Fifth Analysis- Seven

Film Title: Seven
Director: David Fincher

Technique
Effect (analysis)

Camera – distance, angle, movement…

A variety of close-ups
Audience get to see things in detail.

Editing – speed, style…

Fast paced, straight cuts.
Sense of high realism, creates tension, harder to figure out what is going on, sense of narrative.

Sound – effects, musical score…

Like a heartbeat at beginning, slow paced and sinister.
More tension created, ominous tone.

Mise-en-scene – props, costume, setting, lighting, colour…

A lot of black, white and red used. A book that the protagonist is making almost like a ‘bible’, coloring over peoples eyes in black. Low-key lighting. Newspaper cuttings, needles, skinning own finger with razor blade, photographs, black ink pen crossing out words such as ‘transsexual’, sewing pages together. Never get to see protagonists face, seems to be shadowy.
Black: evil, dark.
White: purity. God-like (narrative)
Red: evil, blood, love, passion (protagonist believes in what he is doing)
Coloring over people’s eyes shows he is taking away their identity, easier to murder them. Maybe taking away what he feels he has lost.
Crossing out words like ‘transsexual’ shows that he is strongly against it. Doesn’t think it should exist.
Never getting to see face creates fear of what he could look like.
Making his ‘bible’ suggests religion, what he believes in, what the world should be like.
Razor blade on finger- makes audience shocked and uncomfortable, taking away his own identity?Also not seeing face makes the audience want to see it- curiosity.

Special Effects – CGI, animation…

None, apart frpm text.
Mature audience.

Titles – font, color, placement, over black / over clip…

Over clip, creepy text (horror), white in color, the text seems to be moving (shadowy), clip seems to move like in older films (projector)
Moving text creates a ‘shaky’ atmosphere, the ‘projector’ theme makes the audience feel uneasy, adds to tension. Creepy font links with narrative. The fact that the text is over the clip links the two together, makes it harder for the audience to actually focus what is on screen- adds tension again.