SE7EN Analysis

We had to analyse a thriller film, and we have chosen to analyse the thriller/crime film 'SE7EN'. We chose to definitely analyse this film because after we watched it we were extremely influenced by it. We thought that the film was incredibly successful because of the narrative and opening. We thought that they had a good effective opening, which made the audience start to guess, question and figure out things straight away. 

The opening of se7en starts with a low angle shot that’s a close up shot of a book that being opened with the credits of the production company ‘New Line Cinema’. With Se7en being produces by ‘New Line Cinema’ we can tell that the film is going to be very good as this company is very successful with past films that have been very popular. The beginning font is very rough and scratchy which ties in with the thriller genre. Also with the font looking distorted and distressed it gives the audience an idea that the film has got something to do with a murder. Then there are many different shots used ranging from extreme close ups which helps us focus on the characters/objects which may become significant during the film to high angle shots which show the victims weakness. Then the movement of the arc shot shows disturbance within the status quo. Then there is a tracking shot of the books and this shows that he has took his time to plan and organise what he is going to do as it is a very long shot.  The montage of shots includes a black and white filter of picture of someone’s hands, which looks like a plan to torture someone.

Moreover jump cuts to add a sense of disorientation along with the fast paced editing between shots heightens the suspense. This is insightful on the viewer as it also makes them feel uneasy and scared. The actors 'Morgan Freeman' and 'Brad Pitt' and directors names are given in the same style and flash on and off screen quickly which shows the audience the film more as they are well known actors. Furthermore the cleaver use of the change from shots to the black screen adds uncertainty which also gives a variety of different film to entice the audience and make it more interesting for them. As the title is shown it is a white scribbled font which is flashed onto the screen, then they use the effect of zooming to bring the title closer to use and to make it look bigger and it now stands out. At the end of the opening sequence of se7en there is a shot of a person, which we assume is a victim, and there is a red filter over the lens which this symbolises hate, violence and death, these are the common themes of a thriller. However it also could connote blood which can show the audience that the killer may be insane and have no emotions at all.

The music has been added in afterwards, you can see this because there is no diegetic sounds within the opening. The non-diegetic music that has been chosen is very distorted with screams as this adds to the suspense to the quiet drum beat in the background and this can add disruption to the rhythm of the drum beat. The non-diegetic music then ends with a backing track saying ‘bring me closer to god’ this represents that people are going to die.

The mise en scene that is used throughout the opening of se7en has made a massive impact on the genre of seven because it uses a variety of many different props and this adds to the crime theme, for instance: the prop of the razor blade used with the close up of the ‘killers’ hand shows that the killer is fearless and that he is very clever and can do anything and may harm others. Also the use of religious symbols and the reference to the seven sins shows the meaning of the film and that the deaths of the victims have a lot more to them than just random people he is choosing to kill, this gives a real twist to the film.