Se7en Opening Credits

Genre

'Se7en' is a psychological thriller. This can be identified from the opening credits alone, due to the many conformities of common conventions of the genre. The audience can gather from the trailer that the character has an obsession, in this case making their own adaptation of the Bible, as creating this is the main focus of the whole credits.

Mise-En-Scene

The main focus of the whole of the opening credits is the creating and altering of the book by the character. There are constant images of words from the Bible and people's eyes being crossed out. This gives the audience the impression that the character is making their own version of the Bible, and possibly that they have the intention to kill people.

The character is also shown removing their fingerprints with a small blade. This gives the impression that they have or will commit a crime, as well as indicating that the character is mentally disturbed/ill due to harming themselves voluntarily. This therefore conforms to common conventions of a psychological thriller.

Detailed drawings are also shown in the opening credits, suggesting that the character has thought out what they would like to add into their book and taken a lot of time to create these drawings. There are also continual flashes of pages of the book that the character is writing in, filled with hand written notes. This therefore shows an obsession, again conforming to common conventions of the genre.

Fast shots of the Bible are included throughout the credits, which relates to the title and plot of the film. The film was titled as 'Se7en' because it relates to the 7 Deadly Sins from the Bible, and the character goes round and murders people who have committed these sins.

Towards the end of the credits, there are short clips of the character using a needle and thread to sew together the pages of his book. This level of intricacy and care again shows the dedication and obsession he has for this book, but is also sinister as a needle could be used as a weapon.

Sound

The opening credits don't include diegetic sound, only a non-diegetic soundtrack. It begins at quite  a slow pace with lots of synthetic, low and loud sounds. This creates a sinister, foreboding effect. At the very start, there is a thunder clap type of sound. This introduces it as eerie and dark, creating an immediate response from the audience of the type of film being horror or thriller. As the soundtrack progresses, a synthetic drum sound is introduced as well as some uncomfortable creaking sounds. This makes it sound almost broken, which also adds to the dark, horrific impression the audience has. Fast sound changes are also used as some sound effects are unexpectedly played very fast, as well as occasionally hearing synthetic scratching/screeching noises, making the soundtrack sound ominous and disturbing, adding to the audience's impression of the thriller. Further through the soundtrack, more foreboding, sharp, uncomfortable sounds are added randomly, getting more intense and quick, creating tension. The amount and volume of the synthetic sounds fluxuates randomly throughout, which is unsettling for the audience as there are unexpected quiet and loud sections. The climaxes in the music are towards the middle and end of the credits, which goes with the shots used as here they are either the most horrific/intense or the most fast paced. It also makes it dramatic and creates tension and uncertainty for the film. Overall the sound for the opening credits is parallel to the Mise-En-Scene and conforms to common conventions of the genre of 'Se7en'.

Typography

Throughout the whole of the credits, two font styles are used. The first is used when displaying people's names. It looks handwritten and scratchy, so could be written by someone using something like an ink quill pen, but also almost like someone carved it using a sharp object such as a knife, which makes the audience find it sinister.

The second style of font is used when indicating titles, such as 'A film by' or 'Executive producers'. It is also used when displaying the title of the film. This font is slightly more organised but is still not quite perfect: it may be slightly smudged, or not quite straight. This is very contrasting with the other typography as it looks as if someone typed it on a typewriter, which shows it being thought out and planned carefully. The fact it is structured but not quite perfect could also relate to the mental health of the character, as he may look fine on the outside but he actually isn't.

The title of the film flashes to much larger than all the rest of the text in the credits. This emphasises its importance and makes it stand out.

Whenever any text appears on the screen, it glitches or moves, which is very unsettling and menacing, creating a sinister and unsettling effect. It could also again relate to the mental health of the character. The text appears and disappears quickly, again seeming like it's glitching which makes the audience unsettled yet excited. This is also parallel to the non-diegetic soundtrack, which is fast and adrenaline filled.