Kyle Cooper - Se7en

Se7en

The film Se7en was directed by David Fincher in 1995.  Se7en enjoyed wide critical and popular success. The film doesn’t open directly with the sequence. It first introduces you to Detective Sommerset ( Morgan Freeman) and Detective Mills (Brad Pitt). It shows then that they meet for the first time, establishing their combative on-screen chemistry and investing the audience in the evolution of their partnership. This prelude then also shows the key themes found in Se7vn. For example hopelessness, desperation and lots of violence. At the end, we welcome Somerset’s night time Zen ritual of drowning out the chaos with a metronome on his nightstand.

The opening sequence for Se7en is very well thought out and created. The whole sequence in a montage of clips and pictures from what we gather as the murderer however it could be other detectives. Most people know before watching the film about the 7 deadly sins, so when we see the clips we may try and relate them to the title. The sound in the sequence is very effective. Its as if the sound is also a montage of music and soundtracks very like the clips. You often hear the sound of screeching this could be relating to the screams of victims. The editing is very clever in the titles and credits. The font that is used is almost creepy and jagged as it has been scratched – this could be related to murders.

The sequence is as if the montage relates to the murderers brain and how it works. We already think that someone has to be a lunatic if he is going to commit murders like this so we think that it is murder and feel that the montage is what’s happening in the mind of the murderer.This creates a million questions of what is happening and if looked at closely you can see hints of what's to come in the film.