Student Production Analysis - Cast in Shadows

Ufello films’ logo appears on a black screen in a hand written, white font, which contrasts with the black background. This characteristic is a classic thriller convention which Levi Strauss introduced called binary opposition. In addition to the font and background, there are also two blue lines that appear to have been smudged. The colour blue often connotes coldness, and within the thriller genre, enigma-another common feature. A crescendo occurs at the end of the logo which adds tension to the following scenes. The production logo then fades out and reveals the word ‘presents’ which is out of focus, possibly to further suggest mystery, just as the colour blue also does. A long establishing shot of a bus stop next to a main road is shown showing the area in which the events of the film opening are going to take place. This fades to the logo for Touchstone Films which gradually zooms in and then fades into opening scene.

A long shot of a girl walking past the camera and coming towards the bus stop at a fast pace with a worried look on her face, denoting distress and that something may have gone wrong, is seen. A straight cut to her walking into the shelter follows, whilst the camera slowly zooms into it. A mid shot of the girl shows her taking her phone out of her bag and then an over the shoulder shot of her entering a phone number is seen. A parallel edit shows a mid-shot of-due to his non-verbal codes- what appears to be her boyfriend on a sofa giving, suggesting that he is the one she is ringing. A further straight cut shows her holding her phone up against her ear waiting for him to answer. The use of parallel editing then shows him pulling his own phone out. A shot reverse shot then shows their phone conversation. She seems rather worried and anxious as she talks to him and insists that he comes to see her straight away. Fast paced editing and a prolific use of close ups of the girl’s face shows her emotions, creating tension.

Her apparent boyfriend gets up and the walks to the bus stop with a long shot showing him walking away as if he is walking into danger and away from his safe home. He walks to the bus stop with his hands in his pockets indicating that he is rather relaxed. He then begins to seem quite agitated and nervous when the girl isn’t there waiting for him. A point of view shot shows him surveying his surroundings, looking for her or any sign that she has been near. At the end of the POV shot, a non-diegetic percussion instrument can be heard, creating enigma and mystery. He sits down and scratches his head, which has connotations of confusion. He takes his phone out of his pocket and begins to dial her phone number, indicating that he is concerned about her and wants to establish her location.

He proceeds to phone his friend, and this is seen through an over the shoulder shot, in which he says “hey babe where are you?” The word ‘babe’ indicates they are close and further suggests that he is her boyfriend. This means that her disappearance may have more of an effect on the reader than if hey hadn’t, through the Kulshov Effect. While he is talking on the phone, the camera zooms in so we can focus on his non-verbal codes, which adds to the sense of terror. We hear a diegetic sound from the phone-the name - “James”- that is enigmatic, as it clearly isn’t his girlfriend, from the voice heard. He then looks confused in his non-verbal codes, with his scratching his head etc. Alien-like music emphasises the mystery of the proceeding shots and the ring he finds forms another enigma as to where his friend is. These enigmas are a common convention of the thriller genre, as well as serving the purpose of adding mysteries to the overall plot.

He then walks out of the shelter to see if anything is behind him and then we see a POV shot from the antagonist and possible abductor’s perspective, which zooms out, making the actor appear isolated and helpless. He then shouts “Sasha” and then the same style of POV shot used earlier, along with a whip pan, again connotes that he is helpless and there is no one within his surroundings to help him.

The editing noticeably speeds up as he hears “James” again. Alternating between the POV shot from his point of view and the POV shot from the antagonist’s point of view, and the camera tracking to show the antagonist’s movement out of the bushes, steadily builds tension. He then looks away from the protagonist, and the protagonist’s POV is shown once again. This time as the antagonist gets closer, a non- diegetic sound of a metallic echo is heard, again, heightening the tension.

A hooded figure is then seen from a long shot. His dress code hides his identity, creating enigma, which is another convention of the thriller genre; the antagonist’s identity is often not revealed until the end of the film. He runs around the bus shelter and both him and the protagonist disappear as a car drives past on the main. The title of the opening “Cast in Shadows” is then shown, and again it uses a convention of the thriller genre- binary oppositions- which is between the black of the background, and the white of the text connoting, a struggle between good and evil, from what has been seen in the opening itself.

