Analysis of Seven

Seven: Opening Scene

One of the first shots we see is a bird’s eye view shot of five objects lined up on a table. This shows the audience that he is a well organised person who may be a bit superstitious. Also, two of the objects are an FBI badge and a knife, which show that he is likely to be a detective. Having every item lined up in this way shows us a side to his personality, which may be a serious one if he is this dedicated to lining everything up.

In this next scene we see a gruesome dead body. This proves that our assumption of a detective was correct. The room is very dark apart from some natural light coming through a window. This stays the same throughout the entire opening. There is hardly any light apart from the widow and some torches the officers have. It is a tense atmosphere because of the body and the blood surrounding him. And the fact we don’t know why this was done and how it happened. The lighting in this scene is fits perfectly to add tension and it makes us feel under suspense as we desperately want our question’s answered, just like the detectives.

This is a close up on Somerset’s. He has a concerned expression, not because he is bothered by being in such a distressing crime scene as he has so much experience in his profession, but maybe he is concerned as the crime is very confusing and complex to solve. We see another close-up, this time of the dead man’s hands tied together under the table. The use of these close-ups means that the viewer must piece together the scene, as we rarely see it as a whole. This is made even harder as the images are obscured by the lack of light.

As the scene moves outside, we expect there to be a relief in the lighting, but there is not. This could be linked to how there is now relief for the detective- William Somerset- and he can never forget about the things he sees on his job. It is a very gritty setting and appears to be an area down town there is quite sleazy- suitable for the gritty events in the film. We hear rain and thunder when the scene is taken outside too, which may be an example of pathetic fallacy- the depressing weather is comparable to the gloomy and disturbing happenings of the film.

Here we are introducing to the character David Mills. He is much younger than Somerset and seems to be a laid back character. He is chewing gum in the shot and wearing a leather coat showing he is relaxed and naive. You can tell straight Away he has less experience compared to Somerset. He seems to be a confident person but when we see Somerset’s reaction of him in the next shot we feel that he does not approve of his new partner.

On the other hand in this shot, Somerset is in a much more stereotypical outfit, he is wearing a large overcoat similar to the film untouchables. This kind of overcoat is typical to detectives in gangster films and many other thrillers. He is mysterious and lonely, and thinks mostly of his job. He also does not have that much dialogue, this could connote that he prefers to be on his own than being with others, so being with this young detective may frustrate him

A mid shot/two shot is used to show David Mills and William Somerset. It could be juxtaposing the characters as very contrasting personalities. But even with the clash of personalities the audience sees that they have to deal with each other and try and work together as best as possible even if their personalities clash.

Later in the opening, we see and hear a metronome ticking at Somerset’s house. It reinforces the idea that he finds it hard to have relief from and stop thinking about his job, as he has to have noise when trying to sleep so that he can shut out any memories.

The credits then begin and we hear some disturbing sounds, there was screeching and pounding. They are harsh sounds which makes the audience tense up as they are sounds which are unnerving. There are lots of cuts showing different images but the audience struggle to put them together. This is a confusing feature but keeps the viewer interested and makes them want to watch to see how they link . The credits have come up in a mysterious font which adds to the effect of the mysteriousness and confusion. The white text contrasts with the dark murky background and makes it stand out for the audience.