analysing film opening sequences- se7en

Analysing film opening sequences -Se7en

One immediate feature in the opening sequence of this film is the used of a non-diegetic sound to queue the music with a thunder sounds. The pitch of this thunder sound is extremely low and dull, and is in some ways an ambient sound. This is used is used is very menacing and evil and immediately sets a very gloomy atmosphere. By doing this, is connotes to the audience that it’ll be a very evil and dark film. Not only does it help the audience establish what kind of movie it is but it may also intrigue them to continue to watch more of the film.

A key feature throughout the opening sequence is the visual content of someone’s hands doing various activities such as writing drawing and cutting. The identity of this person isn’t revealed and the only thing we see is the hands of the character. Theorist Roland Barthes believes that media texts use 3 codes to make a good story and one of those codes is enigma codes. This opening scene complies with this theory because the audience are left wondering who’s hands they are and gives the character an enigmatic personality. This is affective because it makes the audience want to carry watching to find out eventually who’s hands they were and why they were doing all the things they were doing.

The audio content has a key role in building suspense in the audience’s bodies, considering that there is no dialogue in the opening two minutes.  The ace and rhythm of the music increase as we get further into the scene, giving the scene more and more intensity. The quicker the beat of the music gets leads the audience to believe that it is building up more tension and that something is going to happen at the climax of the music. Although nothing particular big happens at the climax, the start of the film begins at the end of the music, which shows that the film will have a lot of dramatic scenes from the onset.

There is a variation in camera shots throughout the opening, but there are many close up shots of the characters hands. These close up shots show immense detail on the character fingers. They are shown to be rugged and cut which may show that this character does a lot of work with his hands. However at the start, the character is shown cutting bits of his of skin off of his hands, which could potentially indicate that he is cutting off his fingerprints. This connotes to the audience that he is the clear antagonist in this film and that he is trying to cover his identity, which links back to the enigma codes Roland Barthes refers to.  The close up shots could also indicate to the audience that what things the character is doing with his hands are important and that the audience should pay attention to what he is doing because they are vital action.

Another feature in the opening sequence of the film is a fast paced montage of different shots cutting from one to another. The transition time between different shots is very quick and distorted to give a blurred view. The speed of these cuts make it very hard for the audience to follow the scene well and makes it difficult to tell what is happening. This is affective because it disorientates the audience and makes them winder what is going on. This may also be a representation of what is going on in the characters mind. This could connote that nobody can tell what they are doing/thinking because they are enigmatic. This intrigues the audience to continue to watch so they can resolve what was going on and discover conclusions.

A conventional feature in opening title sequences is credits showing the various characters and casting crews. This is evident in the opening 2 minutes whilst the visual content is displayed in the back. Although this isn’t a technique used to build tension or drama within the film, showing the film production companies and actors may engage the audience. Doing this helps them establish who is in the film and they may enjoy some of the actors and will want to continue to watch because they anticipate a good film. This is the same with the film production companies, the companies may be well known for directing good movies previously, so the audience will trust that this film will also be good.

One editing feature used in this opening sequence is the desaturation of the visual content. Majority of the visual content is picture in a very dull colour. This isn’t so much to the point of black and white, however to the point of making it very bland and decolourized. This suggests that this scene is very cold and cruel. This may also be represented as tired and fatigued which could be reflective of the character showing the scene. However, some objects aren’t some much de-saturated compared to the other visuals, which may suggest that                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    they are important objects and that the audience should draw their attention to it.

Theorist Vladamir Propp suggests that every story have clear characters. In this opening sequence, a clear antagonist (villain) is established and developed, this is done due to the menacing thunder sound affect used t the start, which connotes that this person is like “a storm over the city” and that they are an evil character. The antagonist is also developed by the way he is represented as dirty. His hands are shown to be covered in plasters and is generally shown a bit messy which is opposite to a conventional protagonist which would be clean, pure and innocent. The music used as well is representative of the antagonist. The music used is very and distorted, which makes the audience feel uncomfortable and disorientated.