Se7en Opening Sequence Textual Analysis

Se7en Opening Sequence Analysis - Oliver Charles

Analyse the opening title sequence of Se7en (1995)
Directed by David Fincher

in regards to the following:

• Camera Framing, Angles, Movement and Position
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise en Scene

Pre-title and Title sequences:

Se7en's outcome caused a shift and development in the 'Thriller' genre and changed its history. It posed as one of the first films to portray the killer as very smart and strategic in his actions whereas films prior to this showed the Antagonist with savagery actions with careless proportions. This further led on to encourage major hit films such as 'Saw' and more in the modern day.

The film starts off with the initial still shot of Morgan Freeman's character 'William Somerset' in his apartment and the director cleverly portrays this protagonists to us with clever imagery and no dialogue, all accommodating a simple sequence of the detective getting ready for work. Firstly addressing the objects in the shot, purely from this we can gather information about the character. The first thing I noticed was a chess board on the table which poses this idea that the character is very strategic and clever with the ability to play a very knowledgeable game. However what struck me the most was the very monotone and sterile colours which can ultimately tell the audience there is no feminine touch (lack of colours)  allowing us to believe this character lives alone and cancels out any idea of family member which is also supported by the lack of stereotypical objects which would normally be seen in a house that bears children e.g. pictures on the fridge. Following this you can also recognize the ambient and diegetic noises of what appears to be distilled neighbors and a busy environment which allows us to assume he lives in an apartment in a busy city.

This is followed up by several shots following this sequence of the character getting ready. The second shot shows us his pen, police badge and comb perfectly laid out and is closely followed up by an image of a very tidy bed, although it is clearly an early time in the morning hence the actions of getting ready for work, this gives the audience the idea that this man is very well structured and almost possesses this idea of OCD ( overly cleaning disorder) which to me showed a very high possibility of a military background and a very methodical nature within the characters. So already without any dialogue taking place we have an initial idea of the nature of 'Detective Somerset'.

It then cuts to the next scene which solidifies the location being a rainy city and the second protagonist is introduced to us in an opposing way with expressive body language and dialogue. Brad Pitt with the character of 'Detective Mills' is brought into contact with the already introduced 'Detective Somerset'. Supported with a reverse tracking movement parallel to their movement with a low angle shot the dialogue evidences clearly  that the characters do not like each other as they aggravate one another which is expanded upon with visual space and body language. The visual space and proximity can express many of meanings and there are many factors to consider. It to me initially expressed career distance with one character almost at retirement and the other new to the job however it could also express racial difference however they both support the dichotomy between the two protagonists.

It finally before the title sequence cuts back to 'Somerset' in his apartment and the sound overcomes the actions of the character as he is trying to be ultimately peaceful being content in a bed reading a book. The terror sounds of the city cancel out any idea of peace in his given environment which leads the character to using a metronome which supposably we can assume helps the character cancel out the city sounds to get him to sleep. As foreseen the metronome overpowers the ambient sound which ends in a crashing storm sound before cutting to the title sequence which led me to believe although he is at peace there is a storm coming, foreshadowing the following content by simply using audio.

The title sequence possesses very graphic and disturbing imagery, actions and audio this intentionally causes hysteria and a disturbance to the viewers. I believe the content foreshadows forthcoming events in a subtle way but it definitely solidifies the sinister intentions of the movie. All of the elements create an uneasiness to the audience ranging from the style of writing too prolonged audio. Firstly the style of writing is what appears to be handwriting which also supports some of the relative imagery which I believe to be the Antagonist's again due to the imagery and actions of the sequence however it never truly reveals the character. 

The sequence involves very graphic imagery such as a close up of supposable fingerprints being cut off which can instantly show to us the intentions of this character possessing twisted thoughts and also strategic methods to cover themselves everything representing that of a guilty criminal. Surprisingly I did notice a the image of a 'Cup of Tea' being made which would be very strange considering it is a movie based in America which can give us two interpretations being that this character is English or they do things differently and strays from stereotypical idealism. Again the fingertips later on are covered in plaster which further expresses this factor of the character being strategic yet surely a criminal by covering his/hers fingertips.

 This is followed up by an unusual censoring action as the character seems to be censoring out words in a book which from my first visual seemed to be anything sexual which could show they are very religious or despise the opposite sex, however imagery of the word 'God' being cut out from an american currency note led me to believe it was for religious purposes. This censoring also takes place on an image of a young boy which initially his eyes are censored out which could mean several different things and one possibility being that this is the character in a younger and former self and the eyes are crossed out due to the shame of what he has become however he could also be a victim or potential victim of the characters criminal acts.

In an increasing tempo montage a lot more graphic imagery is shown such as surgical procedures giving a disturbing effect and linking both the character to the following actions and their offbeat nature.This is supported with a tempo increase in the music which is made up of unusual noises without any structure and prolongs audio past the mark our mind would usually build a structure with making the viewer feel very weary with a sinister hysteria implied by the audio. Sounds such as screeching, hollow and windy creates a very eerie effect all you can not relate to anything positive and heavily helps exaggerate the intention of disturbance however there are no symbolic sounds until the end of the sequence at the climax of the tempo increase "You kept me closer to god" again highlighting this religious purpose of his the unknown characters actions and foreshadowing their reason behind them.

The idea that the process, we are unsure of, that they are undertaking has been done before is supported with more unusual imagery. Towards the end of the montage it becomes clear that he seems to be writing some sort of diary entry that they appear to have been working on for a long period of time with the choose of super imposition in the editing. Appearing as almost a file for possibly their victims, Hair is quickly shown to us being put into a bag which could pose as evidence or, even more commonly known with criminals, a trophy. The books are further bound together using a needle and a thread, this could imply concealing his work or attempting to prevent easy access to evidence. It is evident that this must have done before with the final shot of the montage being a larger series of similar books ending with an understanding of this character and the their psychotic nature and actions before cutting to the opening sequence.