Analysis of Seven

In the opening credits of Se7en there are lots of distort and abrupt images/clips shown which in many films, the context has been used since this film...  including Red dragon and a more recent T.V. show the Walking dead. Although these opening credits were not exactly coping Seven in the slightest (story wise) but because they are thrillers/horrors and Seven did so well in the box office it would be strange not to copy se7en.




 Se7en's opening credits show a lot of extreme close ups in fact the whole opening credits is short clips with the camera angles always at the point of view from the person or others may say the serial killers point of view. The reason to why I think that its the serial killer because you never see the persons face which gives the sense of mystery and a type of insight to the killers life before the story truly begins. Most of the extreme close ups show a note book/ diary which the killer may record all his victims on. The other majority of the extreme close ups are of the killers hands/fingers in which show quite disturbing imagery especially when you see him slicing of his finger tips with a razor blade... this could suggest that he wants to get rid of his finger prints so he doesn't leave a trace.


 There is a range of different types of editing in the opening credits of Se7en such as jump cut; flash cutting (is basically short clips no longer than 2 seconds long)which is commonly used in this opening. Subliminal cuts are also used when you see the serial killer writing notes in his diary this editing is to make the audience feel as if his been writing over a long period of time. However this also makes me/the audience feel that he takes a great deal of time in his work so that no mistakes are made so that he doesn't get caught. In the opening credits they use different types of filters including red, light blue and also a type yellow tinge. These filters are quite dominant in this type of thriller meaning that red relates to blood, blue relates to cold heartedness of the killer and yellow suggests that it's quite old, for instance, yellow paper indicates it probably hasn't been used and has been in dry conditions which come to think about it... looking back on the clip, the killers hands are all dry and crusty.


The sound of the music is very modern and comes under the type of music genre of electric/dance. Although the music seems modern it gives you goose bumps when listening to it as it was like hearing nails on a chalk board. However the first sound you hear is the sound of lighting which the director is trying to the audience to get ready for what is about to come from watching the minor scene before the credits it was peaceful while he was laying on his bed but all of a sudden a break of lighting arose and run the opening credits. At the very end of the of the opening credits there is a brief   bit of song lyrics which I quote "you kept me closer to God" this implies that the killer may perhaps be religious and of course is which the whole film is based on.

Throughout the whole clip is based around a diary or note pad which could be the serial killers memorabilia or going back on the religious aspect of things the killer could be trying to recreate the bible... There is also a brief sighting of him a making a cup of tea which i cannot find any reference to apart from that he could be dying the paper yellow to give them that authentic look and try and con people in to believing that its an ancient manuscripts and that they've been believing in the wrong thing. There is also parts in which there are children with a line crossed over them which could imply that they're either victims or it was a picture of the killer as a child. There are also sightings of American dollar bills of which at the end when there is dialogue "you kept me closer to God." He cuts out God (from the dollar bill) which suggests that he wants to take over the role of God by maybe replacing it with his name; by all means the dollar bill is probably the most noticeable currency in the world and one of the most powerful.