Opening sequence analysis

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Opening Sequence for ‘Seven’

The opening sequence of ‘Seven’ is both gripping and keeps the audience drawn in using many different camera shots, editing techniques, sound and Mise en scene. The director uses a combination of these devices to gain a very cold and dull effect.

 

In the opening 3 seconds of the opening sequence shows a very orange paged blank books pages being turned slowly. The book has no visible writing on the pages and the book isn’t massive. This book therefore could be an empty diary or notebook that is belonging to the character. After these 3 seconds the pages begin to move over slowly by a very blurred hand. The first 3 seconds scene displays an establishing shot mixed with a close up shot displaying the pages and nothing else. This gives the effect on the viewer of suspense and a sense of something about to happen.

The hand that is seen has no real recognizable features; this leaves the viewer the impression that they can’t distinguish the characters personality or really anything about them so they don’t know if they should trust them. The hand then moves and slowly turns the page over. This is the last thing that we see before the scene to end and cut to black. The text in this opening 3 seconds is ‘New Line Cinema Presents’. This shows who produced the film. The text is all in capitals to show that the text is important and this makes it stand out a lot more than normal text. The text is in a very ‘scratch-like’ font giving the audience a very distressed impression. The text flickers rapidly on and off to show disparity and the colour of the text is white on a dark background to make it stand out against the scene. The lighting on this scene is very dull and the scene is made to look very old and yellow. The only light from this scene seems to come from the characters direction but is blurred a lot so that we can’t actually see the character. This draws the audience’s attention to the hand and the light at the back of the shot and they try to see what the character looks like.

The next scene cuts from black and fades in quickly to reveal two hands on a page. These hands look like they are printed on the page. The hands look like they are being measured and they look like they belong to an older weak person. This is to give the effect on the viewer that something bad is happening or happened. This could be a log of someone’s life. The lighting of this shot is very dark and half of the screen is black and dissolves away the lightened part of the scene as the scene ends. This is done to only show the audience what the director wants them to see and maybe something important might be hidden by the darkness. This scene lasts for around 4 seconds keeping the trailer very fast paced.

In the next short sequence, a machine is shown. This machine is shown in great detail and only metal and black colours are shown. The sound to this point is a very dark and is not greatly loud but it’s a very low in tone that rises and falls throughout the opening sequence. Throughout this low sound there is a sound of a high pitch chime on an off beat rhythm. This sound is parallel as it matches the theme of the scenes. This scene displays all diegetic sound for the first 20 seconds apart from the machine which is non-diegetic. This gives good effect on the viewer as it helps to add suspense. 

In this scene, a man’s fingers are shown holding a tool of some sort that looks like it could be used for cutting. This shot is an extreme close up as it focuses on only the item in the hand and the fingers in great detail. This is used to show the viewer that the person is not the cleanest and nicest which makes the audience question what is happening.  This is the first use of a prop being used and it is very small in size. The object is shown very dark and made of a metal material. It is an extreme close up, this gives the viewer the chance to look at the mans hands.

This scene cuts quickly into black and the text appears on the top right side of the screen in a very ‘scratched-like’ typography. This gives the effect of distress and something bad is happening. This scene could be a link to the scene with the fingernails scene as the nails could have been seen to have scratched out this word. The word itself is the title of the film and this is the first time we see the title, around 23 seconds in. The parallel sound carries on throughout and begins to get slightly faster creating a slightly more intense creepy feeling for the viewer. I think that the use of the black and white is very effective as it creates more anticipation for the viewer that they can’t see and they don’t know what might happen next.

  

For the next 3 seconds of the scene the writing of several different fonts (all very similar to the initial one) flash quickly across the screen. The viewer can just about catch these words giving the scene pace and makes the viewer need to pay more attention and pulls them in with this technique. These shots change very quickly making a effect like shot reverse shot as 2 or more shots are put together in fast succession.

 

The black fades out quickly to reveal the notebook again but from a slightly different angle. This shot becomes a mid shot as it shows almost all of the scene and highlights the key parts that the audience should pick up on, for example in this scene it is the notebook. I think that bringing the book back into the opening is good as it makes the viewer think what is happening and why that book is so important to the story. This scene builds atmosphere as the music grows louder and louder, the high pitch noise seems to grow more aggressive and faster. This gives the impression on the viewer that something important is going to happen and that they should be ready for something important to happen.

This scene cuts from a very dark sequence including the front of a notebook being shown. The viewer is to assume this is the same notebook throughout the scenes and opening sequence. This scene shows a mid-close up shot of the pen writing in black on very rough lined paper. The writing is very small and is illiterate for the audience. This is a very good use of the ‘crab shot’ as the camera is along slide the action, in this instance, the pen and the paper. The sound for this scene gets heavier and sounds more bass-like. You can hear a very faint sound of the pen scratching the surface of the paper making a diegetic sound whilst a wind-chime is also heard softly in the background. The sound seems to intensify after this point and the scenes following appear to become quicker and quicker cut together to give the opening more pace. This shot could also be classed as a long angle shot as it is very close yet parallel to the action.

 

This scene is the first that displays more than just dull and rust colours. This scene has a red colorant and includes black. The effect of this on the viewer is that the character is angry and this is symbolic of the red. The sound of this scene is very deep and repetitive. This creates suspension within the opening and is a change to the norm.

This then cuts to black and the text on the screen, softer in typography than before. This creates a sense of safety for the audience and makes them begin to feel comfortable. This text such as all the other that has appeared previously has ‘pulsed’ as effect to make the piece more intense. This uses Gledhill’s theory as it uses big actors names at the start to draw you in.

This scene shows the character with a black marker pen highlighting and getting rid of certain words of a book. This shot is high angle and shows the text very clearly as well as the pen moving fairly fast to get rid of words. There is a dissolve of lines on top of this shot that at first glance the audience wouldn’t notice. This could be to do with what had happened earlier in the clip or something to do with the main character. This builds the viewer’s suspicions.

         

This whole opening sequence is set in a very dark room with nothing in but a table, the main character and a selection of props such as the notebook and various other books. This makes the viewer question where exactly he is and how he got there. The purpose of the opening is never told and without watching the full film the audience would not know what is happening and what the plot is.

This scene is shown again as the note book is right at the front of the camera giving the scene a close up. This gives the effect of the notebook being important and the main thing that the viewer should be focusing on. This scene is repeated again as it appeared at the start. This repetition shows how the notebook is very important in the story and film. It is the only item that is repeated more than once in the opening scene therefore making it important. The shot used in this scene is a crab shot to get level with the object and action.

This scene cuts quickly into black and the text appears on the top right side of the screen in a very ‘scratched-like’ typography. This gives the effect of distress and something bad is happening. This time the text is displayed in two different fonts to show the different means of each of the words. Again the colours do not change from the black and white. The sounds are getting faster and more intense at this point.