Thriller film opening - Se7en

Institutional information

Se7en is a mystery thriller film that was released in 1995 and was directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. The 127 minute long film was directed by Cecci Gori Pictures and Juno Pix, picking up a total of 31 various award wins and 25 nominations. With an IMDB rating of 8.6 stars out of 10, the film had a budget of $33,000,000 and took in a gross of $100,125, 340 overall, breaking even by far. Se7en has a use of many well known actors such as Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, this would have an effect as they would have brought in a wider audience. Seeing as Se7en is a thriller, the primarily target of the audience would be the fans of the thriller genre. This would make the target market mainstream. The target market would also be fans of Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman and David Fincher, furthermore, the audience could be people who can relate to David Mills and William Somerset as their jobs are to be detectives. However, the primary target audience is more likely to be men as the male gender is significant in this media text. As the certificate rating is an 18, the age of the target audience would be young to middle aged adults.

Narrative

The fantasy thriller follows a linear narrative, and is a film about two detectives' hunt for a serial killer who is murdering people and justifying the crimes by absolution for the worlds ignorance of the Seven Deadly Sins. The two detectives try and track down the serial killer who chooses his victims bases on the Seven Deadly Sins. Together, the two detectives trace the murderers every step, witnessing the aftermath of his horrific crimes one by one as the victims increase, all while moving closer to a gruesome fate neither of them could have predicted. Using this storyline conforms to the thriller genre as there is an antagonist, who stereotypically will commit crimes and acts of violence, which will appeal to the target audience. 

Mise en scene   

The opening scene/credits begin with a close up of a book, and in deep focus in the background a hand turning the pages. The fact that the audience doesn't know who the hand belongs to adds tension and suspense as there is a sense of mystery surround the first person we see, presuming it is one of the characters. Pictures of what look like a dead persons hand are shown, with crooked fingers and bruised skin. Stereotypically, these pictures look like those that police keep during a murder investigation so the shot allows the audience to link the clues together to form the narrative, as well as create a tense atmosphere. Used in the opening sequence are quite a few violent objects, such as blades and needles present a violent aspect to the film, and also signify that whoever is holding the objects is responsible for them, therefore possibly the antagonist. There is a sequence of shots that show pictures of other people being cut up and stuck down, and the way they have been shot could portray the person with the pictures as psychopathic. Due to the anonymity of the antagonist and protagonist it creates an air of suspicion around the film, appealing to the target audience as it fits with the thriller genre. The use of a black pen to remove words and draw on a picture of a child provides a dark feeling in the film and makes the audience feel tense as by scribbling out the child's face could signify that he is trying to eliminate the child, possibly plotting a murder.  Later on in the title sequence, we see the character cutting out the word 'God', which could be a theme of the film as it has to do with something religious. All of these small glimpses of what the character is doing creates enigma as it leaves the audience wondering what they are doing, and why.

Editing/ camera angles

The beginning of the opening sequence begins with an eye line extreme close up of a book in shallow focus, with the shadow of a hand turning the pages in the background. This creates a sense of mystery as the audience don't know what is in the book, or who's hand is in the background; this fits with the genre. We don't see any establishing shots so the mystery theme is continued as the location of the film is still concealed. The opening title sequence starts off with slow paced shots of objects that aren't of any importance to the viewer at that point but which could be important later on in the film. The editing then changes to fast paced cuts, showing a variety of different objects, giving effect as they're shown on the screen for long enough for the audience to see what they are, but not long enough for them to figure out why they're included. The fast cuts create suspension, like the film is building up to something bad happening. The transitions from shot to shot varies from jump cuts to a fade to black, and a montage of edits are used to build tension. Frequently, canted angles are used to disorientate the audience and to confuse them, adding to the suspense and tension. 

Sound

The sound used in this clip, is mostly non-diegetic but some sounds are made to sound natural. For example, sometimes in the clip, a very high pitched noise occurs which tricks the viewer into thinking it's someone screaming, which connotes danger and someone desperate for help and sets the audience up for the rest of the film. The background music is heavy-sounding and is quite fast. This is typical of a thriller movie as it creates suspense. There are quite a lot of industrial non diegetic sounds that accompany the opening shots, with some of the effects sounding quite violent; for example a chainsaw and chains. The use of this adds tension to the film as it signifies too the audience that these objects may be used with in the film, which would conform to the thriller genre.