Se7en – Opening titles analysis

Joe Hindmarch

Shot one (opening shot)This is the opening shot of the ‘Se7en’ film. It consists of someone flicking through a book in an extreme close up shot.

The dark lighting suggests that whoever is looking through the book is alone and doesn’t want anyone else to see what he’s doing which creates a feeling of mysteriousness. The darkness represents a certain amount of danger too, with connotations being evil.

Furthermore, the fact that the audience do not know what the book is creates suspicion and an enigma.

Shot twoThis is the second shot of significance as another extreme close up is presented.

It shows the character holding a razor blaze as he appears to be grating his finger tips. This backs up the first initial opening shot because it suggests that the character is trying to protect his identity to remove fingertip-evidence from the book he is looking through.

This mystery is a typical convention in psychological thrillers and appeals to the audience if they are a fan of the genre.

Shot three and fourShot three shows the character cutting out pictures from newspapers and articles and adding them to a blank piece of paper.

This makes the character seem obsessive and psychotic. The dark lighting, again, suggests the character to be hiding what he is doing and obviously doesn’t want to be seen.

Shot four illustrates the character to be cutting several pieces of tape. He then uses them to stick the pictures down. As yet, the audience are still yet to see a shot of the characters face, only close ups of his hands, adding to the characters mystery and further creating the enigma.

Shot fiveShot five reveals lots of newspaper clippings the character has collected which only increases the audiences’ suspicion that the character is obsessed with an event that various newspapers have covered. There are several annotations around it that the character has done which portrays the character to not be mentally stable.

A drop of red liquid, the audience assume to be blood, falls down from off camera and lands on one of the articles. This is a very disturbing image as it is the first sign that suggests the character could be dangerous.

It sets a tone for what’s to come in the film and possibly foreshadows a characters death later on.

Shot six and sevenShot six is a shot that shows the character to have written pages and pages of obsessional notes. Odd behaviour being a typical feature of psychological thrillers.

The various, quick changing of shots torments the audience with only snippets of clips. The fast-paced changes of shots are characteristic of thriller films.

Shot seven shows the character draw a big line across a young boys eyes with a marker pen and the following shot shows him scribble out his whole face. The idea of a spotlight is proposed here as the only source of light is on the boy, furthering the implication of secrecy in the opening credits.

Shot eightShot eight shows the character cutting out the word ‘God.’ The connotations of God understandably being based around the whole idea of ethics, faith and morals.

Taking into account the shots that preluded this shot, the character is visibly undertaking immoral activities and this close up of the anonymous individual cutting out the word ‘God’ only justifies this theory, producing a very unnerving enigma for the audience watching.

Shot nine (closing shot)The final shot is a simple black background with the text ‘Directed by David Fincher.’

The font is eerie and sinister. The contrasting fonts of bold and handwritten is similarly peculiar and sinister. And the contrasting of the black background with the white coloured text, as well, is unnerving because there is a suggestion that something is not quite right.

These initial nine shots generate a negative enigma and an atmosphere that make the audience want to find out more.