Whilst analysing this student productions we notices things in which we would like to put into our film and other stuff which we would leave out. They use a good use of enimgas within the film such as 'where has the woman gone?, who is that guy? and how does he know James name?' which would keep the audience watching to reveal these answers. They also used sound effects well and made it fit into the mood of the film which helps build up the atmosphere with the strange noises. We also noticed that they zoomed into the locations as the character entered and it was done how they did it, so we will probably replicate that shot in our film.
Although, we noticed there were a lot of shaky camera movements as if it was done by hand when it shouldn't of been or as if the camera has been nudged, which isn't very professional. The story itself isn't very gripping which makes it hard to keep interest when watching the opening which can detirmine for some people if they will enjoy the film or not.

Cast in the Shadows from Kieran Brooks on Vimeo.

Research into Thriller Conventions

Within Thrillers, the common characters involved in the film are Proppian character types such as the hero e.g. Batman (Dark Knight), John McClane (Die Hard) and William Somerset (Seven). All the heroes seen in thrillers all seem to follow the same rules. They are usually the protagonists who save the day when a disruption happens (Tzvetan Todorov’s theory), although in films such as Pulp Fiction, the protagonists are actually the criminals making them the villains.

They are also usually all middle aged men around 40 years old and sometimes older, they all have connections with the police and other law enforcements but they are also all flawed in some way. John McClane is having problems with his wife due to them working in different parts of the country and that she has gone back to her maiden name instead of using his. William Somerset is a perfectionist and due to this behaviour he doesn’t seem well liked by his fellow detectives and officers. Batman on the other hand saw his parents die when he was young which would have had some serious psychological effects on him.

Other Proppian character types such as the villain is also seen in thrillers such as Auric Goldfinger (James Bond: Goldfinger), Hans Gruber (Die Hard) and Gabriel Shear (Swordfish). The villains in the films are usually the ones to cause the disruption for the protagonist and are also equally matched in nearly every way making them binary opposites (Claude Levi-Strauss’s theory). The villains are around the same age as the hero but are usually fuelled by either greed or just sadistic acts which they believe is acceptable. The villains usually get defeated though resulting in an equilibrium again.

There is also a donor role within thrillers for example, Lucius Fox (Dark Knight) and Q (James Bond franchise). This role aids the hero throughout the journey by giving them items of importance that will help them restore the equilibrium. The donors seem to be older than the hero indicating that they can’t solve the disruption themselves, so they supply the hero with the needs too. Lucius Fox in the Dark Knight supplies Batman with his arsenal of gadgets giving him the upper hand against his enemies which usually is used to solve the disruption.

Finally another common Proppian character role found in thrillers is the dispatcher who sends the hero on his mission to resolve the disruption. For example, M (James Bond franchise), Lt. Jim Gordon (Dark Knight) and Marsellus Wallace (Pulp Fiction). The dispatcher in thrillers seems to be the person in charge of the hero such as their bosses. E.g. M from James Bond is the head MI6 and is in charge of Bond.

Claude Levi-Strauss’s structure of binary opposition occurs a lot within the themes of thrillers. There is good vs. evil which is a primary theme found in thrillers and occurs in a large majority of thrillers. This shows that there is a hero and villain within the film for the story to revolve around and that they are equally matched. This is usually shown with connotations of white and black indicating good and evil. Films such as Face-Off, Seven and Batman use this binary opposition to use as a guideline for their story.

There is also life and death within thrillers as the hero is out to try and save people from dying at the hands of the villain who is usually sadist. The villain doesn’t make it easy for the hero though adding tension to the film by making it so if the hero fails, a lot of lives will be lost. The James Bond franchise use this a lot so James has to go and defuse a bomb for instance to stop a lot of people from dying.

The life and death opposition also links in with the Captor and the captive opposition as the villain has some captives or hostages held and it is up to the hero to come and save the hostages before they get killed by the villain. Films such as The Taking of Pelham 123 and Hostage

A hunter vs. hunted theme can also be used in a lot of thrillers to add suspense to the film and make you wonder if the hero is going to get out alive and makes the villain seem more evil and mysterious. This opposition has been used in films such as Hard Target and Assault of Precinct 13. In Assault of Precinct 13, some people are held up in an abandoned police station while a crazed gang are hunting them trying to kill them connoting the hunted being holed up in a building while the hunters are trying to break through to kill them.

