SE7EN

The camera shots are very close up and are of strange, weird and chilling things. The shots make it seem more spooky and mysterious to us as we do not know what any of it is about. Everything the opening scene focuses on had a close up view of them. The shots are also sometimes blurred which creates effect. The movement has a rhythm yet still sets the scene of it being creepy and strange. For example we will see a shot and then it will suddenly be a black screen with one set of credits which will come up and then expand and blur then randomly go to a next strange shot. Even though it happens throughout the opening, it still surprises us because we are so intrigued as to what all these shots are about. Also some shots near the end are the same and last longer than other shots. For example there is a shot with a pen being used to delete or highlight specific words and we then see it again being used to draw a line through a picture of a boy and then the next shot is of the whole face scribbled in the same black ink. This shot alone gives us a sense of worry and makes us feel tense as we have no clue as to what this means and the sound with this shot makes us automatically think that this is strange and creepy.

During the start of the sequence, a birds eye view shot is used to show a picture of two disfigured hands and very quickly fades away by showing another image of sharp objects but a close up on a razor then various shots are used but close ups are used mostly as it gives a closer look of objects and action. For example, an extreme close up is used when a razor is being used to slice the skin of the finger. This image is disturbing, fitting into the genre of thriller.

Another extreme close up is used as a marker marks out words in a book in black making the scene mysterious adding to the iconographies of thriller. In the opening sequence, there are many a cut throughout which has a mixture of being very short and blunt or long and strange. The cuts set the scene as being suspicious. The cuts get longer and longer throughout the opening to try and tell the story a little bit better and create more suspense. For example right at the beginning of the opening the cuts are short and blunt and have no meaning compared to the cuts at the end. The cuts at the end are longer and are shots of someone doing specific things such as writing, cutting pieces of paper etc.

Several cuts are done as a whole full scene isn’t seen, but it appears almost as a continuous shot as the actions are every similar such as cutting, flicking through picture, highlighting and writing, this therefore helps the audience have a clue about what is going on. In between various shots shown on the screen, names of the actors, producers and directors are shown in black, however the text doesn’t stand still, it is constantly moving, almost like a light bulb with inconsistent energy to produce the light.
The significance of showing the actors name is to catch the audiences’ attention because majority of the actors are famous and well known such as Brad Pitt. The black background, inconsistent light and disturbing images shows that the film is full of mysteries, for example, the opening of a book filled with information as the character highlights and takes notes suggesting that it is thriller.

The sound is non diegetic, however creaking, splashing, and whooshing sounds are heard making the object shown on the screen even more disturbing. The music is slow and steady as matches the action on screen, but towards the end of the sequence, the music paces up as it reaches a climax but at the end, the audience can hear ‘we’re getting closer to God’ in the lyrics suggesting death, and ends with a black screen with the inconsistent light, again adding to the iconographies of thriller/horror. The narrative technique used in this thriller is appropriate as it teases the audience by not showing the character, the story line, or location, however, different shots of actions done by the mysterious character (as the audience do not know if it is a female or a male or even someone they know) gives a clue that the film is going to be about answered questions as this character is busy gathering information and doing research as the pictures convey this. The lighting in se7en is dark and it is hard for us to see everything that is being shown. This lighting gives us the effect of it being more scary and mysterious. We also only see one character and that character is also mysterious to us too. Also, because the setting is surrounded in violence it makes it more scary and eerie for us because we cannot identify the character doing all of these weird, strange things.