Se7en:
The scene opens with a sound bridge
of traffic which starts from the studio logo; this shows us that the character
lives in the city as it is very noisy. From the opening shots of inside
Somerset's house we instantly know that the character is a detective as we see
a close up of a police badge, in the opening scene there are several long shots
and medium shots of his daily life. We see that the character is very orderly
and organised; we know this because we see a medium close up of him wiping dirt
off his suit jacket, and this gives us the idea that he likes everything to be
the precise and ordered. In the same shot we see that his bed is already made,
this again gives us the idea that he is very ordered and possibly that he has
OCD. His apartment is set in an urban
area, use of a blue filter to make it appear downcast and dreary although it is
very clean and neat. The chaotic noise makes it seem very claustrophobic and
dangerous. The detective’s apartment is very neat and organised, showing us
he’s a very thorough and obsessive man although we learn that he lives on his
own as the apartment has a very plain style and there are no other
possessions/decor that indicates children or a wife live there also.
There is then an ellipsis edit to
Detective Somerset inspecting an apartment where a murder has occurred. There
is use of chiaroscuro lighting in this scene, this is to add mystery and
tension to the scene. A new detective is introduced, we quickly know that
Somerset annoys him as Somerset wants to get the job done right and asks lots
of questions into the murder, this again shows us that Somerset is a very thorough,
ordered man who likes to get the job done right. We also learn from this that
Somerset is planning to retire, and the other person ‘can't wait for him to go’
this shows us that Somerset may not be liked in the police force due to his
need to do things the right way and leave no stone unturned, other officers
don't seem to understand this however which suggests Somerset is of high
intelligence since he knows how things have to be done.
We are then introduced to another
character – Detective Mills, who is wearing a leather jacket and chewing gum, this
immediately shows us there is a very obvious contrast between the two main
protagonists. There is then an ellipsis edit to Mills and Somerset walking out
of the building, there is a tracking medium long shot as they are walking.
There is a low angle to show their dominance and authority. . There is then
another ellipsis edit to Somerset back in his apartment ready for bed. We see
that he plays a metronome to block out the sound; this again shows us that
Somerset likes order and routine, the fact that the scene opened with Somerset
just getting out of bed and going to work, and then ending with him back in bed
suggests his life is his job as it seemed that was all that happened for him
during that day.
We are taken into the titles using a
sound bridge of the metronome and then a long sustained note, the titles show
several close ups on several close ups. The titles use overlay titles and a use
of montage. We can tell this person will be the killer as he is scraping off
his fingerprints with a blade, which are something we see a lot of in this
sequence. We see tightly packed journals which show he’s very intelligent but
also shows he’s quite disturbed. During the titles there are slight flickers of
red on the screen which connotes blood and death which again shows us that this
person is probably the killer. We see many disturbing pictures during this of
blades and dead animals, the blades link to the overlay titles as they look as
though they have been scratched onto a surface. The music used in this sequence
is 'closer' by Nine Inch Nails, there are several dark sounds throughout this
like screeching, smashing of glass and human screams, this creates a sense of
unease for the viewer and suggest these are the sounds of the villains actions.
There is use of binary oppositions which fits the mood of thrillers.
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