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.