Opening Analysis: Se7en

I decided to analyse the opening of the film "Se7en" as it has many techniques used within it to make it a successful opening.

We start off with the pages of a book being turned by an unseen person. In the background ominous music is playing from the get go. The name of the production company appears, it is written in a font I describe as scratchy, and is brightly coloured, almost illuminated on the screen to draw the viewers attention to it. Next the screen goes black as more credits appear. At this stage the credits are now even more bold as the brightness of the words against the dark background provide an stark contrast. This could be interpreted as juxtaposition to illustrate how light is the antithesis of dark, despite the dark overpowering background the words still break through and stand out.

As the credits appear on screen they go out of focus. This is quite uncomfortable to look at as you have to strain your eyes to read them properly, this will be a deliberate device used by the director as if the viewers have to strain to see something, you know you have their full attention. As the opening progresses we see an image of a razor blade being used to scrape skin off of someones hands. This would be an effective image to use as the prop of the razor blade would send out negative connotations to the audience.

Next the name of the film appears. At first it remains quite small, but then the screen blurs momentarily and the title is super-imposed at the front before returning to a smaller size. This is used as to ensure that the audience take in the name of the film.

Enigmatic imagery is used throughout the entirety of this opening. The shots quite rapidly change from object to object as to keep the viewers attention firmly on the screen. I believe that the use of enigmatic imagery was continually used as it can create quite an emotional response within the viewer. Images such as the razor blade and the picture being scribbled out would both send a message to the viewer. They will associate the razor blade with danger, death, pain and automatically become tense. This will then be added to by imagery such as the vandalised picture, typically in films when your picture is being scribbled out, your either the next victim or the grand prize.

Something that stood out to me in the opening was when the unseen man was cutting the word "God" out of the dollar bill and then the music in the background also said "God" this pulls the viewers attention in as they have just seen the word and then it also said back to them, also it would be significant in viewers mind due to its obvious religious connotations.

The soundtrack for the opening was very effective. The music was very ominous and created a feeling of great unease. Within you could hear a series of disconcerting noises such as, scratching noises, radio static. I felt that by having the music playing since the beginning was a very effective feature of the opening. When the soundtrack kicked in straight away, its like your throwing the audience straight into the action, giving them no time to get adjusted or ease them into it. Then by having the music playing throughout would keep the tension and unease sustained giving the audience no time to calm down or feel safe again until the opening is over.