Se7en

Se7en (David Fincher, 1995)


The music in the background of the sequence consists of a heavy beat and sounds effects which resemble the sound of  machinery, this is accompanied by the ambient sound of a type writer and what sounds like a record being scratched. By using these sounds the sequence puts the audience on edge as they aren't aware of what is happening and this builds the tension as to what will appear next. Also at the end of the sequence there is a shot of the word 'God' being cut out of a newspaper and in the background the music plays the lyrics of 'You got me closer to God'. This is highly significant as these are the only lyrics we hear throughout the opening sequence, thus highlighting to audience the importance of this. This may have been done to illustrate the mindset of the person we have seen glimpses of in the sequence.

The images used are all extreme closeups this builds the suspense as the audience hasn't given anything away as to where they are or what's going on. Also the images used are constantly flickering which adds to the chaos and disorientation of the sequence. On almost every occasion before a title appears on the screen the image prior cuts to black and all the text is either in a handwritten or typewriter style font. 

In the example above of the font styles, both fonts are evident this done to illustrate to the audience which bit is of relevance and on this occasion its the name of the crew.


The images shown throughout the sequence are constantly moving, and when a title appears the image flickers like a film reel image and in addition to this some of the words are shadowed by the same text, appear extremely zoomed and jump about the screen. The reason the image is never static is to build up the suspense and make the audience more alert. Furthermore, the images do not appear to be in chronological order as we get the same shot in a before and after style which is done through the use of superimpose as demonstrated in the example below.

 

Titles that appear are in different parts of the screen, the titles shown are as follows in chronological order;

• New Line Cinema presents
• An Arnold Kopelson production
• A film by David Fincher
• Brad Pitt
• Moran Freeman
• SE7EN (main title)
• Gwyneth Paltrow
• Richard Roundtree
• R. Lee Ermey
• John C. McGinley
• Julie Araskog, Mark Boone Junior
• John Cassini, Reginald E. Cathey, Peter Crombie
• Hawthorn James, Michael Massee, Leland Orser
• Richard Portnow, Richard Schiff, Pamala Tyson
• Casting by Billy Hopkins, Suzanne Smith, Kerry Borden
• Music by Howard Shore
• Costumes designed by Michael Kaplan
• Edited by Richard Francis-Bruce
• Production designed by Arthur Max
• Director of photography Darius Khondji
• Co-producers Stephen Brown, Nana Greenwald, Sanford Panilch
• Co-executive producers Lynn Harris, Richard Saperstein
• Executive producers Gianni Nunnari, Dan Kolsrud, Anne Kapelsum
• Written by Andrew Kevin Walker
• SE7EN (main title repeated)
• Produced by Arnold Kopelson, Phyllis Carlyle
• Directed by David Fincher.

By repeating the name of the film it reflects that it is the main text shown in the sequence.