Todorov’s theory of narrative structure is followed by a lot of thrillers with there being an equilibrium or status quo which then gets knocked out of balance by a disruption of some sort with the hero then going out to resolve the disruption therefore recreating the same equilibrium or changing it into a new one if something life changing happened.

In Seven, Detective Somerset is just at his home getting ready for work which is the equilibrium. It then cuts to a crime scene were a murder has took place acting as the disruption. After the crime has been solved, it resorts back to the equilibrium. It probably stays as the same equilibrium as it gives off an impression that murder and crime happens a lot in that city and it doesn’t affect Somerset in a life changing way.

In Face-Off the equilibrium is Sean Arches spending some time with his son on a carrousel bonding with each other. When Castor Troy shoots Sean and kills his son, this acts as a disruption in the film. Sean finally catches Castor which results in a new equilibrium as Sean can’t go back to how he wants as due to his son’s death, everything has changed.

Within these openings, a few thriller conventions occur. It shows the protagonist and in some cases reveals the antagonist also. It then shows that they are both equally matched against each other but also reveals a flaw in the hero. The fact they are equally matched supports Strauss’s theory of binary oppositions as they are equally matched and are good vs. evil. It reveals the location in which it is all set which generally is a large urban environment to act as a ‘concrete jungle’. Finally a death occurs within the openings of these thrillers which then sets the whole narrative into motion.

During the Seven opening credits, it helps establish the genre of the film and gives an eerie feel to the whole film. The credits start with a fade to black with a pathetic fallacy occurring on a diegetic sound effect of thunder, indicating a coming storm. The credits then are done by acting as a montage, showing different things happening from one shot to the next. Then weird stuff begins to happen such as the person we see blacking out pictures, cutting pictures and blanking out words. Due to these weird actions, it gives the impression that it is the antagonist doing all of this and sets a tense atmosphere whilst adding enigma to the film. It has a cut to him cutting his fingertips off with a razor blade connoting that he is psychotic as he is inflicting pain upon himself. Whilst all of this is happening, it plays some industrial music in the background to add more suspense due to its metallic feel. At the end of the credits, it mentions the phrase ‘you bring me closer to God’, perhaps indicating that religion has a role within the film.

Due to all of this, it creates an enigma about the film that will keep you guessing throughout the whole film about what is happening, who is the next victim etc.

For the film Dirty Harry, the intro starts off with a death of a young woman by a sniper and it shows Harry going to the scene of the murder. As he does, it comes up with the titles while playing some eerie tense atmospheric score using a lot of percussion instruments and a bass guitar. Whilst the credits are still going, it shows the setting of the film as a large urban city (San Francisco). It then does another extreme long shot of the protagonist where the sniper was revealing the entire city allowing the audience to know the location.

As the opening of Dirty Harry starts off with a murder, it immediately follows one of the main conventions of a thriller film which also allows the audience to know what to expect.

When the opening credits start the name of the studio is usually given first, followed by the production company, producer’s name, and then it is usually the main stars of the show or any famous actors followed by the film title. After this the composer of the music appears, and then the editor followed by the producer once again. The script writers name appears followed then by the director of the film.

Film industry research
 

USPs: A unique point that gets audiences to watch films include the actors and genres used usually linking them with work they’ve done in the past and a specific genre such as Simon Pegg doing comedy roles such as Hot Fuzz, Matt Damon in thrillers like the Bourne franchise and Christopher Lee in action adventure films.

The distributor will then put the film into a specific category using the above USPs e.g. action adventure, thriller. Then this will all be represented on posters and trailers that the audience will view. This then gives the audience a good idea on what the film will be like and if it will be something they’re interested in.

