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Se7en thriller opening analysis
- 1. The opening sequence was shot over two days and took a further five weeks to edit.
Editor's Notes
- First shot is a long shot of actor Morgan Freeman (a detective), it tries to relate with the audience by giving them an outlook of the character. Low key lighting : there’s only a lamp lighting the room, suggesting that its probably late. This shot also portrays that the character is lonely and is like a regular person, reading, relaxing in bed – relating to the audience, as this part of a usual routine. The book also connotes he’s intellectual. No sound, character is reading in silence.
- Low key lighting The close up shot of the detective, placing his glasses on his bedside, signifies his tiredness. The character flicks the clock timer, on. The close up shot of the timer connotes the importance of time and the events it holds. There is a constant diegetic sound of the ticking and the shot of the timer cross cuts to Freeman falling asleep, and back and forth, showing loss of time and a hint of mystery.
- The rest of the clip mainly uses montage editing. The extreme close up of the pages of a book signifies intelligence. The low key lighting and the mysteriously old looking book depicts the uniqueness and how very strange and inexplicable this story is. The montage begins with a non-diegetic soundtrack that sets the intriguing mood and tone, it is jumpy, and has screams and screeches gives the audience that the events are horrific and uneventful. Editing: Faded hand in the back ground, highlighting the oblivious world of this criminal and stating that characters are foreshadowed by this antagonist. It also shows how this criminal/character is psychotic yet intelligent.
- A mid-shot of disfigured hands signifies that this is one of the victims of the criminal. The disturbing image along with the way things are edited during this clip shows the criminals psyche and the electric, type writer non-diegetic sound is used to discomfort the audience and prepare them for the criminals ruthlessness. It also show’s the detective interest in finding this particular criminal.
- An extreme close up of the scaly fingers, cutting the skin with a sharp blade connotes the persons mental instability and how he/she isn’t bothered by self inflicted harm. Low key lighting, editing: quick cut of hands, fast paced montage signifies the abruptness of this person and it’s almost as if it’ s portraying a hidden, mysterious message. The non-diegetic soundtrack continues, creating a chilly, unstable mood for the audience, with high pitched, distorted shrills connoting fear of some sort of violence.
- Deformed pictures signify they’re looking for someone through photos of victims. The fast paced editing gives confusing hints to the audience, drawing them in, even though the idea/ story of the movie is unclear and incomplete.
- The title of the movie, is represented as creepy and portrays the unsteadiness of the film. The colours black and white together connote a pure and simple combination with no life. The director portrays the title in this manner to evoke a sense of enigma and entice the audience. It also tries to prepare the audience for the gritty and uninviting scenes.
- The close up on the writing could suggest intelligence, and could also indicate how strategic this individual is. The editing of the writing connotes the sick mind of the criminal and highlights the idea of deception. The non diegetic sound, continues to creep upon the audience, suggesting them to derive further meaning from the montage of hints.
- The close up of this mysterious unclear picture with a cross suggests he has been terminated by the the criminal. The colour red, here, connotes danger and death, also connecting it with the basic theme of the movie, i.e., death, murder and violence. The non-diegetic sound starts to become more electric as the criminal’s basic purposes are depicted through these shots. The editing signifies uncertainty.
- The close ups on cutting negatives and pictures, show the characters comprehensive plan or study on a particular issue. It also hints that the character is against some form of sexuality and definitely has issues with people in general.
- This particular close up, shows the characters finger band aided , stating he uses his hands a lot. The polaroid shows a girl, who seems to be a former target, or part of what this character is looking into.
- These various shots connote obsession. The photographs link it to the theme, which is a psychological thriller. The 2 ND shot shows evidence, but the fast paced montage implies it to be still a mystery. The blood in the 2 nd picture symbolises death. There is a quick cross cutting used to correlate events with in the montage.
- This shot connotes the intelligence of this psychotic personality with the shadow symbolising, his hidden identity.
- The extreme close up on the character slashing out words suggests he’s hiding that information about pregnant women because he’s against it, and maybe enjoys slashing out words he can’t tolerate. This once again shows his mental instability, also with the editing used to blur the 2 nd picture. In the 2 nd picture he crosses out words like transsexual and heterosexual, signifying, that he may be picking his victims based on various themes like this one. The low key lighting with in these shots symbolises simplicity yet lifelessness. The disturbing non-diegetic soundtrack continues with the electric sounds but there is an addition of a bit of techno, wind like blowing. A dissolve transition is used to connote the darkness foreboding this story.
- Transition has been used in these shots to show how he uses a marker is used to signify his psychopathic mind. The colour black, here denotes danger, violence, but the colour red in the bottom shot, connotes death and the deceased victims.
- This close up of a photograph of a needle piercing someone's head, shows the detectives are still looking through pictures of victims, trying understand the criminals psychopathic works and trying to get to the bottom of this mystery. The various photographs used throughout this clip are used to link it back to genre, i.e., “Psychological Thriller”. The editing used to keep half the face hidden connotes the confidentiality of the victim and mysteriousness.
- This close up of the character stitching his notes back together, signifies paranoia, obsession.
- This extreme close up of the antagonist cutting out the word God suggests he believes himself to be God and connotes his judgment and selectiveness of his victims. This is the biggest hint provided to the audience throughout the clip. The non- diegetic soundtrack’s pace increases giving the unsettling atmosphere a bit more edge,
- The close up on the old, untouched books, connotes the life of the criminal and his intelligence. The books are as mysterious as him, and the detectives are no way close to finding him yet. Through out this quick/ fast paced montage, you rarely ever get to see colour or lighting. This shot is one of the exceptions, probably suggesting that the dark ways of this character our camouflaged with the oblivious real world , and is therefore still anonymous, his identity is still hidden.