Analysis of Opening Titles

Seven

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/se7en/

The film Seven is a psychological/crime/thriller, and typical conventions of these genres are scary music/images that can be quite graphic, this opening sequence reinforces these conventions as it does contain scary music and dark images of injuries. The purpose of using these conventions are to scare the viewer but not so much that they stop watching, enough to interest them and have them question what is happening therefore causing them to watch on. The narrative of this opening sequence is chronological meaning that the events happening in the frame are all happening in the correct time order.

This opening sequence uses a range of shots including close ups and extreme close ups on body parts such as a pair of dirty scarred hands, or a terrifying set of eyes. Shallow focus is used throughout to bring all attention to what is happening in the foreground, most of this is also from one of the characters point of view because it looks to the viewer that they are the ones cutting the skin off their fingers; this includes the audience into the film and allows them to make an attachment to characters making it seem more real. This opening sequence uses both high and low angles, this is to make the viewer feel intimidated by the powerful figures in this film and lets them get a different view of certain items or characters. In all of the shots the camera is always still and only items within the frame move, or they are edited to jump across the screen.

When the text is layered over the images it is shaky which may add to the element of fear because this type of text is typically used in horror or supernatural films. The special effects used in this opening sequence are the bright lights flashing across the screen to make it look to the audience as if the screen has a glitch which again is typically used in horror films. The text also has this glitch effect making it jolt across the screen to further add to the thrill.

The lighting is low key during this sequence because it casts dark shadows over items making them look scary. What we see in the frame is a pair of hands cutting themselves with a dirty razor blade, and also making what looks to the audience as a book. In this book we can see the character putting together dark images of graphic injuries which could suggest to the audience that this person is a criminal because he is removing his finger prints and because he is putting together what could be seen as a hit list. We can also see them cutting up pieces of film which further suggests that this character is up to something.

There is no diegetic sound in this opening sequence however there is music in the background. This non-diegetic music hasn’t got a set tune and is rather random in its sudden outbursts of scary sounds, for example at many points during the sequence a screeching sound can be heard that can represent screaming which adds to the fear in the viewer, there is also a high pitched rattling noise that could put the viewer on edge because not many things can make that sort of sound. As the sequence goes on, at around 1:12 the music drastically speeds up and this happens as images in the book get more graphic for example someone had had their head drilled into, this could further frighten the audience.

 

Preliminary Task Evaluation

Our preliminary task was to create a short scene where one person had to enter a room, cross it and sit down. The then had to exchange at least 4 lines of dialogue before the scene ends. My group and I of Ashleigh and Max, chose to create this scene is the genre of horror so we used different camera angles and dark lighting in our shots to give each clip a "spooky" effect.

 

We used a handheld shot at the beginning of our piece because we wanted it to seem like person A was running from someone who was chasing them, they ran down the hallway and into a room where we used a match-on-action shot to make it flow nicely to the next clip. When person A crosses the room to person B it was filmed from under the table to further enhance the theme of horror. The majority of our shots were filmed from under a table to give the impression that the characters are hiding from someone, these are also point of view shots and shot reverse shots when the two characters are talking.

 

Before the third person comes into the room, we chose to create a loud banging sound to increase the intensity and the fear in the scene. When this sound is made, the camera is quickly whipped round to face the door to show that the character that was chasing person A at the beginning is now here and the audience is left in suspense as they don't know what is going to happen to the two characters.

 

When it came to editing our piece, we chose to add music over the top. this is because we though it added to the fear of the piece as the music starts off quite intense when person A is running. This music calms down slightly throughout the piece to give the illusion of calm, and so the dialogue can be heard and also the erratic breathing of the characters and the loud banging noise.

Preliminary Task

 

Preliminary Task Shoot

 

Last week we filmed our preliminary task, we filmed a scene that is to be edited. Our scene involves person A running from an unknown person down the hall into a room. Assuming they are safe they look around the room for somewhere to hide. They go to their hiding spot to find their friend, person B is already hiding there. They then sit together, talking about where the unknown person is when they see them enter the room and run towards their hiding spot. We tried to build suspense and tension by using a handheld camera shot, and a series of shots that focus on people’s feet from under tables. When it comes to editing we will add music in the background to further add to the fear.

Some of the shots that we will be using are shot/reverse shot where we cut from person A to person B’s face, and then back again to show that they are having a conversation with each other. The 180 degree rule where we make an imaginary line that the camera doesn’t cross to give the scene a natural look. And match on action where an action such as opening the door from the hall cut to a different shot of the same action from inside the room. The different types of shots we will be using are a point of view shot, an over the shoulder shot, a low angle shot, a tracking shot, a medium close up, a long shot, and a two shot.

The software that we will be using to edit our scene is Adobe Premiere Software. We will be using the shots we filmed earlier this week, and we will add sound effects like music, and change the length of some shots. This will give the scene a more polished finish, and make it look more professional.

Preliminary Animatic