Media Work analyzing the film 'Seven'

1. Analysis on Seven
By Danielle McCart

2. Seven starts with a close-up of a book and its
pages being turned. This automatically gives the
audience an idea about the rest of the film, the
idea of a mysterious story as we do not know
what the contents of the book is. Throughout
the opening sequence we get a glimpse of shots
around 4- 5 seconds each, which are giving
similar impression throughout the entire
opening sequence.
The first few shots we see scenes such as paper
drawings. This suggests the photographs may be
in the film which leaves the audience suspicious
of the characters. In the drawings it also leaves
the audience eager to find out the stories
behind the photographs. This links with the
genre of the film which is Psychological thriller
as it is building on going suspense which is one
of the conventions this genre of films.

3. During these beginning scenes the lighting changes from the first
scene. The high key lighting is representing the start of something
new, in this case it is the opening sequence of a film so to the
audience this film will be the start of watching something new. This
contradicts with the idea of the genre of the film as Psychological
thrillers normally have very low key lighting but this is automatically
changed as the lighting becomes low key. This is telling the audience
that the storyline is going to be progressing throughout the entire
opening sequence and into the film. This links with the genre of the
film as it shows that the film will be very mysterious and scary which
are conventions of the genre.

4. Next we move onto another close-up shot of a
person presumably cutting skin off their fingers.
This shot is a very disturbing shot which is
expected from a psychological thriller as it leaves
the audience feeling scared or worried about
what the film is going to be about. By using this
type of scene it shows that the film is going to be
very intense and shows the kinds of things the
audience should expect either when watching the
duration of the open sequence or watching the
entire film. This links in with the genre of the film
as it is made to have a thrilling effect on the
audience which is expected from the genre.
During this scene the lighting remains high key
above the shot but very dark where the action is
taking place. This is very expected from the genre
of the film as although it is not highlighting the
action in the shot, the audience’s attention is
focused on the action.

5. We now move onto yet another close-up scene of
a person writing something down on a piece of
paper. This scene is edited in the way that more
and more writing is written down but the
audience do not see all the writing being written.
This has an effect on the audience as it makes
them question if the person in the shot is writing
all of the letter or somebody else has written part
of the letter. It also has an effect on the audience
as the audience cannot see what is on the letter.
This adds to the mystery of the film as it makes
the audience question if they are going to find out
what happens in the film or is it going to be the
same as the opening sequence, they do not find
out the ending to the film.
The lighting in this particular shot again is very
low key. This could suggest that the mood of the
film is going to be very low but interesting as this
is expected from a Psychological Thriller.

6. The colours throughout this opening sequence are very bland and
unflattering. The colours such as red and black connote death and
danger. This makes the audience feel scared as they will automatically
see the colour red and presume something bad is going to happen. The
colour red has an effect on the opening sequence as the rest of the
colours are very dark which suggests red is the main colour that is
going to be in the rest of the opening sequence and the film a lot. This
could also be suggesting that the only other colour that is going to be in
the film is red. This could telling the audience that there is going to be a
lot of danger involved within the scene. This meets theaudiences
expectation as death and danger are things that are normally linked
with a Psychological Thriller.