Title Sequence Research: Planning

The Title slot for the crime/psychological thriller Se7en, connotes a psychological thriller/horror genre. After seeing the title, you begin to question what the film is going to be about. The typography used here has a rough look to it because it is slightly uneven and faded in places. This is something that is regularly used in thrillers and the sub-genre of psychological thrillers as it creates ambiguity and a sense on unease.

The opening of this film (excluding the title), starts with a close up shot of a book from a mid-angled position of the top of it. This could generate mystery as the audience doesn't know what the book contains, given that they are unable to see the page contents. The camera is steady and so the movement of the pages in the foreground and the hand in the background is emphasised. Automatically, our focus is drawn to the movement of the hand, which is unidentifiable because it is out of focus and therefore, not detailed. As a viewer, we begin to question the identity and involvement of this figure as part of the narrative.

Next, camera is placed at a high angle, allowing the viewer to look down on the book revealing what’s written on the pages and showing pictures people that appear to look tortured most inflicted with wounds relaying that fact that there is possibly going to be gore and murderous occurrences in the film. We also see close ups of certain words that are being blocked out by black pen but are half recognisable without looking very closely at the shot as it runs at a fast pace from each shot. The words that are revealed are words such as "Homosexual". This perhaps suggests that the film will begin to challenge delicate ideologies and deal with sensitive subjects in a manner which is intended to provoke a reaction from the audience. 

In addition, the mystery person could possibly be a psychopath as they block out people’s faces and various words that look like sections from religious prophesies. In one shot, we see a newspaper cutting where they have specifically removed the word "God". This suggests that the film will involve religious themes, or possibly satanic themes. Also, there could be an element of murder in the film. It also suggests there are religious references throughout due to the religious connotations from the word "God". Everything shown here, keeps the audience guessing. It is unknown as to whether or not the imagery here could be taken as clues and pointers that reveal more about the storyline/context. The clues are shown on different paper clippings that the person is seeming to be collecting and adding to what could be their diary or portfolio. This ambiguous action can be seen as a convention throughout a lot of psychological thriller/horror genre films.

Finally, the lack of long shots in the title Sequence prevents the viewer from seeing fully, what’s happening. As a result, we see no overview of the action that is taking place on screen. This could have been used to reinforce the fear of the unknown and the mystery of what the character is doing. In addition to this, everything that we see in the title Sequence is what can be seen from the villain’s viewpoint. Therefore, we see the whole thing through his or her eyes as opposed to our own. This visual device may have been used to characterise our likeness to the villain, or to portray the idea that we aren’t as far removed from the film as we may wish we are.