Analysis of the film Se7en

1. Thriller opening
sequence
Thunderbolts, Lighting and can be fairly frightening

2. SE7EN
Se7en uses graphic imagery and darkness
in it's opening sequence. This is effective as it
sets a very creepy and violent tone for the rest
of the film.
The music used is also effective at setting the
tone to be disturbing as it is very distorted
and features sounds such as women
screaming.
The titles appear when the sequence either
cuts to black or when there is some darkness
on the screen. This allows them to look natural
in the world of the movie. The font used also
sets the tone as it is messy and looks as
though it is scratches.
These conventions work well for the type of film
that Se7en is as it is a horror type of thriller and
wants to scare the audience rather than leave
them in awe

3. Camerawork
The camerawork in this opening sequence
is effective at establishing the theme of the
film. It does this by showing an unknown
character doing various disturbing acts such
as cutting his skin with a razer blade
and writing in ancient looking books
in handwriting that looks like it has been
scratched into the paper. It leaves us with
no doubt that the genre of this film is thriller
and horror.
Even though we never see the character we
can gather that they are the antagonist of
this story and that the film will eventually
reveal their identity. This adds mystery to
the list of genres that we see in this
sequence.

4. Mise-en-scene
The objects used in the sequence tell us a
lot about the character that we have already
assumed to be the antagonist. We see him
looking at disturbing images of bodies,
lobotomies and children. This tells us
that whoever this is, is a psychopath
and is likely to be a killer.
We also see him do things like cross out the
eyes and eventually face of an image of
a young boy and also place some hairs in
a book next to another picture of what
seems to be the same boy with his hands
up. This could mean that he has remorse
and will maybe turn himself in but it is more
likely that he keeps souvenirs from his
victims so that he can relive the event.

5. Editing
• The editing is quite fast paced
and in the style of a montage.
This is very good for the theme
of a mystery film as it does not
give a lot away as to who or
when or why the things that are
happening are. The editing also
is in time to the music as
whenever there is a loud sound
there is a transition or effect on
the footage.
Sound
• The nondiegetic
music accentuates the
disturbing nature of the
sequence as we hear sounds
such as a woman screaming.
This adds to the theme of
murder and death that this
opening sequence contains.