With the target audience, the distributor considers who the target audience are for that particular film e.g. Teenagers, young adult female etc. This helps them decide where they should advertise it, and how to advertise it. For instance, a romantic chick flick may be seen in feminine magazines.

distributors try to attract as wider audience as possible also, meaning they can make as much profit as possible – sometimes the film will crossover into different genres and become a hybrid. Such as Cowboys vs. Aliens.

A medium budget Hollywood thriller such as Se7en

Distributor: New Line Cinema

Budget: $33 million

Worldwide Box Office Takings: $328 million

Widest number of screens released on: 2,528 theatres

A big budget British thriller such as Casino Royale

Distributor: Columbia Pictures

Budget: $150 million

Worldwide Box Office Takings: $594 million

Widest number of screens released on: 3443 theatres

A low budget British thriller such as The Disappearance of Alice Creed

Distributor: Isle of Man Film and CinemaNX

Budget: N/A

Worldwide Box Office Takings: $867714

Widest number of screens released on: 12 theatres


Aliens

Distributor: 20^th Century Fox

Budget: 18.5 million

Worldwide Box Office Takings: $131 million

Widest number of screens released on: 1454 theatres

Blade Runner

Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

Budget: 28 million

Worldwide Box Office Takings: $33 million

Widest number of screens released on: 1325 theatres


Shutter Island

Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Budget: 80 million

Worldwide Box Office Takings: $295 million

Widest number of screens released on: 3356 theatres

The films production is usually done by the film studios which generally have a partnership with distributors. The distributor invests a large amount of funding into the film and the advertisements. The most famous distributors such as 20^th Century Fox, Paramount, New Line and Disney will usually invest in big budget British films such as Harry Potter and the James Bond franchise. While the smaller budget productions filmed in the UK such as ‘The Guard’ will most likely be financed by the BBC, Film4, Lotto etc. or the UK Film Council.

New Line cinema’s logo is really dark and mysterious as it is, but it straight away adds tension and suspicion to the film Se7en. This may be because a large amount of films they produce are horror/thriller productions allowing them to fit in nicely.

In this one, Paramount Pictures have just shown there basic logo which makes the whole film seem less tense, but it then fades into the film and uses a graphics match from the white clouds and sky to a fog covering the boat up. This builds mystery and tension due to fog shrouding everything and not allowing the background to be seen.

I would use New Line Cinema to distribute my film as I would like to do a psychological thriller and they released titles such as ‘Se7en, The Butterfly Effect and Snakes on a Plane’ so they know how to advertise that genre of film and to allow the audience to know that it will keep them on the edge of their seat throughout the film.

Face-Off Analysis

The film starts off with the name of the studio that produced Face Off called Touchstone Pictures. Names of the producers and other companies who invested into the film are shown on a black background in white text whilst whooshing noises appear after every transition. The music starts off rather happy and upbeat, creating a sound bridge between the black and the fairground. The music is set at a mid tempo to allow the audience to feel relaxed and not too tense whilst watching it. The music though seems quite ambiguous and doesn’t seem to fit with the genre of the film, perhaps luring you into a false sense of security. The film then starts to show the actors credits with the first name written in white and the second name written in black. This indicates binary opposition such as good vs. evil which thriller conventions tend to circle around. The scene shows Sean Arches (John Travolta) riding a carousel with his son showing they are close. The whole clip is shown in slow motion with lots of close ups and two shots of them which makes you feel as if he is cherishing every moment with him and they are physically and mentally close.

The camera suddenly zooms into an extreme close up of a covered up object which is swiftly unveiled as a rifle with whooshing sound effects foregrounded for dramatic impact. The music quickly changes pace and time with more bass to add more sinister feel adding more atmosphere to the scene. The music highlights the silhouette figure in the background and gives you the impression that it is the villain with the dark, shadowed figure representing evil, fear and darkness. There is then an extreme close up of his face revealing the shrouded figure. The facial expressions from the antagonist connotes confidence and experience as he doesn’t seem to be anxious or worried about what he is doing. He begins to take a drink though and seems rather laid back about all of this, once again showing he is experienced. This seems to show that both good and evil are equally matched.

