The document analyzes the opening title sequence of the film "Se7en" through a series of 9 shots. [1] The first shot shows someone flipping through a book in extreme close up in dark lighting, creating a mysterious and dangerous tone. [2] The second shot shows the character filing their fingerprints, suggesting they want to hide their identity. [3] Shots three and four show the character obsessively cutting out newspaper clippings and adding annotations, appearing mentally unstable. [4] A drop of blood falls in one of the clippings, foreshadowing a character's death. [5] The shots establish the character is obsessed with an event covered in the news through their extensive notes and cl

1. Se7en – Opening titles analysis
Joe Hindmarch

2. Shot one (opening shot)
This is the opening shot of the ‘Se7en’
film. It consists of someone flicking
through a book in an extreme close up
shot.
The dark lighting suggests that
whoever is looking through the book is
alone and doesn’t want anyone else to
see what he’s doing which creates a
feeling of mysteriousness. The
darkness represents a certain amount
of danger too, with connotations being
evil.
Furthermore, the fact that the
audience do not know what the book
is creates suspicion and an enigma.

3. Shot two
This is the second shot of
significance as another extreme
close up is presented.
It shows the character holding a
razor blaze as he appears to be
grating his finger tips. This backs up
the first initial opening shot because
it suggests that the character is
trying to protect his identity to
remove fingertip-evidence from the
book he is looking through.
This mystery is a typical convention
in psychological thrillers and appeals
to the audience if they are a fan of
the genre.

4. Shot three and four
Shot three shows the character cutting
out pictures from newspapers and
articles and adding them to a blank piece
of paper.
This makes the character seem obsessive
and psychotic. The dark
lighting, again, suggests the character to
be hiding what he is doing and obviously
doesn’t want to be seen.
Shot four illustrates the character to be
cutting several pieces of tape. He then
uses them to stick the pictures down. As
yet, the audience are still yet to see a
shot of the characters face, only close
ups of his hands, adding to the
characters mystery and further creating
the enigma.

5. Shot five
Shot five reveals lots of newspaper clippings
the character has collected which only
increases the audiences’ suspicion that the
character is obsessed with an event that
various newspapers have covered. There are
several annotations around it that the
character has done which portrays the
character to not be mentally stable.
A drop of red liquid, the audience assume to
be blood, falls down from off camera and
lands on one of the articles. This is a very
disturbing image as it is the first sign that
suggests the character could be dangerous.
It sets a tone for what’s to come in the film
and possibly foreshadows a characters death
later on.

6. Shot six and seven
Shot six is a shot that shows the character
to have written pages and pages of
obsessional notes. Odd behaviour being a
typical feature of psychological thrillers.
The various, quick changing of shots
torments the audience with only snippets
of clips. The fast-paced changes of shots
are characteristic of thriller films.
Shot seven shows the character draw a
big line across a young boys eyes with a
marker pen and the following shot shows
him scribble out his whole face. The idea
of a spotlight is proposed here as the only
source of light is on the boy, furthering
the implication of secrecy in the opening
credits.

7. Shot eight
Shot eight shows the character cutting
out the word ‘God.’ The connotations
of God understandably being based
around the whole idea of ethics, faith
and morals.
Taking into account the shots that
preluded this shot, the character is
visibly undertaking immoral activities
and this close up of the anonymous
individual cutting out the word ‘God’
only justifies this theory, producing a
very unnerving enigma for the
audience watching.

8. Shot nine (closing shot)
The final shot is a simple black
background with the text ‘Directed by
David Fincher.’
The font is eerie and sinister. The
contrasting fonts of bold and
handwritten is similarly peculiar and
sinister. And the contrasting of the
black background with the white
coloured text, as well, is unnerving
because there is a suggestion that
something is not quite right.
These initial nine shots generate a
negative enigma and an atmosphere
that make the audience want to find
out more.