked to what he does and his work. He may photograph what he does to his victims and what he will do to his victims in the future. To finish this you see him putting all this work into an booklet and then a row of them which shows how unstable he is and how repetitive this idea of his is. This is the start to what his work will become.