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.
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