Analysis on SevenBy Danielle McCart

Seven starts with a close-up of a book and its pages being turned. This automatically gives the audience an idea about the rest of the film, the idea of a mysterious story as we do not know what the contents of the book is. Throughout the opening sequence we get a glimpse of shots around 4- 5 seconds each, which are giving similar impression throughout the entire opening sequence. The first few shots we see scenes such as paper drawings. This suggests the photographs may be in the film which leaves the audience suspicious of the characters. In the drawings it also leaves the audience eager to find out the stories behind the photographs. This links with the genre of the film which is Psychological thriller as it is building on going suspense which is one of the conventions this genre of films.

During these beginning scenes the lighting changes from the first scene. The high key lighting is representing the start of something new, in this case it is the opening sequence of a film so to the audience this film will be the start of watching something new. This contradicts with the idea of the genre of the film as Psychological thrillers normally have very low key lighting but this is automatically changed as the lighting becomes low key. This is telling the audience that the storyline is going to be progressing throughout the entire opening sequence and into the film. This links with the genre of the film as it shows that the film will be very mysterious and scary which are conventions of the genre.

Next we move onto another close-up shot of a person presumably cutting skin off their fingers. This shot is a very disturbing shot which is expected from a psychological thriller as it leaves the audience feeling scared or worried about what the film is going to be about. By using this type of scene it shows that the film is going to be very intense and shows the kinds of things the audience should expect either when watching the duration of the open sequence or watching the entire film. This links in with the genre of the film as it is made to have a thrilling effect on the audience which is expected from the genre.During this scene the lighting remains high key above the shot but very dark where the action is taking place. This is very expected from the genre of the film as although it is not highlighting the action in the shot, the audience’s attention is focused on the action.

We now move onto yet another close-up scene of a person writing something down on a piece of paper. This scene is edited in the way that more and more writing is written down but the audience do not see all the writing being written. This has an effect on the audience as it makes them question if the person in the shot is writing all of the letter or somebody else has written part of the letter. It also has an effect on the audience as the audience cannot see what is on the letter. This adds to the mystery of the film as it makes the audience question if they are going to find out what happens in the film or is it going to be the same as the opening sequence, they do not find out the ending to the film.The lighting in this particular shot again is very low key. This could suggest that the mood of the film is going to be very low but interesting as this is expected from a Psychological Thriller.

The colours throughout this opening sequence are very bland and unflattering. The colours such as red and black connote death and danger. This makes the audience feel scared as they will automatically see the colour red and presume something bad is going to happen. The colour red has an effect on the opening sequence as the rest of the colours are very dark which suggests red is the main colour that is going to be in the rest of the opening sequence and the film a lot. This could also be suggesting that the only other colour that is going to be in the film is red. This could telling the audience that there is going to be a lot of danger involved within the scene. This meets theaudiences expectation as death and danger are things that are normally linked with a Psychological Thriller.