Se7en - Opening scene analysis

Se7en- opening scene analysis
Titles (as seen on screen) 

Cast- Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Richard Roundtree, R. Lee Ermey, John C. McGinley, Julie Araskog, Mark Boone Junior, John Cassini, Reginald E. Cathey, Peter Crombie, Hawthorne Jones, Michael Moussee, Leland Orser, Richard Partnow, Richard Schiff, Pamala Tyson

Casting by- Billy Hopkins, Suzanne Smith, Kerry Borden

Music by- Howard Shore

Costume designer- Michael Kaplan

Editor- Richard Francis-Bruce

Production designer- Arthur Max

Director of photography- Darius Khondji

Co-producers- Stephen Brown, Nana Greenwald, Sanford Panitch

Co-executive producers- Lynn Harris, Richard Saperstein 

Executive producers- Gianni Nunnari, Dan Kolsurd, Anne Kapelsun 

Written by- Andrew Kevin Walker

Producers- Arnold Kopelson, Phyllis Carlyle

Director- David Fincher

Titles
The opening credits are very strange and disorientated, adding atmosphere to the film. The titles flash up and random times, with no particular time structure linked to their appearance.  They're typed in white writing usually on a solid black background, although they then continue to appear on screen while the action is taking place in the background. Due to the fact that they flash and move around on screen this leaves us feeling uneasy as we aren't certain of what's going on. Nothing is staying in one place which suggests to us the fast paced nature of the film and prepares us for whats to come .

Camera

The most common and repeated shots in this extract are close ups or extreme close up shots which is a very typical attribute of a thriller and helps the audience to establish the genre. These close up shots are mainly of objects and the only part of a character we get to see are their fingers. This is effective because it shows the objects in the extract play an important role in the film and we will then look out for them later in the film to see if any of them reappear and we may find out their significance. This focus on inanimate objects also leaves us feeling uneasy and builds tension as we are put in an unfamiliar situation of not knowing who is interacting with the objects and so we don't know whether they are a trustworthy character or not. 

Sound
The main sound in this clip is the repeated sound of   low pitched drum being hit in a slow and suspense building rhythm. The sound has connotations of tribal sacrifice and doom. Overlapped on top of this are a weird array of unsettling sounds, inserted at random points. Because they don't fit in with the base of the drum it leaves us feeling unsettled as things aren't in their correct place. One of the noises, in particular, is a high pitched scratching sound which mimics the sound of a scream. This is unnerving and makes the audience ask questions about if this is an actual scream, who it is from and why they are screaming, adding suspense and tension to the situation.

Mise En Scene
This clip is dimly lit with mainly mono-chromal shades and shadows present. This has connotations of horror and danger, situations lit in this way usually have something bad happening within them. This puts worry and questions in the audiences mind as they don't know what sort of bad activity is taking place or will take place. The only image of a human we get is the brief picture of somebody's dirty fingers. They are cut and split, some with plasters or grubby bandages on. In one short picture we see them cutting skin off their finger with an uncleanly blade which is not usual behaviour. This makes us feel tense as he/she don't seem to be a normal person therefore we can't empathize with them and this makes us feel on our own. All of the objects shown seem dingy, strange and not what we are used to seeing in a normal situation. This lets us know it is out of the ordinary and adds tension as we learn to find out why.

Editing
The editing used n this clip doesn't follow the usual pattern of editing in a film or any media. The sequence doesn't seem to follow any time line and therefore it isn't continuous and cross-cutting is used to show different things happening. Unlike most opening sequences it gives no real indicator of plot line and so we have to guess what the film is about through the objects and the mood of the film is shown through sound and editing. Very short takes are used with straight cut shots as transitions and this is effective as nothing is on screen long enough for you to make proper sense of. By doing this they add tension and leave the audience on the edge of their seat.

Clip used-