Seven Opening sequence analysis

 Narrative:

The beginning of the sequence shows somebody to be planning or investigating something, it shows a book that someone is reading and then to be filing. The middle part of the sequence presents writing that the hidden character is underlining and crossing out, it also displays disturbing photographs which are also being crossed out. These disturbing images suggest to the audience that this person is nasty or has a violent personality. The ending to the sequence shows something being completed as it is being filed. This suggests that this person is very methodical and organized. The narrative of the opening sequence is non-linear.

Codes & Conventions:

The opening sequence of Seven consists of several thriller genre codes and conventions, such as the question and answer model, partial vision, mazes and labyrinths, and concealment and protraction.

Camerawork:

Camerawork is also used in the opening sequence to portray thriller conventions, like how the extreme close ups are used to portray partial vision, by how the close ups hide things out of shot. In the begining of the sequence, there is shot of someone shaving his fingertips, these are disturbing images which convey pain and self harm. This use of camerawork creates suspense and scares the audience. The camera angles also control the mise-en-scene, as the extreme close ups hide a lot of the location. There are also many shots of a book with its pages turning, this conveys the time that goes by, and suggests that it is taking them a long time.

Mise-en-scene:
The only element that suggests the location is the lighting, which is quite dim, this suggests the book filing and stitching was done in a seller or private room.

Sound:
All of the sound in the opening sequence is non diegetic, the sound contains the a heart beat, screeching and unpleasant music that gets faster and gains more tension throughout. The opening sequence also contians non diegetic sounds of creeking and screeching, these are sounds that would be associated with the thriller genre and so gives the audience a greater insight to what this film is about and what it may contain.

Editing:
The editing is fast paced, this is used to create excitement and tension. The editing in the opening sequence also uses strobing, this is to disentoriate the audience and to show that the character who is filing and organising these these documents that he/she has been doing this for a long time. Additionally, jump cuts are used to quickly know what he has been doing and they also may scare the audience.

Graphics:
The graphics in this are very basic, they are white on a black background. The type face of the credits have a typewriter like style to them, this has conotations of organisation and documentation. Each credit is randomly placed, this adds confusion to the audience.