Se7en was released in 1995, directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker.
The sound in the opening sequence is conventional horror/thriller music shows the audience genre of the film by backing up the mise-en-scene. The non-diegetic sound starts off at a slow pace giving a chilling affect. This becomes faster towards the end which builds tension to engage the target audience. The diegetic sound throughout the opening scene of se7en is of a scratching like sound which I believe represents the scratching of a weapon, which is possibly a knife. This immediately indicates the genre through the diegetic sound as 'weapons' are one of the generic horror/thriller conventions.
The mise-en-scene of the opening of se7en is quite disturbing as the audience see a mysterious man slicing his fingertips. This engages the target audience as they begin to ask questions about what the character has done in the past. The face of the character is not shown to the audience adding to the mystery of the scene. The audience however can see from the mise-en-scene that the character is deranged as he does some disturbing things such as cutting his fingertips, cutting and developing photos as well as crossing out pictures of people. This shows the audience that the character could possibly be a criminal running from the law. The sticking off the photos in some kind of scrap book signifies that the character has certain victims which, along with the sound make the film scary from the start therefore engaging the target audience.
The camera work that is in the opening credits of Se7en are mostly close ups, showing important parts of the character and the setting such as the slicing of the figure tips. Through only showing certain angles such as the high angle shot of the character tension is built allowing the audience to feel nervous when watching. The camera is often in one steady position throughout the scene. This subjective filming allows the audience to feel as though they are watching the actions of the character from the outside. This engages the audience as they become anxious when watching the scene.
The edits very fast, not lasting more than a few seconds each in the opening credits. The editing that used matches the horror/thriller genre is it's a psychological thriller so there are multiple cross cuts. This keeps the scene fast paced which therefore builds tension throughout. A black background is often used to place and put emphasis on the credits, such as the actors names and the director. The onscreen graphics are in a font that looks like it has been handwritten of scratched which is what the character has been doing, this matches well with the mise-en-scene. The credits are also distorted which creates a creepy sinister like feel. The black signifies darkness and death which relates to what the audience have seen in the mise-en-scene of the film so far.
Overall the camerawork that is used in the opening of this film engages the audience as it creates an air of mystery surrounding the character in the scene and the setting around him. This is backed up by the mise-en-scene as the audience are unable to see much but from what they can see they begin to wonder what the character has done in the past and what he is running from. The fast pace edits are key to building the tension in the film opening which is accompanied by the diegetic and non-diegetic sound to make it quite unnerving to watch. This therefore means that it suits the genre of the psychological thriller.
Written Analysis of Se7en opening By Rhys Crane
