Analysis of title sequence (chosen genre)

The clip I will be analysing is the opening title sequence to ‘Se7en’, this is thriller movie, which is the genre of film I will be doing myself.

Camerawork & movement : The camera shots used in this clip are mainly entirely close up shots & extreme close up shots (an example of a close up shot in this clip would be the sketch drawing of the hands whilst an extreme close up shot included in this clip would be the very badly conditioned, peeling fingernails). I feel that the continuation of these two shot types and the fact that that there is no long shot or even mid-shot included is a way of implying to the audience that to understand the movie/plot fully, you will have to look in very deep, and also hinting that the narrative would include a lot of inside, extreme investigating work. This is effective with the genre as thrillers themselves often tend to be films that play a lot of ‘mind-games’ and require the audience to think.

To add on to that, these use of shots can also have been a way to intimidate and make the audience have a feeling of unease, as making this scene include nothing but close up/extreme close ups creates a feeling for the audience that they are being left in the dark or there is something that they don’t know as we are only shown small ‘snippets’ and are not able to see the bigger picture/full image, reinforcing the mystery of it. This also linking to genre and thus, being effective as thrillers are all about getting an emotional reaction out of the viewer, and this opening title sequence certainly achieves that by making me the viewer feel unstable and nervous, this also setting the atmosphere for the rest of the movie.

Mise-en-scene : The mise-en-scene in this scene is used specifically to set the mood and tone for the film. The lighting in this title sequence throughout is very low-key lighting, which is significant with the plot line and genre and dark colours/lighting signifies and connotes danger and trouble, this being effective as it links heavily to the plotline (of it being a murder story), the low-key lighting also creating a very tense, sinister and ominous vibe throughout.

To add on to that, the audience is introduced to a character, but only through shadows and the extreme close up of their horribly conditioned finger nails, which makes them unidentifiable. This is effective as it gives away only little information for the viewer, creating an even bigger sense of suspicion and unease as the audience is being left in the dark and still unaware of what is going on.

Specific props in the title sequence include: a book with a sketch of hands; someone writing with felt-tip pen; someone peeling off parts of the finger; the crossing out of someone’s eyes using a pen; numerous people in black & white photographs. This is effective as it gives off little hints/codes of what the plot could possibly be, which with all of these props, the plot evidently appears to go into the direction of being a stalker/psycho/murder story.

Within this title sequence, there is also very short cuts in which the screen will turn red to give off that ‘blood splattered’ impression, this is effective because the colour red connotes rage, anger, danger & malice, whilst blood being splattered can signify a murder or harm done to someone, this adding to the ‘uneasy’ vibe.

Editing: There are a variety of transitions in the opening sequence 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. Some of the special effects include the clips being in slow motion, this creates a more sombre tone and allows the audience to properly see what they are doing on the screen

Typography: The titles that are written appear in a font that resembles handwriting and also flicker when being presented on the screen. This creates the illusion that there is a file/investigation case going on, & also adds to the idea of the unknown because of the flicker

Sound: The sound in the opening sequence is non-diegetic mixed diegetic, it seems to be the overall soundtrack of science lab, this linking to the clips we see on the screen, with sounds of what appear to be shrieks and even animals at point, this is effective as it gives off a very eerie and uncomfortable atmosphere for the audience, setting them up for the rest of the movie.