Group Analysis of the title sequence of Se7en

Camerawork: At the start of the title sequence this a straight angle shot of a plain book and you see pages of the book being slowed turned over, next there is a high angle shot, which the audience can see a pair distorted drawn hands on some paper so there is a clear view of the scene telling the audience that there is something creepy to follow in the film. After this there is a extreme close up at a straight angle shot of fingers and someone slicing the skin off them, this creates uncertainty and mysterious about what the film will unravel. In addition there is a mix of shots shown some include books and paper.Furthermore we shown at a canted angle someone writing with a pen on paper then the shot changes to a close up, straightangle shot of the writing to the camera. Then someone cutting up images and paper is shown from a high angle shot so the audience can see the whole scene so they can try and guess more what the film will in tale. Just under half way through the title sequence a side shot of someone writing again is shown and a shadow of a hand is seen through the paper, it adds to the mystery and suspense of who this person is because we never see any facial features at this point. Throughout the sequence a black background with white text pops up on the screen of which lists cast members and crew at canted angles and in different places at each time it appears.

In addition the same shot from the start of the title sequence is shown which is of the plain pages of a book being turned at a straight angle, this could be hinting to the audience this a common thing this person does. As the title sequence continues there are more shots that appear and fade into each other at a quicker pace we see again see drawings and writing by the person. At 01:38 minutes through the sequence another extreme close is shown but this time of a needle going through a thumb and to the disturbance the audience will already be feeling.

Mise-en-scene: The camera movements and angles in this title sequence are varied but all add to the effect of this film being in the thriller genre and makes the audience feel excited and disturbed.

At the start of the title sequence the first thing you see is a book with the hand turning the pages. The lighting gives a dark gloomy feel to the sequence. Then we move onto the drawing of the deformed hands which is in black and white with a light shining through perhaps a window or a door. We see an injured finger rolling something. We know it’s injured because there is a plaster on the human’s forefinger. The human is using a blade to cut off his finger prints. This suggests that he is quite a sadistic person and that crime may be the story line for this film.

Dirty nails are shown to us to perhaps let us know that he is artistic. We might think this because of the drawing of the hands. At this point of the title sequence there are flashes, and in one of the flashes we see a picture of a deformed baby it looks like, with its nose, lip and eyes distorted. This could give away that he might not be a regular person. After this, we see the person writing in a book perhaps a journal. There is film and paper being cut. Pictures are being stuck down on a piece of paper. A book about pregnancy is altered by the person crossing out words in a black highlight pen. Now the title sequence gets a bit sick as the person crosses out the picture of a boys eye suggesting from the distorted baby’s picture that the person likes to see/do things that are distorted.

A little more than half way through the title sequence we see that he has picture equipment as we see him dip the picture in the liquid. The colour of the background changes from black to red. We see hooks. The book at the beginning is shown repeatedly throughout this title sequence. A needle is shown coming out of the person’s fingernail. We see thread going through a needle. We see a plastic envelope which the person put something in it with tweezers and a scalpel to cut out the text ‘GOD’ from a dollar bill. Throughout this title sequence a sinister feel is created by the props it used for example the different pictures of distorted/injured people and the change in colour. Red connotes danger and blood.

Sound: The title sequence of se7en includes of a lot of distorted noises, most can be made out to be faint voices. The distorted sound suggests danger or perhaps supernatural appearances in the film. As the fingers are shown being cut across the sound of the scrapping is emphasised and is continuous when the shot is finished, the continuous scrapping of the skin creates a sense of discomfort for the audience and may be connoting that there is a never ending stream of death or torture in the film. Cracking noises that could be linked with the distortion of the title sequence are made. ‘Walkie Talkie’ signals are heard, this gives away to the audience that this is a police detective thriller. 

Throughout the whole sequence there is a frequent cranking like noise with a slightly unstable noise, it sounds similar to a squeaky bed but been edited to be more high pitched. The cranking noises may tell the audience that the film is building up to a big finale. The cranking noise is in sync with the pages and the writing which could mean that the person in the title sequence is plotting ideas in this book with the unclear text.

Mysterious but more upbeat is played over the current sounds, this gives the feeling of suspense for the audience. It then slowly develops into a rock music genre which creates a sense of violence towards the film. A rock influenced song may of been used to connote aggression in the film and high amounts of action. The music goes back to distort and the words “You get me closer to God” is said to show that biblical references may be made in the film. The scene then ends with faint breathing which may be a foreshadow to a bad ending to the film. Overall, I believe Kyle Cooper has used all these sounds to make the audience uncomfortable but attached to what's going to happen in the film.