Textual analysis of Seven

This is my textual analysis on the opening scene to the famous thriller, Seven. Staring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman.

 

There are many camera angles and shots used in the opening of this film. Firstly we see Morgan Freeman in his flat. The director has chosen to use a wide shot to show Morgan and his surroundings. I think they created this to show what type of person Morgan Freeman's character is. The white, fresh, clean look of the apartment walls and kitchen units creates a wealthy and organised feel to Morgan's character. I have also noticed whilst on the subject of the characters home, that he holds no personal possessions or items of value, or they are not presented for everyone to see. Which could present the character as quite private and secretive. The crispness of the white could show solitude and content in the way he lives his life. Maybe the character doesn't feel like they need many possessions or personal belongings in their life, like they are not really relevant to him.

 

We get a high angle shot to show the victim on the floor, surrounding by deep red blood. This represents darkness, the deepness of the red shows the intensity of the situation and the danger surrounding it. This could be why the blood is in a pool around the victim, to present the danger surrounding the victim.

 

The low angle shot used when Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman are walking down the busy city street tells us a lot about the two characters and how different they are. Firstly, we learn how cocky Brad Pitt is. He is presented as arrogant and very self involved. He constantly interrupts Morgan's character when he is trying to make him knowledgeable and welcome to the city. He moves around Morgan to momentarily make himself appear larger than him:

 

 

However, whenever this happens Morgan smoothly moves around Brad in order to take back power and domination of the conversation. Proving that his cool behaviour can create an intense and powerful character.

 

 

Here the tracking shot presents the dominant side of Morgan's character. Over powering and undermining Brad's behaviour. The fact that Morgan's reaction is very subtle presents to the audience that we don't really need to take much notice of what Brad's character is saying as it has not had much of an impact on Morgan's character and we get very little reaction from it. 

We learn a lot from the mise en scene of this section of the film. During the opening title we learn different things about the killer to prepare us for what is to come. Everything the killer is doing is very precise and articulate, he sees pages together and pins things.Showing his great psychotic attention to detail.

 

 In one particular section of the title sequence we see that the killer highlights/ crosses out certain words of phrases. The words pregnant, intercourse and transexual are crossed out. Later on in the title we see the killer cut out the word god. Presumably we could assume from this that the killer is a religious character and has a hatred for anything that goes against god. 

 

 

 

There are lots of different sounds and noises used in this opening title. Firstly there is use of sirens, which creates alarming thoughts for the audience that something has already gone wrong. Secondly we can hear the rain and the thunder. The use of weather here creates a very mysterious and melancholy feel to the scene. Also the soundtrack to the title sequence sounds like high pitched electrical surges which is discomforting and disturbing for the audience. The disturbing electrical surges could represent the disturbed, psychotic but genius mind of the killer. They are very disjointed and discorded sound effects, creating a real sense of discomfort and anxiety about what the audience is going to see.

 

The editing in the opening title is very clever and precise. Maybe to represent the inner workings of the killers mind. The style of writing and the typography used is very scratchy but still clear to read. The style itself is not appealing to read so immediately creates that uncertainty and discomfort.

 

 

There are flashes of light and fast editing to combine a number of short snappy clips together. There are a lot of cutaways used to represent the moving of time and the intensity of the situation. We see close ups of what the killer which could assist the cutaways in presenting the sort of issues that will be raised and addressed in the film. The editing is very fast creating anxiety and curiousness.