analysis of se7en

Element	Denotation	Connotation
Character Location Narrative/plot Genre Theme	The character in the title open sequence for se7en appears to be a character that has a specific belief system either in a God or something else. He writes in his diary about mankind and reads about pregnancy crossing out some of the words in the text book. The character also is interested in pictures of different types of people dead or alive. The location is in a dark apartment or office. The genre of this open title sequence is a thriller. The theme of this film seems to about God because near the end of the sequence we see the character cutting out the word God out of a dollar bill and throughout the sequence there are specific words crossed out from a medical journal which talks about pregnancy or different words such as intercourse, transsexual etc are crossed out. It also a dark theme and has lots of bloody references by using the colour red. We are also shown images of razor blades, surgical instruments and needles along with graphic pictures of women and men.	As the audience we are fully engaged in this sequence as it is fast paced and we have to be alert in order to try to understand what is actually going on. The viewer wants to know what the plot is about and because we are introduced to so many different things at once (pictures of naked women, pictures of surgical objects going through a man’s head, images of the characters diary) As the audience we are trying to piece together what all these different things have in common. All the themes in this sequence are typical of the conventions of a thriller film. The room the character is in is dark and dingy and seems as if he spends most his time there because of overwhelming amount of information he has written. Due to these images there is already a story emerging in the audiences head.
Genre	The genre of the film se7en is a thriller. Images of surgical equipment, blades and needles are all images of things that inflict pain and have the potential to harm a person which shows violence or creates a sense of threat/peril. The colours also used in the sequence are black, dark browns and reds. There also flashes of red.	The viewers are able to recognize the genre of se7en because of the certain images in the scene such as the sharp objects, dark colours, connotations of blood and the graphic images in the pictures. Once the audience is fully engaged they are aware and know that they will be on an emotional roller coaster. They are not sure of what is  going to happen but they know the things that they should expect and they want to know what is happening or what will happen
Camera work	The majority of the open title sequence for se7ven consists of close ups which shows the character holding a razor blade and using a needle. It also contains a lot of extreme close ups the characters diary/writing and pictures he cuts out. It shows very little of the background and concentrates on the specific details. A zoom lens has also been used to get the framing for these shots.	This type of camera work is to create a effect where the audience is completely uncomfortable about the character. It is very dramatic and focuses on specific images such as  the words and pictures the character is crossing out , the cut out of the word God out of the dollar bill and when the character uses the needles/blades. These are all important bits of information that the audience should focus on which is why the background is mostly blurred.
Mise-en-scene : Lighting Movement Figure Props Costume Colour Cinematography Font title	The lighting in the open title sequence of se7en there is not any key lighting and is quite dark and uses low light. It also uses artificial light and a fill which is a soft light which fills in the shadows, to avoid sharp areas of contrast caused by main lighting. We see bits of red,brown shown on the screen. We see hands usng props such as a blade,needle and writing in a diary. We are also shown the names of the actors in a white text with black background it also looks like handwriting.	The lighting is very important and with its constant low contrast its sets the mood as very dark, eerie and the audience is on edge because of the choice of lighting. This lighting also mean that the audience can identify what sort of genre this film is due to its dark,low lighting. This lighting also sets the scene as a dark gloomy film.
Sound	The soundtrack being played in the open title sequence of se7en is a spliced sample of remix of the Nine Inch Nails song "Closer.” The music starts off quite somber and slow and sounds almost as if it is a heartbeat. At around 1.14 the music in the scene rises and becomes more dramatic and the pace increases.	As the first piece audience hears this soundtrack builds up the tension in the scene and its also sounds very dramatic. The song "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails appears at the ends of the sequence. The audience hears the words " Bring me closer to God" when the audience hears this it follows with the theme of God that we have seen throughout the sequence ( cut out of the word God). This could be a link between the soundtrack and what will happen in the story.