Se7en Opening Sequence Analysis

The opening sequence of Se7en has a very eerie feel throughout. It follows the convention of introducing the main character, and is extremely dark and mysterious. The editing style is a montage of shots, all of which have a spooky nature to them. The font also helps to set the scene as it is quite jolty, and appears in flashes, that the audience do not expect.

One of the most peculiar shots in the sequence is that of the character razor blading skin off of his fingers. This straight away grabs the audiences attention, and creates an image of the character. The close up of the blade confirms that he is cutting his own fingers, and the audience can now relate to the character. Although we, as an audience, do not know why he is inflicting this pain on himself, I personally think he could be a masochist.

We next see the character with bandages on his fingers, and a close up of him creating maybe a collage, in a scrapbook. We then see an extreme close up of an image in the scrapbook, of a face that seems somewhat distressed. The audience do not know why the character has this image, or whether he took it, but by just showing him with these sorts of images, portrays him as quite sadistic.

As the scene develops, we see further images in the scrapbook, all of which get more and more sadistic. One depicts a human head with a contraption screwed into the brain. This furthers the representation of the main character being quite peculiar and spooky.

The opening sequence is impressive, however extremely disturbing. Even the way the credits come out of nowhere, in flashes is quite scary, and it really does have the audience on the edge of their seat. This helps to create an atmosphere that the director clearly wanted to create, and not give too much detail into the character, leading the audience to want to watch more.