'Se7en' - Title Sequence

The titles are written in a font like a typewriter but the names are hand written. The titles are also jiggling around the screen, which gives a sense of unease as they are also flashing on and off very quickly like cameras flashing. The shot sizes don’t change much through the scene as they go from a medium close up to extreme close ups they do this so you can get a real insight of what they are doing. It starts off with what looks like a blank book and as we go through the sequence we see it being filled up.

The next frame is a shot of a pair of hands and they look like they are holding something down, like the paper, this shot size is a medium close up. The hands also look worn so they maybe a working class persons pair of hands so we get a sense of who or what the film is about.

We next see a razor blade taken out of an old wet razor, then used to peel someone's fingers and from that we get that they don't want to be found and they are getting rid of their identities. So we get a sense its possibly a thriller, a mystery of horror film and this shot size is an extreme close up.

Someone also makes a cup of tea and this makes them seem human or it makes you think, as they do something so normal, that it could be anyone around you.

Throughout these scenes we also see scribbles and images of disturbing realistic photos that look like archive photos that the police might have. One is of a woman with her face smashed in and someone with an arrow through their head.

We also see exercise books that you get in school in America so we know it is set there, we see the person write in them or copy from them and they also go through books or texts, crossing things out and when they do this it is an extreme close up. When you look at the text you see that its to do with getting pregnant and sex, as they are crossing them out we get a sense that they are against it in some way. Through the whole sequence we see just random words popping up so they must be important. At one point we see a one dollar bill and then again later on and the word God is cut out at the end when someone says “ Get me closer to God”.

Near the end of the sequence we notice that what they are making is some kind of scrapbook and that they are just finishing and putting it together by sewing it and glues things down, because it plays such a big part of the opening sequence it might be used in the film later on as a clue or prop.