Art of the Title

 

This film (Se7en) is a detective/psychological thriller film, so the film opening (which is one of my favourite film openings of all time) utilises several techniques to connote the thriller genre, and really create a sense of tension to the audience.

Essentially, the title sequence of se7en is a short story told in fragments following the hands of an unknown man , presumably the antagonist, as he makes entries in his diary alongside clippings from books, self-developed photographs, and found images and objects, giving the audience an intimate look into the mind of a serial killer obsessed with religion, and helps to connote the thriller genre as it conveys an extremely morbid and fearful tone to the film, which immediately creates tension, making the audience feel both excited and fearful to see what will happen, and also makes the audience feel extremely gripped to the story after not even three minutes, creating excitement and making the audience eager to see more.

This opening also features the main, summarised opening credits to the film, even the style of the credits are relevant to the thriller genre as the font is extremely skewed and not joined up, which further represents the scribbling in the diary of a serial killer similar to the visual showings of photo clippings and crossed out words. The music prominent in the opening also represents the Thriller genre, as the music is slow paced but extremely loud and almost monosyllabic, giving it a disjointed feel which represents mystery and tension in the extract. The music also features sound effects such as the creaking of doors and a drum beat that is likened to a heartbeat, connoting feelings of tension and fear, which prominently feature in Thriller/Horror films.