SEVEN TITLE SEQUENCE ANALYSIS

The title sequence for ‘Seven’ begins with a close up of a person looking through a book, this immediately creates an enigma as this would make the audience wonder what’s in the book and if what is in the book is significant. It then goes on to continue the sense of mystery by maintaining the use of enigma codes as there are a range of different images of people. This suggests sadistic and obsessive behaviour and also these images could also have been used to shock the audience. A close up shot has been used to show the killer’s sense of anonymity as he is cutting off his fingerprints. This also suggests violent and sinister behaviour. The use of the backlighting behind the book creates a silhouette means that the character’s identity is being concealed and also highlights the facts that he is physically killing people and so his hands are ending people’s lives.

Having a close up shot of the book with the killer highlighting words suggest the idea of the seven deadly sins. A close up shot of a picture with the face scribbled out reinforces the idea of the killer having no identity. The use of red has the connotations of death, lust, blood and danger. These connotations focus around the seven deadly sins, which is what the film is based on. A close up of the man threading a needle suggests that the character is careful and pays attention to all of the details. Another close up shot is of the killer cutting out the word ‘God’ from a dollar note, this continues the idea of God and that what he is doing is God-like. It also concentrates on the seven deadly sins as this is the main theme and significant throughout the narrative. The font used within this title sequence is typical of a thriller as it is white.

The use of white suggests innocence and within the narrative innocence is being diminished. The font also flickers, which appears quite sinister as the text fades in and out. Using short shot durations makes the title sequence more jumpy and also increases the suspense as the audience have to keep up with the different shot changes. The audience may also only capture a glimpse of the different shots and so this builds suspense because the audience may not completely catch all of the quick shots. A vignette effect has been used in order to get the audience to focus on what is happening in the frame as what is happening is significant. It also makes it look more sinister as it appears that there are more shadows, which is typical within a thriller.  The non-diegetic music is quite sinister as it has many sound effects within it.

The recurring creaking sound used in this title sequence is a typical sound found within most thrillers as it creates tension and suspense because the audience are waiting for something to happen. The voices in the non-diegetic music sound inhuman and this is parallel to the killer as he tortures and kills people, which suggest inhuman behaviour. The sound of the scratches implies a sense of violence and so this would also link with the killer’s sinister behaviour. The artificial light used in the title sequence is quite intense and so this would create harsh shadows and would distort some of the shots to create a sense of mystery and to maintain suspense.


This title sequence was the most influential out of all of the thrillers that we have analysed. We really liked the idea of the book and the photos to signify that he is proud of what he has done and so we wanted to develop on this idea by using items and a box. We also liked the font and have tried to create a font with a similar style, font and transitions, we decided to this because it help to establish a tense mood indicative of the thriller genre.