Textual Analysis - Se7en
Textual analysis one of the film opening of 'Se7en'
Conventions
A conventional film opening would be likely to include the company name, opening titles and credits and a soundtrack. The director will also establish the genre of the film and main characters within this opening. Se7en is therefore fairly conventional as it does meet all of the above. David Fincher, the director of the film, jumps straight into it by showing the title. However, it is not obvious as the same font is used, making it blend in more. The reason for this is to create continuity by emerging the audience straight into the film and quickly establishing the genre with no fancy graphics distracting the audience.
How is tone/genre established?
When establishing tone and genre, Se7en is fairly conventional, as the genre is clear from the offset. The genre is explicitly portrayed through the use of dim lighting, creating shadows in the extreme close up shots. The use of extreme close up's helps to create uncertainty as the audience cannot see the full picture yet. However, it also suggests to the audience that the antagonist is very clever, and meticulous when planning a murder due to the intense obsession with detail. Not only does the mise en scene and camera shots used help to create tone, but Fincher also uses sound and font type to continually convey this unsettling atmosphere.
Mise en scene
Throughout the opening two minutes of the film, extreme close up shots are used to show someone cutting up pictures and writing in what seems to be a scrap book. The audience also sees the character shaving a layer of skin from their fingers to remove their print, suggesting they are highly cautious to cover their tracks from the police. Fast cutting these different shots creates a chaotic and disturbing atmosphere, that is further reinforced by the dingy lighting.
Text/font
To add to the dramatic effect, a white font is used on a black background, and could be portrayed as chalk on a black board (something that is also associated with the unpleasant sound of dragging nails across a blackboard). The purpose of this, is to draw attention to the credits by separating them with one solid colour, rather than adding the text over the top of the film that would make it subtly blend in. Although it is not unusual in film openings, it is not as conventional because the majority of films draw more attention to the content to disguise the credits. The director of Se7en may have chosen this different approach as the ways in which the credits are presented is a big contributor to how tone and genre is created. The font type is almost childish by the way it is uneven, yet basic, and although it could have been chosen for a range of different reasons, I think it was used to add to the chaos of the opening, as if a smart/formal/structured font was used, then it would convey a completely different message. As well as this, the text often flickers to further add to the confusion and distortion in a nightmarish way.
Main characters
Se7en does not introduce the main characters within the first two minutes, however they are seen within the first five. This is not uncommon, as If the characters are introduced early on, it leaves little discovery for the audience later on, and a good film will work the audience by introducing things a bit at a time, rather than all at once. It is also clear that by not introducing the audience to the main characters or setting, Fincher wanted to focus more on establishing the genre, as that would provide a more concrete building block for the rest of the film to lay upon.
Impact on audience
Overall, I think the first impressions on the audience are quite powerful. This is mainly because of the low lighting and fast cutting making it difficult for the audience to process what they have just seen, teasing them, and therefore engaging them to look hard into what they are watching out of curiosity. The audiences initial impressions of the opening would be the abstract nature of the credits, and grabbing the attention of the audience from the offset will help them concentrate more throughout the rest of the film.
Conventions
A conventional film opening would be likely to include the company name, opening titles and credits and a soundtrack. The director will also establish the genre of the film and main characters within this opening. Se7en is therefore fairly conventional as it does meet all of the above. David Fincher, the director of the film, jumps straight into it by showing the title. However, it is not obvious as the same font is used, making it blend in more. The reason for this is to create continuity by emerging the audience straight into the film and quickly establishing the genre with no fancy graphics distracting the audience.
How is tone/genre established?
When establishing tone and genre, Se7en is fairly conventional, as the genre is clear from the offset. The genre is explicitly portrayed through the use of dim lighting, creating shadows in the extreme close up shots. The use of extreme close up's helps to create uncertainty as the audience cannot see the full picture yet. However, it also suggests to the audience that the antagonist is very clever, and meticulous when planning a murder due to the intense obsession with detail. Not only does the mise en scene and camera shots used help to create tone, but Fincher also uses sound and font type to continually convey this unsettling atmosphere.
Mise en scene
Throughout the opening two minutes of the film, extreme close up shots are used to show someone cutting up pictures and writing in what seems to be a scrap book. The audience also sees the character shaving a layer of skin from their fingers to remove their print, suggesting they are highly cautious to cover their tracks from the police. Fast cutting these different shots creates a chaotic and disturbing atmosphere, that is further reinforced by the dingy lighting.
Sound
The soundtrack used throughout the opening would be best described as progressive electronic, however mixed in with the music is a cacophony of various different noises. For example, the mechanical sound of slowly dragging chains can be heard, creating a sense of danger and threat. As well as this, distorted screams can be heard to set a sinister and deadly tone. Towards the end of the opening, the music intensifies by coming to a crescendo and increasing in pace, until it fades out into the new sound of sirens as the film starts. This helps to create continuity as both sounds have negative connotations, meaning they blend together well; this smooth transition takes the audience from the mind of the killer to the world of detective Somerset and detective Mills.
Text/font
To add to the dramatic effect, a white font is used on a black background, and could be portrayed as chalk on a black board (something that is also associated with the unpleasant sound of dragging nails across a blackboard). The purpose of this, is to draw attention to the credits by separating them with one solid colour, rather than adding the text over the top of the film that would make it subtly blend in. Although it is not unusual in film openings, it is not as conventional because the majority of films draw more attention to the content to disguise the credits. The director of Se7en may have chosen this different approach as the ways in which the credits are presented is a big contributor to how tone and genre is created. The font type is almost childish by the way it is uneven, yet basic, and although it could have been chosen for a range of different reasons, I think it was used to add to the chaos of the opening, as if a smart/formal/structured font was used, then it would convey a completely different message. As well as this, the text often flickers to further add to the confusion and distortion in a nightmarish way.
Main characters
Se7en does not introduce the main characters within the first two minutes, however they are seen within the first five. This is not uncommon, as If the characters are introduced early on, it leaves little discovery for the audience later on, and a good film will work the audience by introducing things a bit at a time, rather than all at once. It is also clear that by not introducing the audience to the main characters or setting, Fincher wanted to focus more on establishing the genre, as that would provide a more concrete building block for the rest of the film to lay upon.
Impact on audience
Overall, I think the first impressions on the audience are quite powerful. This is mainly because of the low lighting and fast cutting making it difficult for the audience to process what they have just seen, teasing them, and therefore engaging them to look hard into what they are watching out of curiosity. The audiences initial impressions of the opening would be the abstract nature of the credits, and grabbing the attention of the audience from the offset will help them concentrate more throughout the rest of the film.
This is superbly written Emma. You demonstrate a real mastery of the terminology and an insight into what Fincher was trying to do. Do you think the stitching that we see the killer doing has some significance as to his nature? You say that the characters aren't introduced at the start of Se7en but clearly they are as we meet both Somerset and Mills in the first five minutes. We llearn a lot about the differences between them and about their environment. It seems to me that you have focused exclusively on the opening titles section. I'm sure the full opening five minutes is on Youtube somewhere. If not I will try to put it on the sharepoint.
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