AO- Technical Analysis- Seven (Fincher, 1995)

Shot by shot analysis
The film opens on a CU of a book, with a man turning the page- slightly blurred vision
Cuts to a black screen with production credits on, in a stylistic font- the writing is small and white
A cut to a CU of a pair of hands that are drawn on a piece of paper
Cuts to an ECU of hands turning a screw
A cut to an ECU of a piece of equipment or machinery opening
Cut to an ECU of a hand pulling down on a lever
Cut to a black screen with a cast members name (same style writing as before)
A very quick cut to a black background with a white circle and some writing
Cut to an ECU of fingers holding a razor blade (this happens several times in a row)
Cut to a black screen with a cast members name
Cut to an ECU of a hand putting a piece of paper in water
Quick flash of writing on a black background
Another quick flash of a Polaroid picture of a died person
Cut to a black screen with the title of the film ‘Seven’
Cut to an ECU of a hand (with a plasters on fingers) opening a box
The text ‘Seven’ comes up over the top of this shot, in the corner
Quick flash of numbers written on a wall
Cut to a CU of a hand opening a book
Cut to a CU of a hand pulling a piece of paper through a machine
Cut to a black screen of a cast members name
Cut to an ECU of a hand writing on a piece of paper, the same hand writing is put on top of the other one, so it looks like two hands are writing
Cut to an ECU of writing that has been turned upside down
Cut to a red background, with a CU of a Polaroid picture of a man- this also has a red-wash to it.
A black cross then flashes over the picture, and then disappears
Cut to a black screen with a cast members name
Cut to an ECU of a pair of hands, using scissors to cut a piece of camera film
Cut to a CU of hands, using scissors to cut a piece of a Polaroid picture
Cut to a black screen with a cast members name
Cut to an ECU of a finger (with a bandage on it) sticking some cello-tape to a piece of metal
Cut to a CU of hands, using scissors to cut parts of a photograph of someone
Cut to a CU of a hand lining up a picture on a piece of paper
Quick flash of some writing on a black background
Cut to a CU of writing, saying ‘in god’
Cut to a black screen with cast members names
Dissolves into a CU of a Polaroid picture of a man, being stuck to a piece of paper
A quick cut to an ECU of scraps of newspaper, with text and writing
Cuts back to the Polaroid picture of a man
Cuts to an ECU of a page turning in a book, you can see the shadow of a hand, through the page
Cut to a black screen with cast members names
Flashes of writing and lines come up
Another quick cut to writing on a wall, before cutting to cast members’ names on a brown screen (still in the same font as before)
Cut to an ECU of a finger smudging pen over some writing on paper
Cut to an ECU of a pen highlighting words on a piece of text, about pregnancy
Cut to a ECU of a book turning a page, writing then flashes over the top of this
Cut to a black screen of cast members names
Writing then flashes on the screen, on a brown wall
Cut to an ECU of a pen highlighting words in a text
Another pen is faded over the top, so it looks like there are two pens writing
A quick cut to an ECU of a piece of camera film being cut with scissors, cuts back to the pen highlighting
Cuts to a CU of drawing of a man, and I line is put through the man with a pen, most of this shot is taken up by a black screen, which has more crew members on
The CU of the man then cuts to another CU of the man, but his whole face has been covered in pen
This shot then flashes, with a red-wash and the screen is also turned red
Cut to an ECU of a pen writing on a piece of paper
Cut to a split-screen, one half a ECU of a pen writing on some paper, the other half is ECU of a hand dipping a photograph in water, in a red-room (red-wash)
The red-wash continues to the next shot, an ECU of camera film being put onto some paper, the red-wash then fades out
A jump cut to an ECU of a photograph being put onto the same paper as before
Cut to a black screen with production credits
Cut to a ECU of a hand (with a lot of bandages and plasters on they’re fingers) pushing something down
Cut to a black screen with production credits
The same hand is seen again in the next shot, a CU of the hands pushing something down onto paper- as before
Cut to a CU of a page turning in a book
A CU of a piece of machinery then fades over the top of the book, but then it cuts to an ECU of a hand holding a camera film, in a red-room (red-wash of the shot)
Cut to a CU of a book full of photographs of people, the page is turned over and there is a picture of a man with something impaled in the back of his head
Cut to a black screen with production credits
Cut to a CU of an opened book
Then back to the black screen with the production credits
Cut to a ECU of a pair of hands, that damages and cut, smoothing out a piece of material
Cut to a ECU of a page being put over some photos
It then cuts back to the damaged hands, smoothing out a piece of material
Cut to a black screen of production credits
Cut to a CU of an open book
Cut to a CU of a hand turning the page in a book
Cut to ECU of damaged hands threading a piece of thread through the eye of a needle
Cut to a mid-shot of the ceiling, that fades away from the top of the screen to the bottom
Cut to a black screen with production credits
Dissolved into a ECU of a hand sewing a piece of material with writing on it
Cut to a black screen with production credits
Cuts to a panning shot of a book-case (the books look old and not looked after)
Cuts to a CU of photos of two dead people
Cut to CU of a book with pictures in it, this then fades away as a hand turns a page in another book
Cut back to a CU of those two pictures of dead people
Cuts to a black screen with production credits
Cut to a CU of writing, and a hand cuts out the word ‘god’ using a knife
Cut to a panning shot of the book-case
Cut to a black screen with production credits, the writing is shaking
There are then very quick cuts to end the opening credits of the film



Effect of sound on the sequence
During the opening sequence of the film there is no dialogue, this adds to the mystery and suspense of the film. There is music in the sequence, which creates tension surrounding the visuals that are seen throughout the opening sequence. There is not much music to begin with, but as the sequence goes on, the music builds up, and its intensity is built up. More layers of music are added, so that they create more of a harsh sound, and can make the audience edgy about what is coming up later on in the film.

What i have learnt from the analysis
I feel that the opening two minutes for seven is an excellent opening to a thriller film, this is because of the mystery that is created around the montage editing at the beginning. There is a lot of suspense that is created around whatever this person is doing and why they are doing it. The conventions of a thriller film are in the opening to this film, and are not only shown through the visual aspect, but also through the music. This music creates the whole mystery and sets the tone for the rest of the film. The mystery of the film can also be created by the fact that no characters are seen throughout, and there is no dialogue. This opening sequence to the film could be very useful to our film, as we are looking to have a montage at the beginning of the film, and the techniques used in this one are very effective.