Research Task- Se7en - Lisa Walden

The beginning of this sequence starts off with various fast-paced actions being placed together to create what seems to be the planning of a murder. Fast, eerie music is covered on top, creating a distorted feeling, with the dark lighting and furniture adding to the atmosphere.

Editing

• There are many extreme close-ups and close-ups of his hands carefully taking on a task during the beginning scene; it doesn't allow the viewer to quite understand what is being done however it still gives a minor insight into what is happening.
• The actions of the character are all fastly paced together, switching from one action to another, suggesting to us that there is a lot of planning and precision in what he does.
• Even the titles throughout the start carry the 'thriller' theme- Fast, jerky titles portray what the film may be like-a thriller leaving people on-edge. Every tiny piece of the editing invites viewers into the film but leaving small hints as to what might later appear.

Mise en Scene

• The sound during the beginning creates quite a disturbing atmosphere suggesting death or murder; the lighting too adds to the atmosphere, being slightly dark creating shadows of the character and his action leaving the viewers unknown and distort about the plot.
• Towards the end of the beginning the music and actions of the man speed up again creating a disturbed atmosphere. The lighting, sound, decor and even style of font for the titles help create the perfect thriller- they don't allow the audience to view from a long-shot distance what is being done, they prefer to keep it more of a secret and just slip away small details of the actions, this has much more of an effect on the audience.

Lighting

• Lighting here very minimal-only minor top and side lights- this creates a dismal atmosphere.
• As the audience don't see a long-shot of the whole location they rely on just small snippets and shadows of actions to piece together the plot.
• The shots are often blurred or shaky(0.34) which help create an uneven atmosphere. It often appears as only a small desk light may have been used in various close-up shots, creating a very dark appearance; although the audience haven't seen the character they still get an outline image of what he might be like- evil and death associated.