SE7ENOpening Credits Analysis!

IT IS ABOUT…• The trail of a serial killer whose murders each relate to one of the Seven

Deadly Sins. Brad Pitt stars as Detective David Mills who, with his seasoned partner Detective William Somerset (Morgan Freeman), investigates a sociopath nicknamed 'John Doe'. Their suspect is leaving a trail of bodies in his wake - but as the two detectives build a picture of John Doe's motivations they realise that his killings form a sermon which is aimed directly at them.

SOUND…• The sound used in this clip, is mostly non-diegetic but some sounds are made to

sound natural. For example, sometimes in the clip, a very high pitched noise occurs which tricks the viewer into thinking it's someone screaming, which connotes danger and someone desperate for help. The background music is heavy-sounding and is quite fast, this is typical of a thriller movie as it creates suspense.

• Its preferred reading is a disturbing and unsettling piece to watch. The music has a very scratchy feel to it almost like the stereotypical fingernails on a blackboard, it is unbearable to listen to and puts the audience in a very uncomfortable position. Right at the start of the clip there is sounds of thunder which is typical of a conventional horror genre as thunder is seen as loud and frightening to some. The non diegetic music adds to the disorientation of the images being shown. The music has also been chosen to create even more tension than what is already being shown. Towards the end of the scene the music and tempo begins to get louder suggesting that something important maybe coming up preparing the audiences attention.

CAMERA WORK…• The opening of Se7en is a mix of close ups and birds eye view shots of

different objects on what appears to be a desk. Although this may not seem effective it is. This keeps everything simple and there is no need for characters or dialogue yet. This makes the audience concentrate solely on the objects being shown, which connote disturbance and extreme torment. For example, a birds eye view shot is shown of a picture of a boys head with a metal object impaled into it, this signifies the twisted nature of the psychopathy and indicates more of this will happen during the film.

EDITING…• The opening sequence is laid out in a montage format, with lots of

different clips put together. The editing of these clips is very fast-paced and uses lots of transitions and effects. This is to give the impression of chaos and that his state of mind is disjointed like the imagery shown. It is not in chronological order but this may be suggesting that the person is doing a lot of things to investigate. The transitions vary from straight cut, cross fade and fade to black. The fade to black reflects the darkness of the film overall, the fading gives the effect that the clips are all linked together and it also creates an eerie feel. Towards the end the sequence starts to get faster along with the music which creates tension.

TITLES…• The titles in the opening are very interesting and unique to the nature of

the film. These titles are even made out to be more sadistic than usual or what would go into a particular horror film. For example, the way they present who produced the film, "Arnold Kopelson" is made out to be scary and twisted. For a split second the words are the wrong way round. This is symbolic to the film as this film is no ordinary thriller/horror film, a lot of it though has been put into making it warped and messing about with the audiences heads. All the text that appears on screen has its own specialized font; its not straight and slants slightly like poor handwriting, this maybe represents the mentality of the physcopath in the film; that he is not thinking straight and isn't normal.

MISE-EN-SCENE…• The Mise-En-Scene puts across very significant ideas in this title

sequence, like what to expect from the film and the overall tone it puts across, which is ominous. The lighting in this extract is very low-key adding to the threatening tone throughout; and there are shadows which could be perceived as someone moving about, which keeps the reader on the edge of their seat, wondering who or what it is. The colours used are very intense and dramatic; and usually consist of brown, grey and black. The only bright colour to be shown throughout the opening credits is red. This may be to represent blood and ultimately death. You can see some words being highlighted on paper, with a black pen, the black connotes death and evil things.