Inspiration from Se7en
There are many things in this film opening which I feel are very effective for the genre, which is a hybrid of psychological and slasher horror. Some of the ideas from this opening can be used to inspire our group coursework practical task.
The main areas which I found were most effective were:
In one of the first shots of the opening sequence, there is a large book shown through an extreme close up. The book is dominantly bleak colours, with dark ivory pages and a dark brown cover. This initially gives a hint of the genre of the film to the audience. This is also evident through the use of shadows in the frame, which conforms to the common conventions of psychological horrors. The opening of Se7en is very enigmatic, and this is highlighted in this shot as the extreme close up means that the audience can only see what the antagonist wants them to see, further suggesting the power of the antagonist.
This aerial shot of what seems like a drawing or photograph of hands highlights the disfigurement of the mystery character. The use of black and white, which is a common convention of psychological horrors, increases the eeriness of the shot, as this emphasises the texture of the hands. Artificial lighting is also dominant in this frame putting the focus on the hands, this also creates a shadow effect on a large proportion of the shot. This puts the audience on edge as the visibility is limited to what the antagonist wants them to see.
The extreme close up shot of the antagonist using a razor blade to scrape off his fingerprints. This suggests to the audience that the killer wants to keep his identity hidden. This is then juxtaposed as this is the first time in the opening that the killer is revealed to the audience. By just showing the tips of his fingers, he is represented to be delicate and precise with his kills. Similarly, his personality is slightly uncovered by his fingers being dirty and unkept which also suggests that they are a male antagonist. Also, the precision with the blade highlights that he has done this is before and is used to the pain factor.
There is an extreme close up of the antagonist writing in his book, but the writing is unfocused causing curiosity and confusion as the audience want to know what he is writing. This shot is followed by an upside down close up of the book which highlights that the antagonist is teasing the audience to see what he is doing, without fully revealing it. The fast paced editing causes disorientation and as the shots continuously change quickly, they aren't given enough time to acknowledge and understand what they are being shown, therefore creating an enigmatic effect.
An extreme close up of a different book shows the antagonist highlighting particular words including 'transexual' and 'homosexual' which suggests to the audience the type of people that the killer is targeting. It also allows the audience to develop their knowledge on the character, without revealing too much about him which creates suspense as the audience want to know more about the main character.
The main areas which I found were most effective were:
- Sound
- Camera angles
- Mise-en-scene
- Typography
- Editing
In one of the first shots of the opening sequence, there is a large book shown through an extreme close up. The book is dominantly bleak colours, with dark ivory pages and a dark brown cover. This initially gives a hint of the genre of the film to the audience. This is also evident through the use of shadows in the frame, which conforms to the common conventions of psychological horrors. The opening of Se7en is very enigmatic, and this is highlighted in this shot as the extreme close up means that the audience can only see what the antagonist wants them to see, further suggesting the power of the antagonist.
This aerial shot of what seems like a drawing or photograph of hands highlights the disfigurement of the mystery character. The use of black and white, which is a common convention of psychological horrors, increases the eeriness of the shot, as this emphasises the texture of the hands. Artificial lighting is also dominant in this frame putting the focus on the hands, this also creates a shadow effect on a large proportion of the shot. This puts the audience on edge as the visibility is limited to what the antagonist wants them to see.
The extreme close up shot of the antagonist using a razor blade to scrape off his fingerprints. This suggests to the audience that the killer wants to keep his identity hidden. This is then juxtaposed as this is the first time in the opening that the killer is revealed to the audience. By just showing the tips of his fingers, he is represented to be delicate and precise with his kills. Similarly, his personality is slightly uncovered by his fingers being dirty and unkept which also suggests that they are a male antagonist. Also, the precision with the blade highlights that he has done this is before and is used to the pain factor.
There is an extreme close up of the antagonist writing in his book, but the writing is unfocused causing curiosity and confusion as the audience want to know what he is writing. This shot is followed by an upside down close up of the book which highlights that the antagonist is teasing the audience to see what he is doing, without fully revealing it. The fast paced editing causes disorientation and as the shots continuously change quickly, they aren't given enough time to acknowledge and understand what they are being shown, therefore creating an enigmatic effect.
An extreme close up of a different book shows the antagonist highlighting particular words including 'transexual' and 'homosexual' which suggests to the audience the type of people that the killer is targeting. It also allows the audience to develop their knowledge on the character, without revealing too much about him which creates suspense as the audience want to know more about the main character.
In this shot, there is a photograph of a young boy. The antagonist uses a thick black marker to cross through the boy's eyes and then follows it up by drawing horizontal lines across the rest of the boy's face. The fact that the killer crossed the eyes out first suggests that he objectifies his targets and this is highlighted as he crosses out the eyes which portray the most emotion and he has taken away a part of the boy's identity.
The shadow in this shot highlights the killers hidden identity. It also suggests that the killer is teasing the audience, by allowing them to see specific parts of him, like his hands but not the rest of him. The writing on the page is only shown for a small period of time, not giving the audience enough time to read it, apart from the title which has a box around it - 'greed'. This highlights to the audience and gives them an understanding about the film, as from this and the title 'Se7en' they can work out that there is a relation to the seven deadly sins. This therefore allows them to assume that the reason for his murders is related to the seven deadly sins and potentially suggests that he is targeting specific people according to these sins.
Finally, the sound gets louder and more fast paced throughout the film opening to increase tension. This is then abruptly cut off in the last few seconds of the opening so that the audiences attention can be on the non-diegetic recording of the phrase 'you kept me closer to God'. This conforms to the common conventions of psychological horror being related to religion. The non-diegetic music throughout the opening is a disorientating metallic and industrial soundtrack including metal twangs. This highlights the idea that the antagonist has a machine-like killing style which is therefore emotionless. The lack of diegetic sound highlights the idea that the killer is purposely hiding his identity from the audience.
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