Textual Analysis Of

Se7en

EditingThe flickering of the title, double up of pictures, flashes of light showing a little of what is to come but wants the audience to start thinking. It’s fast paced and sped up to show a passing of time for example when the eyes are crossed out on the photo before quickly cutting to the whole face scribbled out. This shows how meticulous he is, taking his time showing a psychopathic side to the man. Typography is used very well, words are blurry and flash. It creates a surreal feel and that the man has a mental issue and is psychopathic. It is not appealing to look at, the titles appear as scribbled and messy. He cuts the word ‘God’ out of a dollar bill as the soundtrack shots the word “God”. This could imply that he is doing this for religion and may be a terrorist movement. There is a slow introduction to the film but has a very fast paced title scene maybe showing that the best is yet to come and that things are about to get worse.

SoundSirens and rain add to the effect of a depressing scene, setting the genre of the film. The sound track is not comfortable to listen to with electrical surges over the top creating a psychopathic feel. The sound of the metronome next to Freemans bed creates the effect of time passing either showing that his career is coming to an end and it is time for the new younger detective, Brad Pitt, to take over. As earlier another of his colleagues said ‘we can’t wait until you are gone’ suggesting an end to his career. It could also imply that he has nothing in his life. No family. No friends. All he has is his job and he is counting down the seconds just waiting for morning to come.

Mise-En-SceneDifferent words appear on the title screen such as feminist, homosexual and transsexual showing what he does not agree with he may kill people who are ‘going against god’ so to speak. As there is an emphasis on God towards the end of the video when the soundtrack shouts “God” as the man cuts the word God out of an American dollar bill.He takes his job very seriously and is very meticulous with what he is doing. Looking at every single detail and checking everything. There is a blood splat on the wall with a detective leaning against it as if it is an everyday occurrence. We, as the audience, have no idea where they are and therefore a pretend place full of violence and crime is created by the film crew.

Camera Angles, Movement and CompositionThere is no establishing shot and we therefore have no idea

where they are, keeping it quite secretive. Extreme close ups are used in the opening title scenes showing extreme precision. A low angled tracking shot showing Morgan Freeman walking in the street with Brad Pitt who being a bit more naive and obnoxious walking in to people whilst Morgan Freeman being calm and walking around people without really looking as he knows the area and is at home compared to this aggressive new boy. A wide shot that shows Morgan Freemans flat and close ups of his objects. This shows that he has no family, everything is dull this shows that he only cares about his job and that is all that keeps him going.