Adam Bailey

The opening credits to Se7en conform to the thriller genre substantially. The credits have not been given a set font and vary from a formal san serif font to a more hand written look. They also are in a bright white colour and flicker mimicking a light. The shots also cut quickly to flickers of white and film real giving it an old film effect.

The editors have placed quick cuts of close ups and extreme close ups into the credits of a person doing very disturbing such as cutting the skin off his fingers and looking through a scrap book of dead bodies. This gives the audience an idea of what to expect from the rest of the film. This also shows that the person in these shots is not mentally correct; and most likely the antagonist in the movie.

Quite low key lighting is used in these shots making them look almost black and white however there are cuts to red filtered shots. This makes the viewer feel uneasy.

No diagetic sound is heard throughout the opening credits at all. However the editors have placed non diaget sound over the top of the sequence. It has a four-four time signature but instead of using instruments has used frightening sounds and edited them into music. At the very end of the credits a non diaget singer over laps the scene saying “you bring me closer to god” giving the audience an impression that this person is going to be a religious extremist. This is backed up by a quick close up shot of a sheet of money with the word “god” being cut out of the phrase “in god we trust”.