Se7en Analysis

My first evaluation is to the opening of Se7en. The first shot we see is of several items laid out on a table, but we see there is no logical order to them. This may also give the impression that he knows what he is doing and what order he wants to use them in. A paperweight and some papers are shown; this could suggest it is a tidy person. We then see a medium shot of the dead body, but no clues are given as to what has happened, which leaves the target audience asking questions and wanting to watch more to find out- this is typical to any thriller film. The shot switches to outside where the lighting is mainly natural. This gives an illuminated outline to the body, adding tension to the scene.

The face cannot be seen, neither can any injuries- so more questions are asked as to how he died. Another outside shot, this time mid-to-long. The lighting is very dark and the only thing that really stands out is the bright yellow police tape. This may suggest that the police are the only solution now.

The mid shot is used to show one of the two detectives that we see in the opening- it is clearly noticeable that they are in no way similar to each other at all. There is then another mid shot of the two detectives walking out of a building together and there is a clear difference between the age and clothing.

The shot of the credits shows the killers preperation techniques. There are disturbing features such as the blood- still not making it clear what is going to happen.

We see a close up of the floor in what we are assuming is one of the detectives apartments. Very dirty and bugs running around suggest it has been abandoned- this is only shown in torchlight so we can only see exactly what they can see.
A close-up of underneath the table shows us the victims hands have been tied together. Still using torchlight so background shots are minimal. This adds drama to the scene as we only know as much as the characters.