Se7en opening titles

Se7en Opening Titles

Timeline of the opening titles:

There are 27 different credited roles which make up Se7en's opening titles. The first is "New Line Cinema Production" at 00:03 seconds. Which is important, as it informs the audience which production company was used and the director David Fincher in the third title at 00:10 seconds. This is key, because the audience can tell which style conventions are more likely to be used. After 00:13 seconds the opening titles go on to list the main actors within the film, for example Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman and Gwyneth Paltrow. This gives the audience a clue as to what the genre of the film will be, from what pervious films they have featured in. 


An example is Morgan Freeman who plays God in Elvan Almighty  Brad Pitt who plays a spy in Mr and Mrs Smith, thereby they could be detectives of some sort within this.


The credited roles stop listing the main cast at 0.10, changing to "casting by Billy Hopkins, Suzanne Smith, Kerry Borden" of those behind the scenes and at 01:16 "music by Howard Shore". These are key to include within the titles because without music (orchestral) there would be little emphasise to the build up of tension seen within thriller genres. The sequence at 01:39 starts listing those who produced the film, "co-producers Stephen Brown, Nana Greenwald, Sanford Panilch", at 01:43 it says "co-executive producers Lynn Harris, Richard Saperstein" The producers are very important to be included within the opening as they organise the running of the scenes, making sure all of the actors and behind the scenes know exactly what they are doing.
Furthermore "written by Andrew Kevin Walker" appears at 01:53, which informs the audience who thought up the narrative and promotes him.  If the audience enjoyed the film they are more likely to like other books or films by the same author. At 02:05 David Fincher is credited for the second time, suggesting he is the most crucial role of the film and also like the writer, promotes him as a director and all of this other films. Lastly, “Monday" is the end title at 02:08, showing the audience where the film is starting off at.

The opening sequence does not include any long shots of the setting, but the audience assumes that the things taking place are happening in a home or inside an office as the props are what you would typically find in these places i.e razor blade. However the location is never shown therefore creating tension for the audience.                    

Mise en Scene - Props

• The props used in the opening could be associated with investigations and detective work. These include books, photos, files, pens and paper. It appears as if the person is putting pictures and information into one file or case, one of these is a word "God" which could link to a theme of religion being a key concept throughout.                   

• All of the objects are shown very close up and therefore they take up most of the frame.  This creates suspense as the audience do not know who the character is that is creating this file and doing these things as they cannot see their face or where they are.

• All of the shots are low lighting, this connotes danger and that the film will be quite serious with a  dull and suspicious feel.

• Most of the colours shown are black and white, however when the photos are shown being developed you see the red light that is used to develop them, this dark red connotes danger.

Editing

 • The opening is in a montage format, it is lots of different clips put together. The fact that it isn’t done in an chronological order that makes sense gives the idea that this person is doing many different things to create some sort of file or investigation about something, e.g. getting photos and writing information.

• The transitions vary, some are straight cuts and some cross fade or fade to black. The fading gives the effect of the clips being linked together and creates an eerie feel, and the fade to black reflects the sincerity and darkness of the overall film. 
                  

• Most of the shots are short, however some are edited into slow motion giving them a slower pace. The music is also slow, especially at the beginning which gives it a slow pace.  As the sequence builds up and gets faster towards the end, it creates tension for the audience, and shows that it will be a tens film to watch. 
                  

• They have done the clips in slow motion because it allows the audience to properly see what they are doing on the screen. There are also animations of flickering on the screen during some of the shots, used to create an eerie effect on the shots.

• The same two style fonts are used throughout, whenever a name is listed a child-like hand writing is used which could be a link to a psychologically disturbed adult. The handwriting also fits in with the idea of someone creating a file or investigation, as well as some of the props. The text appears in white which makes it stand out against the dark background. Where as the other part of the title is done using a formal font, linking to a more serious tone.

• Another is the enlargement of the title "Se7en". throughout suggesting that the word/ meaning of seven (seven deadly sins) has something to do with the plot of the film.

Camera work

• All of the shots are close up objects, for example of the books, a pen, photos etc, allowing the audience to focus on what is happening with these items as it may reflect the happenings in the film. It also distracts them from seeing who the person is that is doing these things which creates tension.
                   

• During the opening sequence, most of the camera shots are still. There is not much panning or any other kind of movement as all of the shots focus on one main thing and keep it at the centre of the shot.

By Rhianna Henson-Smith