Se7en Nine Frame analysis

BY Wale

FRAME 1

The first thing that is shown in this opening sequence is a book with the pages flickering by itself which is ambiguous because the audience do not know what is making the book to flicker or who the owner of the book is. The book may be used to symbolise the protagonist as been intelligent or a person who goes by the books. The colour of the writing in this frame is white which may be used to represent a holy person or may be used convey innocent lives , no clues are yet given to what it may represent since this is the first frame. The writing is written in some sort of disorientated way, it is out of place, which may be used to represent the protagonist has been a person that is out of place in the society. No clues are given as this is the first frame these are just the thoughts that would come up in the head of the audience.

Frame 2

Frame 2 gives the audience a little more things to think about, and answers some of the questions from the first frame. Firstly in this frame we see a high angle point of view shot which shows two drawings of hands on a book, however the hands are a contrast to each other which may be used to symbolise the battle between good and evil. Chiaroscuro lighting is used in this frame, with the white and black shadows , the shadows may be used to symbolise that the character is doing something that they are not supposed to do, it also suggest something is being done in secret. The white and black patches of lighting are conflicting with each other, the white patches of lighting may be used to symbolise the character wanting to break free from the darkness or may be used to represent the character has been good but does not show it. The black patches of lighting overcomes the white patches, which may be used to symbolise the darkness that is taking over the character 'state of mind. Still the audience have not come up with an idea to what type of person the character is .

Frame 3

Frame 3 starts to introduce certain features of the character, a close up of the characters fingers are shown, however the fingers of the character does not appear to be normal, this frame shows the character cutting the skin of his finger with a blade. The dirty fingers of the character are used to represent the characters uncleanness and may be used to represent the character has been different, this also conforms the general conventions of villains in thriller films has always having something that is wrong with them e.g. captain hook in Peter Pan that has a hook in place for his hands. Clues are not given in this frame which suggest that the character might be evil.

Frame 4

Frame 4 shows the a close up of the characters fingers again, this time with bandages, this shows the result of the character cutting himself with a razor blade from the last frame. The character is still able to do things normal ly has you can see him getting some sort of files, this suggest that the character cutting himself with a razor blade is something that is done regularly, as no sign of pain is shown. The font se7en comes up in this frame which may suggest to the audience that this is the name of the film as it appears by itself in this frame. The writing appears were the lighting is dark which is a contrast to the colour of the font.

Frame 5

Frame 5 shows a close up of the character writing in the book, which shows that although he is seen as bad in the previous frames and seen as someone that is not normal, the character now shows the audience that he is also intelligent. Also due to the how the opening g has presented this character, the audience may also think that the character is writing down evil master plans due to the way he is conformed in other frames. The font used in this frame as no general structure, it does not stay in one place, this is shown through out the all course of the trailer, which may be used to represent the character as been strange.

Frame 6

Frame 6 uses a lot of dark lighting, and shows the image of a young person with the eyes being scratched out. The dark lighting used in this frame may be used to represent the character doing something that he is not supposed to be doing , something that is done in secret. The picture shown in this frame may be a victim has this not the only picture that appears in this opening, these are the kinds of thoughts that would come up in the audience’s head due to the way the character is presented in other frames. This shot also shows the casting of the film which is written in a white colour and may be used to represent the innocent lives.

Frame 7

Frame 7 shows the a close up of the character sticking something on a book, the opening of this trailer mostly includes close up shots of the characters features and shots which include the character doing something with his fingers. Although the audience do not know what the character is doing, these close up shots may be used to symbolise what is going is going on in the characters head. The close up shots may represent the character seeing the audience has his friends because the audience get see everything he does in close detail, and things that are considered secretive through the lighting used are revealed to the audience, as each frame progresses the audience start to know more about the character.

Frame 8

Frame 8 gives the audience more clues as to what the character is doing, it shows a close up of the character sewing pieces of papers together with a thread and needle which is abnormal , the character seems to have an obsession with metal objects that are sharp, which may imply that he likes doing things that bring pain or it may also be used to represent the objects that character uses to torture his victims.

Frame 9

Frame nine, the final frame, the audience see a close up of a dollar bill, but this close up has been elusively done because it shows the character cutting the word “God” out of the dollar which gives the audience more clues as to what the film may be about , or this may be done to represent the characters religious side or may imply that the character is guilty of something, which is why it resulted in cutting the word “God” out of the dollar bill. As this is the final frame, this frame could be represent what the film will be about.

Analysis of opening sequence Camera ShotsMost of the camera shots in this opening sequence uses variable close ups, to illustrate a viewpoint of what this psychotic person is doing. It is shown in fine detail; to give the audience a point of view on what this observable serial killer is doing using a range of high angle shots to conclude this. Moreover the opening scene also uses close ups of objects such as: books, needles, and pictures of people close to death.SoundsThe sounds that you hear throughout the opening scene are non diagetic; the instrumental of the music is so technical it’s sturdy to know what kind of instruments are been played. The instrumental is rapidly done which adds suspense and tension to the audience, the scream in this music brings a sense of death and torture. However the non diagetic sounds given of in this opening scene suits the convention, it gives the audience a graphical idea of what the film is going to be about. Editing The editing used in this opening scene are rapid cuts, they go from one shot to another rapidly, and this builds the pace of the film adding suspense to the audience. Moreover the cuts of the pictures shown in the opening scene suggest that the thoughts of this ambiguous person are disorientated and grotesque. The Text of the credit used in this opening sequence suggest that it is the hand writing of psycho, all these effects gives the audience the generic convention of this movie.Mise-en-Scene There are variable amount of non artificial lighting because the setting was dark and gloomy with obscured images of people near death. This gives the sense of seclusion and the thought that this person is up to no good. There is a contrast of colours between black and white, because the setting is dark and gloomy then a lamp appears which brings a sudden contrast. This could imply that this psychotic person as two sides, although we see his bad side in this opening sequence it gives it away that he may have an emotional soft side.