Film opening research

Se7en (thriller)


In this film opening the audience are left asking more questions than have been answered, by doing this the director has drawn the audience in as they want to find out what the significance of the opening is in relation to the rest of the film.

It is established from the start that this film is going to be a horror through the use of quick cuts and low key lighting, you can also tell this from the suspense built from the soundtrack. Its in a minor key which is associated with bad feelings and the use of low sustained strings puts the audience on edge. It is suggested that this film is going to be a psychological thriller from the images in the opening. the images are scattered and cut in and out this suggests that instability and confusion is going to be a running theme through the film. The use of the razor and disturbing drawings give the idea that the narrative will be a violent one, although this isn't confirmed as nothing physical happens in the opening.

All the writing in the books is similar to the scene in 'The Shining' which is another classic psychological thriller/horror. This further confirms the genre and gives an idea of the narrative as, if people have seen 'The Shining' they know what thats about and can decide if they want to watch the film. The titles in this film are really good and sit well within the opening and relate to the credits and the suggested narrative as the font is spikey and scattered which fits well with in the music. They are also quite inconsipuously placed which suggests that the narrative is going to be more important than the actors. All of the actors are very big names which makes it more likely to bring in a mass audience which wouldn't usually be very easy to acheive with a thriller genre. All of these things draws the audience in but leaves them asking questions as nothing about the plot is given away but some hints to the narrative are.