The opening sequence of "Seven" uses various camera shots and imagery to set a dark, mysterious, and unsettling tone. Close-ups of hands removing fingerprints and developing photos introduce the main character without revealing his face, creating intrigue. Religious icons and a book are juxtaposed with shots in red to suggest danger and mystery. Intercut titles and a screeching noise build suspense and tension. A picture of a crossed-out child foreshadows the film will involve a shocking child victim and not follow genre conventions.

1. Analysing the opening sequence for
‘Seven’
Dir. David Fincher, 1995

2. The medium close up is used to show that there
is a contrast between two hands and the
differences are separated by a red line.
Maybe there are two sides to the story. The
darkness of the imagery suggests a bleak tone.

3. The extreme close up shows the audience this
character removing his fingerprints. It can be
interpreted as this character wanting to
remove his identity. He comes across as some
one who might be crazy.

4. The book imagery recurs throughout the sequence.
The way that it is juxtaposed with other religious
iconography suggests that it might be the bible or
another religious text. This unusual view of a normal
object creates mystery and suspense. This combines
with the atonal music to develop the atmosphere.

5. The titles flicker and jitter and the font is similar to the
handwriting of our character. The combination of
the fonts with the screeching noise could be
interpreted as screams and the overall effect is
unsettling.

6. The contrast between the red and the black
connotes some danger and it is the red shots
that the shots combined together with the
writing in the book as well as the photo being
developed. We can also see the meticulous
quality of the character. He is well prepared.

7. The fact that Brad Pitt’s name comes up first
suggests he is the main character and that fans of his
would be interested in seeing the film. The same can
be applied to Morgan Freeman. The black
background has links to thriller/horror genre.

8. This enigmatic close up creates mystery as we
can’t tell what the object is and this again
combines with the mysterious sound to create
suspense and reinforces the thriller aspect of
the sequence.

9. The picture of the child with his eyes crossed
out suggest that the child is a possible victim.
He is symbolic of purity and innocence and
this contrasts with the generally gritty tone.
Also, the ida of a child victim is quite shocking
and this also creates intrigue for the audience.

10. This extreme close up shot is foreshadowing
clues for the potential events later in the film.
The words that are erased are relevant to the
plot. This is only apparent to the audience
after they have seen the film.

11. • The victim is in blood which can symbolise death.
• The YOU stands for that anyone could be next.
Seemingly this is a film that will not follow traditional
thriller conventions and there may be a lot of twists
and turns.

12. In summary…
Overall, in this clip there are many close up or
extreme close up shots. We never see the
character’s face which keeps the audience in
suspense. By the fingertip shots, we think the
figure is a bit crazy but we see he knows how to
develop photographs, which is a skill and shows
another side to the character and makes the
audience question his personality. As the colours
are dark and red, it shows the danger and
mystical elements and tells the audience the film
is not going to be light hearted. The use of atonal
and unconventional non-diegetic sound creates
tension and a thriller style atmosphere.