Se7en Opening Sequence
Seven (styled as SE7EN) is a 1995 American Neo-Noir Thriller film Written by Andrew Kevin Walker and directed by David Fincher Starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kevin Spacey. The Film is about Homicide detectives David Mills (Pitt) and William Somerset (Freeman) who become involved in the case of a sadistic serial killer (Spacey) whose murders correspond to the seven deadly sins: gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, pride, lust and envy.
The opening titles in this film includes clues showing what is going to happen later on in the film. The opening sequence uses enigma codes. The clues are all connected to each other and connected to the narrative of the film, this enables the viewer to start questioning what will happen further on in the film.
The mise-en-scene: the first prop shown in is a sharp object which is being used by the person in the opening sequence who is seen scraping his fingertips with the sharp object. A book and a pen is then seen next which is being used by the character in the opening sequence. The next visible prop is a book and a pen. These props could symbolise the information that the character knows and information that the audience does not know.
The audience has a rough idea of what the film consists of without giving too much away. The way this is created is by the director deliberately concealing the actors identity in the opening sequence in order to urge the audience to ask questions. Also, by using close-up shots to focus on specific details that have significance to the film such as pictures, scissors cutting film, pens writing on paper and book pages. This makes the audience want to see more and continue watching the film.
The music used in this sequence is used for a dramatic effect. The music starts off quietly and slowly with an underlying consistent beat all the way through. The music then starts to build up gradually - building up tension. An ascending pitch can also be heard. The music sounds very and clashed and confusing which could mirror the characters' personality. Also, the music creates tension at the beginning of the film to show that something negative is happening and to hook to audience immediately.
This sequence uses a lot of editing, mostly jump-cuts. Similar to the music, the use of jump-cuts is used for a dramatic effect. Jump-cuts may have been used to show that the character is a very dangerous character who has swift movements and motives. Also, this sequence is filmed in black and white with an occasional use of sepia. This could highlight the darkness of the character in the opening sequence and the un-emotional tone of the narrative. Occasional flashes of red are also seen in this sequence which could imply that something or greater darkness and evilness could happen further on in the film, due to the fact that the colour red is often associated with death, violence and danger. This again, leaves the audience with unanswered questions and leaves them with the urgency to have their questions answered by continuing on with the film.
The Typography of the credits in the opening sequence are written in messy handwriting style which links to the shots of the pen writing on paper. This use of typography could be highlighting the type of person the character is: messy and unorganised. The positioning of the credits links to the typography as it reflects messiness and poor organisation skills of the character in the sequence as the credits are all over the place (from far right to bottom of the screen). The credits use fast flashing and often changes position, sometimes back to front font. This creates a feeling of uneasiness in the audience because it makes it hard for them to focus on the credits and the sequence at the same time because a lot is going on in the sequence.