There is then a POV shot of the crosshairs of the rifle scope aiming on Sean Arches showing that the antagonist is attempting to kill the protagonist. We then see a medium close up of Sean and his son again still going in circles pretty much like lamb for slaughter. But with Sean not knowing any different, he is still showing a lot of love and enjoyment with his son making the moment seem a lot more tragic. There is then an extreme close up of the villain pulling the trigger of the rifle and a cut to the bullet coming out of the barrel acting as a cause and effect edit. The bullet though is shown in slow motion using CGI to allow you to follow the bullet and show how helpless Sean and his son are. The music immediately stops only allowing the effects of the bullet and the impact to be heard.

As the child and Sean fall off the carousel, you can hear the distressed noise of a horse neighing from one of the rides, even though it is an inanimate object, perhaps connoting that this is Sean’s biggest nightmare. Then we see a long shot of balloons floating away, connoting the end of life.

 You see Sean with a bullet wound in his torso but he begins to crawl towards the corpse of his child showing his distress. Whilst this is happening, the villain looks away from the scope and a close up occurs shows him reveal some emotion. Whether it is sympathy for Sean, feeling guilty for hurting a kid or is annoyed that he missed his target and got collateral damage instead. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of people attempting to help Sean in anyway, perhaps in fear of being shot themselves. As the carousel still spins around, it begins to get more fragmented and slightly tenser as parts of it are going at normal pace and then they quickly jolt forward with eerie sounds playing. The scene then ends on a sound sting of the theme with an ellipsis edit.

The edit shows how long it has been since the last shot with text indicating that it has been a while since the incident. There is a long shot from inside a building showing a large urban environment out of the window with high rise buildings. The urban setting is typical for thrillers due to it being like a ‘concrete jungle’. The camera tracks across the window showing a close up of Sean’s face which due to his facial expressions gives the image of him thinking and reminiscing. Music begins to play reflecting his emotions as the camera begins to tilt down along the wall showing all of his accomplishments and shows that he is a detective and has done a great deal for his city. But due to his son’s death, he has become the ‘flawed hero’ which is a common convention of the thriller genre. The tilt ends with selective focus close up of a pistol showing that he is still doing his job and that he has unfinished business as the pistol is more important than his awards.

It then cuts to a shot of a computer and some software which would have been cutting edge technology back then connoting that where he works get funded well and have great resources showing they are an important organisation. The shot turns into a POV shot as it the camera moves and wobbles as if you are seeing it through someone’s eyes. Due to the offices and the fact he is in that building, this organisation seems to be Sean’s work place. The music changes and begins to sound more like a choir as the camera zooms into a computer screen revealing Castor Troy’s face who shot Sean’s son. It then begins to pull up information about his previous assassinations reinforcing that he is experienced and equally matched against Sean.

Then a dissolve edit occurs revealing Castor Troy dressed as a priest. This is quite ironic as Castor is a murderer but yet is wearing clothes of a holy man who is a symbol of purity. A close up of Castors face looking at a box. His facial expressions give the feeling that he isn’t sure what he is looking at or if it is the real thing. It then zooms out to reveal a green skull and cross bones on the box. The skull is symbolic and has connotations of danger and death which could indicate that it is something deadly such as a bomb. The fact it is in green may represent illness, pestilence or radiation which could occur if the bomb went off. It then edits back to Sean who looks rather tired and weary, perhaps due to him having to stay at work all night or that the death of his son is still haunting him. He goes into a room full of other employees and officers and reveals that he is part of a ‘cover anti-terrorist team’ that no one knows about. Due to Sean being part of this, it once again reinforces the binary oppositions and that Sean and Castor are equally matched. A straight cut follows showing castor typing in a code and then arming a bomb. Once the bomb is armed, drums can be heard bellowing connoting danger once again. You also see a clock begin to tick down showing that it has turned into some form of time trial. A cut back to Sean happens with him ranting at his team showing that the death of his son has not only affected himself, but his team as they have to carry some of the burden.

