7even textual analysis

Seven is directed by David Fincher and stars Brad Pitt, Morgan freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, John C. Mcginley, R.Lee Ermey and Kevin Spaces. The film was based on a screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker. This film is about two homicide detectives' desperate hunt for a serial killer who justifies his crimes as absolution for the world's ignorance of the Seven Deadly Sins. The movie takes us from the tortured remains of one victim to the next as the sociopathic "John Doe" sermonizes to Detectives Sommerset and Mills -- one sin at a time.

Titles;

In the 7even title sequence the first thing we see is who the film is by (David Fincher) and that it is a Arnold Kopelson production. We next see the two main characters of the films ‘Brad pitt’ and ‘Morgan Freeman’, the fact that these two names are the first names we see shows that the film makers aimed to enhance that two important actors are in the film, I think they also did this to draw more attention to the film because two big actors are in there, more people are going to watch it due to a bigger fan base.

The ‘se7en’ title then appears with other actors such as Gwyneth Paltrow then appear after showing they have less of big part in the film, but due to their film reputation and are seen as ‘big’ actors they’re still one of the first names that appear in the title sequence. I also liked how the titles where used in a handwriting font to give the impression it’s the killer writing them, I think the plain black background with the white background reinforces the names. I liked this at it was simple and gave more of a mysterious edge to the opening which I think would be useful for our final thriller video.

Shots;

I noticed within this title sequence the most common shot type was a close-up. I think the use of the close-up keeps the identity of the killer more of a secret building tension for the audience, the close-ups also enhance how creepy the objects are e.g. sketches of hands and him/her rubbing blades between finger tips.

I also noticed tracking shots are used when the killer is writing in his notepad, focus pulls are also used within the opening scene to enhance specific names or words on certain objects.