Analysing the opening sequence for ‘Seven’

8/13/2019 Analysing the opening sequence for Seven

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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.


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The extreme close up shows the audience this

character removing his fingerprints. It can be

interpreted as this character wanting toremove his identity. He comes across as some

one who might be crazy.


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The book imagery recurs throughout the sequence.

The way that it is juxtaposed with other religious

iconography suggests that it might be the bible oranother religious text. This unusual view of a normal

object creates mystery and suspense. This combines

with the atonal music to develop the atmosphere.


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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.


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The contrast between the red and the black

connotes some danger and it is the red shots

that the shots combined together with thewriting in the book as well as the photo being

developed. We can also see the meticulous

quality of the character. He is well prepared.


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The fact that Brad Pitts name comes up first

suggests he is the main character and that fans of his

would be interested in seeing the film. The same canbe applied to Morgan Freeman. The black

background has links to thriller/horror genre.


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This enigmatic close up creates mystery as we

cant tell what the object is and this again

combines with the mysterious sound to createsuspense and reinforces the thriller aspect of

the sequence.


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This extreme close up shot is foreshadowing

clues for the potential events later in the film.

The words that are erased are relevant to theplot. This is only apparent to the audience

after they have seen the film.


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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 traditionalthriller conventions and there may be a lot of twists

and turns.


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In summary

Overall, in this clip there are many close up orextreme close up shots. We never see thecharacters face which keeps the audience insuspense. By the fingertip shots, we think thefigure is a bit crazy but we see he knows how to

develop photographs, which is a skill and showsanother side to the character and makes theaudience question his personality. As the coloursare dark and red, it shows the danger and

mystical elements and tells the audience the filmis not going to be light hearted. The use of atonaland unconventional non-diegetic sound createstension and a thriller style atmosphere.

Analysing the opening sequence for ‘Seven’

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