Se7en Texutal Analysis

Hey,

Let's get straight into it; the opening minutes of Se7en including the title sequence tells the audience a lot about the characters and the story itself. The camera angles and movements offers hints and nudges the audience towards assumptions they can make. For instance: Detective Somerset is the first character we're introduced to, so immediately we can recognise that he is a largely important character just with the camera's affect of showing him before anyone else. The second character we see is whom we presume to be the antagonist however we don't see his face; this introduction after Somerset, makes the audience link to two characters quickly knowing that there pathways will intertwine.

 Links and similarities between the two characters are introduced to us via other techniques also. For example during the opening minutes the camera zooms in on Somerset's metronome that has also been increased in diegetic volume so the emphasis is placed upon it:- The slow steady rhythm the metronome creates is carried on straight away within the title sequence's music creating another bridge between Somerset and the killer; showing how closely similar both sides are however this also shows the contrast of their career choices, as the killer uses his intelligence to commit crime whereas the detective uses his intelligence to solve them.

This brings me onto my next point. The mise-en-scene used within the opening minutes provide further evidence towards the point that the mind-set of the two sides are closely related; the old-fashion layout and simplicity of the detective's home resembles that of the killer's. Somerset has a chess board within his home (another example of his intelligence) but also has no TV or any modern distractions. The killer uses notebooks and diaries to get his thoughts down and uses old film and  very little modern technology to aid him. These are all examples of more traditional signs of intelligence showing again how alike both the detective and the killer are. The constant links between the two infer not only how similar they are but foreshadows how the story will follow the two and join them together later on. The last action of the killer during the sequence we see of him is when he is cutting out the word God from a dollar note; which foreshadows the film's plot of how the killer believes his work to be that of God's.

Finally, some clever editing implores the audience to come up with some questions as to the nature of the detective; during the opening minutes we only see the detective getting ready in the morning, then returning home in his bed with the metronome ticking away, completing skipping over the actual work during the day. Whilst during the killer's sequence we see him doing his work, raising questions as to exactly how similar the killer and the detective actually are. Allowing the audience to follow the character during the rest of the film suspiciously which creates more thorough tension throughout the film.