By Emma Hodgson and Ryan Smith

Se7en Analysis

A close up of somebody opening a book is the opening shot. The shadow makes the shot look mysterious and makes us wonder what is written in the book. As the opening shot this helps build tension and makes the audience question what's happening in the film. This is very effective as a thriller opening as it has the audience asking a lot of questions which all good thrillers should do.

This is an extreme close of someone using a razor blade to cut skin off of their fingers. This is weird and painful which makes you wonder why someone would do this to themselves and makes you want to carry on watching. This image puts into our minds that they are not afraid of pain and most probably enjoy hurting themselves. This shows to the audience that the antagonist is mental and makes the audience think if he can do that to their self then what could they do to others?

This is a close up of a distorted, creepy face. The NVC of the picture shows the person is in pain and makes the audience ask to their self why this person are in pain. This image is very effective as it shows someone in pain so you expect the film to be gory/scary. It makes the audience wonder who has done this to them and have they done it to more people? As this screenshot of the opening looks like a photograph of the person, this could also suggest that there could be many more photographs and many more victims.

This shows the films name in quite creepy writing. This gives the sense that the film will be weird. It looks quite old fashioned like a projector which makes the audience think that there is a use of flashbacks or an old projector in the film. It also tells the audience the name of the film and as its written weirdly it makes the audience know its going to be a creepy film.

This shows a picture of a man but it looks like the picture is covered in blood to portray death, pain and tension. The semantics of red are: blood, love, danger, warning signs. In this case the audience would believe its about blood and danger due to the picture being red over the mans face.This also suggests people are being killed off in the photos that have been taken, the pictures are the victims.

This shows different newspaper articles suggesting whatever happens in the film, the public in the film know about it as the media are talking about it. The newspaper articles suggest to the audience that the crimes being committed in the film are well known throughout the media/society. Due to the blood on the paper it shows the killer could be reading his crimes for pleasure or to see if they know anything about what they’ve committed.

This is a close up on a book showing a shadow of someone writing. This is mysterious and creates tension as it makes the audience think something is happening and wonder what he is writing. The killer could be writing out a diary of their crimes or could be writing down new ideas on what to do to their victims. It makes us wonder what they are writing down.

By crossing out the eyes in the picture it seems like he is removing their identity and by the picture turning red it looks like blood and makes you think someone has killed the person in the picture. And the picture has been fully crossed out making you think he was a target to kill and has been killed.

This shot is the final part of the opening and it is quite weird that he is cutting the word ‘god’ out of a dollar. It could mean to things, he either believes in god or he doesn’t. Either way it makes you ask questions.