Seven

Seven

At the start of the film, Summerset, played by Morgan Freeman, is in a very dark room of his house. This symbolises his isolation away from everyone else and suggests that he lives alone. Somerset's room is dark it may be that the lighting at the start of his film is purposefully low key to try and evoke the claustrophobia of the city. David Fincher uses these techniques often in his films. There is a mid angled shot when he is getting dresses. From what he is wearing, we can see that he has an important job as he puts on his police identity badge.

In the next scene, we can see that a murder has happened from the body that is laying motionless on the floor showed through a high angled camera shot looking down at it. When Brad Pitt or 'Mills' arrives, we see the tinges of green light which could potentially suggest to the audience that he is a bit jealous of Summerset as he has had a lot more experience than he does and knows how to do the job best.

From the title 'Se7en' we can tell that its about the seven deadly sins which hints to us that the whole of New York city is soaked in sin and it is what the film will be about. There is rain throughout the opening scene. This shows pathetic phalacy and how everything that occurs will be sad, dangerous and glum. The quietness at the beginning emphasises the feel of danger and death and the police officers wearing white and black, gives us a hint of the good and bad that will be in the film.

When Summerset is lying in bed, the ticker gets louder and louder which also portrays a sense of danger and despair to the audience. There is a lot of mid shots when Summerset and Mills are talking to show the viewers their body language as mills keeps on fidgeting but Summerset is very calm and content as it is just an everyday thing for him to see a terrible sight of a dead body. This is also shown through the fact that Mills never stops talking and is frequently asking questions throughout the film to prove he is curious about learning what the job entails as a police officer. However, Summerset doesn't talk much so it ensures us he already knows what is going on.

In the title scene, it shows how the criminal puts everything together but also leaves things out as he wants to be caught out. The music is very weary and has a creepy feel to it to match the film and what it entails. There are close up shots of the criminal shaving off his skin on his finger to hide his finger print so that whatever he touches won't leave his trace on it. He does this as he is trying not to get found out and has a clever plan to make sure that that doesn't happen very soon.