Title Sequence Analysis: Se7en

Title Sequence Analysis

Se7en

In the first part of the title sequence we see the camera focus on these pair of accurately sketched deformed hands. The mise en scene shown in this scene suggests that he is tidy as the picture of the hands is well set out, however the lighting in this frame suggests that the person in the frame is mysterious and creepy as the setting is really dark with a picture of deformed hands. Therefore straight away this infers to the viewer that the genre for this film is going to be horror.

  

After that the title progresses onto the character in the title sequence scraping dead skin off of his fingers. This infers to the viewer that the main character is creepy as this is not a normal thing to do. Furthermore the camera shoots this as a close up to emphasise how strange the main actor is.

This screenshot is effective as they have edited the frame in red to connotate maybe blood and danger. By connotating this, this furthermore links to the films genre as horror as a common horror convention is blood. As well as the frame being shot in red the person in the frame is distorted and the other colours are dark to support both danger and maybe death.

 

As the title progresses we see the sequence progress on to this shot. This is effective as it shows the main character is targeting someone and furthermore this shot shows us his feelings towards the person in the drawing as he is scribbling out his eyes. From typical horror films we can see this as a villainous act that is very suddistic as it suggests to the viewer the person in the drawing is a target that the main character wants to capture/kill. The cinematography in this scene is also effective as the whole frame is blackened out except the drawing which also contributes to the main characters dark intentions.

 

After the last screenshot this immediately cuts from the last frame to this one which emphasises the main characters sub-psychotic thoughts as he has instantly scribbled out his entire face which shows uncontrolled aggression and a desire to kill. Like the last screenshot this frame is also mostly blackened to emphasise that this is a horror film.

 

Finally, I decided to use this screenshot as this ultimately portrays that the main character has a sinister personality and furthermore this shows to the audience this is a horror film due to the person in the picture is getting pierced in the head by a sharp object.

I decided to use Se7en as a title sequence to analyse as they use great editing techniques to switch from cut to cut and  amazing cinematography techniques to creat an atmosphere that matches the films genre. So because our chosen film isn't horror we will approach our title sequence with something similar to this but mainly focus on post apocalyptic conventions such as loneliness and and desolation.