The camera then tilts up revealing Castor arming not one bomb, but multiple bombs all at once. As he seals the bombs away, halleluiah begins to play he stretches his arms out, perhaps symbolising Jesus on the crucifix and then starts dancing perhaps due with excitement and that he has achieved something. The music also fits well with his pope robes as they both have connotations of God and holiness, which isn’t exactly how Castor would be described. It then has a long shot of a church choir singing halleluiah with a large area around them showing that they’re in a large building. Castor then begins to mosh in front of the choir which is usually done to rock and metal music which is known to be the ‘devils’ music. He then begins to talk to one of the choir girls and then begins to grope her, but the girl doesn’t resist nor seem affected by it, perhaps connoting that Castor is a ladies man.

As the song goes to the climax, an extreme longshot occurs showing the building where the bomb is being held and a sound bridge occurs going into Sean’s office where he is having a phone call arguing.

Sean’s secretary then enters his office revealing that his wife is on the phone waiting for him to pick up. A close up of Sean’s face showing his expressions indicate that he isn’t too happy with his wife and that he is expecting her to have a moan at him. This connotes that not only has Sean and his co-workers suffered since the death of his son, it is ripping his family apart and making home life hard, perhaps one of the reasons why he stayed the night at work. One of Sean’s co-workers who helped Sean calm down when he was ranting at his team burst into his office and revealed that they found Castor try. Due to him being more informal with Sean than the others, it gives the feel of friendship between them too. Sean then grabs his coat and begins to leave whilst still having the conversation with his friend. But the camera zooms into the phone on Sean’s desk with a red light still flashing on his phone showing that his wife is still waiting for Sean to pick up the phone but catching Castor seems to be the biggest priority in Sean’s life.

Face-Off Intro from Kieran Brooks on Vimeo.

Se7en Film Analysis

Seven begins with an animated logo of the distributors – New Line Cinema. The logo works well within any film due to the film reel graphic. That, and the colours used in the logo are representative of thrillers, with black and white- the struggle between good and evil, and the mysterious backlight behind the graphic of the logo is realistic and akin to chiaroscuro lighting which is a convention of the thriller genre.

The film begins with a sound bridge of police sirens from a black fade to the kitchen of detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman), we instantly recognise he is the protagonist due to his white outfit and white kitchen connoting purity and cleanliness. This also links with his organized and almost OCD personality, as he has everything organized just the way he likes and it doesn’t seem very homely. A binary opposition is also present in the scene with the chessboard; the white and black opposing each other i.e. the struggle between good and evil, which will be one of the main conventions of the thriller genre which the film will tackle. The chessboard could also connote that he is intelligent.

The editing for these scenes is rather slow pace which may be connoting the way his life is at home – it is where he winds down and recovers from work by relaxing himself or that his work life takes priority and that his home is rather lonely. In the following shot we see he spends a lot of time getting ready, as he does up his cufflinks and straightens his tie in the mirror from an over the shoulder mid close up shot. His OCD nature is again accentuated with the almost militaristic line up of his possessions such as his knife which is unusual for a law enforcement to carry instead of a pistol. The most notable possession though is his badge which indicates he is a detective.

We see in the next shot, both his bed and his suit. His bed is a single, showing to us that he lives alone and is a single man, and it’s in an almost perfect state (again showing his OCD like qualities), and then he picks hair off his suit jacket, showing his perfectionism yet again. Then he turns the light off which connotes he is leaving, then an ellipsis edit occurs.

Straight away, this helps create a contrast from the clean and sterile environment to a crime scene which we know due to the dead body and blood pools. We know it was a shooting due to the blood splatter on the window. The crime scene is set within an apartment which looks like it is in a poor area due to the grime and all the filth. Somerset then begins to inspect the apartment and pays attention on every detail, perhaps causing more work for himself by doing so which may also connote and enforce that he is a perfectionist. They use selective focus on this scene to highlight Somerset as the protagonist and leave the other detective blurred in the background showing he isn’t as important.

The other detective gets irritated and angry by Somerset’s perfectionist nature and begins to lash out at him saying about how he cannot wait for his retirement. This lets us know that Somerset is going to retire soon, but wonder what he is going to do with the rest of his life because his job seems to be what he revolves around and what he believes is his purpose.

