Opening Sequence Analysis 1 - Se7en

This is the opening sequence for the psychological thiller 'Se7en'. As my group and I will be creating the opening sequence of psychological thriller, this analysis could help me and my group implement our ideas with ideas we get from this clip oin order to get a good opening sequence. This clip begins with a shot of an open book, in front of the camera, which is the main focus of the shot. Also in the shot, you can see the page turn and then a hand emerge from the right hand side of the screen. The hand is slightly blurred as the main focus of the shot is the book, which can also imply that the character wishes to keep their identity a mystery. This is a common concept of the psycho-thriller genre. There is also a soundtrack being player throughout this clip. The soundtrack is very startling, which could be a tool used to get the audience's attention. The first opening credit is intorduced 3 seconds into the clip, and this is something that needs some thought with my group. We also will need to tatke into consideration how many opening credits we should include our opening sequence, which judging from Se7en should be around 20-25. Another point of consideration is what font we should use for these credits. The fact that the character seems to be creating judgement about this character from the very beginning of the film. As their identity and their creation remain a mystery, the audience will want to watch on, eagerly anticipating who this character is, and what this character is creating. A close up of this characters fingers show the audience an insight to what they are doing, which in this case shows the character peeling off their own skin off of their fingertips using a small, yet very fine, razor blade. This shows that this character is not afraid of pain, nor do they seem bothered that of the after affects of this. In this case, it ends up with this characters fingertips being bandaged, which is shown later in this clip. As the bandaged fingertips enter the frame, they are seen opening a box and aqquiring some sort of scrapbook. Then they are seen writing. The camera, however, is placed at an angle in which it is hard to establish what the character is writing. This is still adding to the mystery that comes with this character and their actions. This character appears to be adding to this scrap book as they are seen cutting some camera film and a photo down to size. There is further proof that this character is very suspicious as you, the audience, are shown a pile of newspapers which is the landing spot for a droplet of blood. This is shown very quickly, which could be used to imply that this character is trying to cover his tracks and leave nothing behind. The hand of this character is then shown as a shadow through a piece of paper steming from a book, and as this page is turning, the characters hand is moving futher and further away, trying to remain hidden. A black pen is soon shown, seeming to be crossing out words of a book. 2 stand out words which are blacked out are 'Transsexual' and 'Heterosexual'. This same pen is then used to black out a line across someones face, blacking out their eyes and the bridge of their nose. The same picture is then shown completely blacked out, using many straight, horizontal black lines of a felt-tip pen. This character is then shown placing all of these individual pieces of media, camera film, photos, cut out words etc. An image of a man with what looks like an arrow going through a mans head then appears on the screen. This image is used to unsettle the audience as up till now, this character could have been a stalker, or obsesser, but now he is shown to be involved in much more serious matters, murder/death. The finishing touches are now being added by this character so that their scrapbook is now up-to-date and now complete. The word 'God' is the last input of this opening sequence before the camera reveals loads of what looks like scrapbooks on a shelf/bookstand. The clip is finally finished with the music finally introducing some lyrics, however I can not make out what these lyrics are. The soundtrack is played throughout this clip and is used to help create a certain suspense around this character in particular. Hopefully, this analysis can help me and my group with our own opening sequence.