Research for Thriller Openings - Seven - Jess D'Alvarez

Opening Credits: The opening credits seem to introduce us to what the film is going to be about.

• Typography. Very plain, simple. White writing on black background, however writing is somewhat scratchy, what does this reflect?
• Shows shot of two hands. Even though this is in the opening credit, enigma code is already used as this shot of the two hands already starts to raise questions in the viewers' minds, as to whose they are? Do they relate to anything? etc.
• Scraping off someones fingerprints. Seems to be something that a criminal would do, so we would relate this film to crimes, criminals, police etc.
• Personally I think that all the things shown in the credits seem to relate to a criminal possibly trying to cover up a crime or possibly trying to choose their victims as their are pictures of some people.
• The background music is very technical, kind of futuristic. It starts off slow and quiet however when it gets nearer to the end of the credits the music gets faster and louder.
• There is a line at the end of the credits which I think says 'You've got the closer to God', if this is correct then this indicates that the film may have something to do with religion and belief.

Main Characters:

Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman):

• Old, leaving the job soon, but we don't know why.
• Alone
• Precise and organised. Suit laid on bed, very precise in the way he picked fluff off of his suit, also very precise in the way he picked his things up, they seemed to be in some kind of order. The way he picked them up looked very routine, like he did the same every morning.
• Intellectual, chess board in first shot, reading a hardback book before bed.
• Seems superior and experienced in his job. In one shot Detective Mills gets coffee for the both of them, seems that Detective Somerset has told him to do so, possibly.
• Smart dress sense, takes pride in his apperance, wants to look smart for his job. Takes a while to do his tie up, wears a very crisp collared shirt.

Detective Mills (Brad Pitt):

• Young, 30's maybe. However we know he has been a police officer for a while because he says 'I've worked homicides for 5 years' so maybe he started out relatively young.
• Casual dress sense. He wears shirt and tie, however not as smart as Detective Somerset.
• Arrogant, cocky, chews gum. The fact that he was chewing gum could show that he is laid back and possibly confident in his job.
• Energetic, could be because he is young. In one shot he runs up some stairs, to meet Detective Somerset, was he late? or in a rush? or just energetic? This we do not know.

The First Murder:

This shot is shown after we have been introduced to the two main characters.

This shot is a very good example of how enigma code is created. In this shot alone there is a typical feature of mise en scene, usually found in a thriller, and that is blood. When the audience sees this shot, the dead body and the blood, many questions are raised such as, who is that? what happened? how did it happen? why did it happen? who killed them? etc. The use of blood is also iconography, because blood is a typical feature in a thriller.

• Restricted Narration is also used in the opening sequence of this film because the audience do not know where the body is as we have not been told. I think that it could possibly be a warehouse however I do not know this for sure.
• Restricted Narration is used again when one of the detective's is on the phone and we, the audience, are not told who was on the phone or what was being spoken about. This again raises questions, enigma code, in the audiences' minds.
• I found this thriller opening very effective.
• The editing of the opening credits is amazing and the music makes them even better.
• If I were to choose something that I would like to use in my thriller opening, it would probably be the typography and the way on which it appears on screen, in a jumpy/static kind of way.