'Se7en' (1995) Opening Sequence

• The chiaroscuro lighting makes it quite hard for the audience to understand what is happening and who the character in the scene is. This is to make the audience really focus because people do not like unfamiliarity, therefore they will try extremely hard to figure out what they are seeing on the screen so they will have more understanding of what happens later on in the film.

• At first it is unclear whether the clippings and pictures etc. is gathered evidence for a police report or not. However it is made very clear after an extreme close up of someone cutting their finger prints off that it is not an investigator, it is in fact a criminal. The audience will know by this shot that the character in the first scene will be the antagonist in the film. The antagonist is cutting off  their fingerprints so that they cannot be matched to fingerprints at the scene of the crime. The use of the extreme close-up forces the audience to feel claustrophobic and uncomfortable as it will feel like they are very close to a criminal and as though they are in danger. The razor connotes the danger of this mysterious character because it is a sharp object that could be used to inflict pain, again emphasising the aura of danger that surrounds the antagonist.  

• Having no dialogue gives the antagonist even more mystery. The antagonist's identity is concealed in the opening scene. The audience only see the fingers of this character, nothing else. It creates a strong sense of mystery as they know nothing about the character and have no hints to link to later on in the film. For example if there was dialogue they would have a voice to identify the antagonist with.      

• The visual effects such as the written accounts, books and pictures give the impression that the antagonist is cunning and knows exactly what they are doing. All the information they possess highlights that they have planned out what they have done. The fact they cut of their finger prints supports this idea that they are clever as they know how to cover their tracks and avoid getting caught for whatever they have done. The fact they are writing about it and have so much gathered information suggests that what they have done has a motive behind it and was not just an impulse thing or an accident, which amplifies the sense of danger the audience gets from the antagonist because it gives the impression that they have committed a lot of crimes.

• In the title sequence it is made apparent to the audience that two of the characters in the film are played by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. The Two Step Flow theory can be applied to this, as fans of  these big actors would see them as their 'opinion leaders' they will want to watch the film simply because Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman are characters in it. The audience will automatically have high expectations because of these well respected and popular actors.

•  The diegetic sound in the clip is hyperbolic. The sounds of the scratching of the pen whilst the character is writing and what sounds like an out of tune radio is almost jaw-clenching. These diegetic sounds are extremely uncomfortable to listen to for the audience, which signifies events that later occur in the film as the way in which the antagonist murders his victims is incredibly twisted and the audience can empathise with how distressed the victims must of felt. The audience will also feel very distorted due to the fact that there is diegetic sound and non-diegetic sound playing at the same time. There are a lot of different sounds overlapping and some sounds are louder than others. All these different elements are very distorting and will confuse the audience as they will have no clue what they are listening to and it will be a lot to process at once.

• The opening scene contains a lot of enigma codes such as:
• Who is the antagonist?
• What are they writing about?
• What have they done?
• What is their motive?

The audience will want the answers to all these questions. The only way to find out the answers will be to watch the rest of the film. The audience will instantly be engaged and focused in order to find the answers they so desperately desire.