SE7EN Analysis

Genre

The genre of the film ‘Se7en’ Thriller/Horror. 

The conventions of the film found in the opening sequence are gory images, the horror music and the close shots.

Visual Style

The visual style is how the director uses visuals to presents the genre (thriller/horror). The director in ‘se7en’ uses dark colours and gory images to suggest darkness and create disturbing visuals.

Editing

The opening sequence has several edits to create a dramatic scene to match the story such as quick changing transitions and blurred images, there is also credits included as text added to the scene in a horror font which again hints the genre. The pace at which the views and images change help to create a confused and disturbing atmosphere.

Camera shot/Angle/Movement

Most of the shots in the opening sequence were extreme close ups and there was little use of other shots. Most of the angels were ‘eye level’ and  had little variation.  

Mise en scene

Where there is no clear location this confuses the audience as too exactly what is going on although the props such as the razor blades photos and news reports of death suggests the film is a horror/thriller and is to do with a serial killer.  There is also a use of dark lighting which creates an unsettling atmosphere.


Sound

Disturbing music was played in the opening sequence to give it a spooky atmosphere. There is also a use of non- diegetic sound   (screeching and scratching noises) used for a dramatic effect.

Themes

A clear theme of the film is death as the opening scene shows photos of corpses and pages of news papers with reports about death, the lack of characters also suggests there is a theme of mystery. 

Character

Photos of unknown characters possibley 
victims of murder

There is an unknown character kept ambiguous throughout the opening scene however he is associated with objects to do with death such as gory images of corpses.  The only other use of characters is pictures of anonymous people. This creates a sense of mystery.

Locations

There is no clear location in the opening scene as all the shots are extreme close ups although there is evidence of it being in a darkroom (because of the photos being developed) or basement.

Narrative plot

The story starts with a man who seems to be obsessed with death as he has several images of corpses and seems to collect news paper reports of murder this tells the observer the mystery character is possibly a serial killer. He is also shown cutting the tips of his fingers which shows he is trying to cover his prints so he is not caught.