 A new character comes up the stairs, Mills (Brad Pitt) and then there is a close up of him indicating he is of some importance. He is chewing some gum which may indicate that he is a bit cocky and confident and he is also wearing a leather jacket which is seen as ‘cool’ and quite casual about his job. This contrasts to Somerset’s attire as he is seen more professional with an overcoat, hat and suit on. Mills immediately identifies and begins to talk to Somerset using a shot reverse shot between their conversation. In the background behind Somerset you can see metal bars and fences around the windows indicating it is a dangerous area.

There is then an ellipsis edit to the outside of the building where police sirens and radios can be heard once again. The way they are handling this though makes it seem like a common occurrence. More bodies then get carted out of the building denoting death. Also there is pathetic fallacy as the rain indicates bad things are happening and perhaps an oncoming storm. Somerset and Mills are seen walking along the street with the camera tracking their movements. They are both seen at a low angle connoting authority and dominance although Somerset is seen higher up which may be showing experience. Realism is added to this scene by the constant people walking across the X axis and getting in the way of the camera.

Most notably, Mills’s movements seem more anxious in the way he is walking and his gestures due to that he isn’t concentrating too well as he isn’t focusing and is new in the area here. He also gets knocked into by a lot of people whilst Somerset calmly strolls while avoiding passers-by. Mills tries showing that he is experienced and the right man for the job but Somerset sees through him as he has more experience and knows what it takes to be a good detective. Mills tries to defend himself by saying how he has been working homicide for a while now, but Somerset indicates that it is a lot different here and a lot more dangerous.

Another ellipsis edit cuts to Somerset’s in his bed. Due to the ellipsis edit from his work to his bed, it indicates that nothing else really happens in his life and that it is centred around his job. You here alarms once again going off showing that this happens all the time. He puts down his glasses and in the corner is a bookcase full of books; both of these items reinforce the idea of Somerset’s high intellect. You then see a cut of him activating his metronome which may indicate the pace of his life. The metronome also stays in time no matter what, showing his OCD nature once again for perfection. It is really monotonous just like is life connoting that his life is the same thing over and over again; his job has taken over his life. You can still hear diegetic sounds of the dogs barking and alarms as the metronome ticks away acting as ‘chaos and order’ and him needing the repetition. There are then close ups of Somerset’s face and the metronome alternating as if it is his mind ticking.

The screen then goes completely black and a non-diegetic sound effect of thunder is then heard acting as a pathetic fallacy once again connoting the ‘oncoming storm’. Then the opening credits begin with an image of a book and the pages turning over, on top of this some industrial rock music is played (Nine Inch Nails – Closer remix) which creates a tense atmosphere.

As the names of the credits appear, the chosen font looks like it has been scratched on which makes it seem eerie as well as the editing with has suddenly turned to a fast tempo. All the images put together are spliced together like a montage and show the hands of the character in the scene who seems to be the antagonist.

It also shows a lot of sharp objects such as a razor and shows the antagonist cutting his finger prints off so he leaves no trace behind which connotes that he knows what he is doing and is on the same intellectual level as Somerset, making them equally matched and binary opposites which shows that they will be playing cat and mouse together and be rivals, This therefore makes the film more interesting to watch and follows a typical thriller convention. The opening credits show his progress in an atmospheric fashion and depict him as some psychopath, especially as he is seen blanking out word and cutting pictures up. He seems also psychologically disturbed and that he lacks social contact. Some of the words he is blanking out were ‘intercourse’ and ‘transsexual’ showing that he doesn’t approve of this.

A picture of a child is shown but his eyes are quickly covered up with a black marker maybe showing that he is one of the victims and the antagonist is trying to dehumanize him. The face is then shown fully scribbled out perhaps showing that he is already dead? You see the antagonist binding a book together himself with bandages around his fingertips; this seems like an abnormal act as he is binding his own journals together when he could simply buy one. The scene ends with him cutting out the word ‘God’ from a dollar bill with the song finished with the only lyrics “you get me closer to God”. This may connote that the antagonist perhaps believes he is doing God’s work and that he is some form of messiah. It ends with a fade and we resume with a long shot with a blue filter and a lot of high rise buildings. The blue filter adds a cold feel to the city connoting it is a dangerous place once again.

Seven Opening Credits from Kieran Brooks on Vimeo.