Se7en

At the opening of seven we see a table with several objects on it. These objects consist of a notebook, badge, knife, pen and gun case. These items are very carefully placed and are very organised. This helps to show us that the person who owns these items does this a lot and is a very organised person. Despite this we still don’t know who it is and this adds some mystery to the close up shot of these items. This shot is very dark, as is the next of a dead body lying on the floor. We don’t understand what is going on and we are already starting to ask questions. The darkness and dreariness of it helps to add mystery and makes it spooky.

As the shot moves outside of the building it is still very dark despite being in the middle of the day. There is a very busy atmosphere and this is enhanced by the sound that we can here. There is a lot going on all at once in the picture but the noises that we can here are also very busy. The area looks quite run down and rough which helps to support the dead body that we saw in the previous shot as it may provide some sort of explanation but we are still asking questions constantly.

We get a mid-shot of one of the detectives. This detective is in the light and looks very young and inexperienced compared to the other detective. The other detective is always in the dark and is always serious which helps to give a view into the type of person he is and shows that he has probably done this job for a long period of time and knows more about it and how to deal with it better. This also makes it look like he is more careful and cares more about his job than the other detective. Whenever we see the two detectives together the younger of the two is always shown in more light and although that they are meant to be working as a team it gives the impression that there is not an awful lot of teamwork going on.

When we see the more experienced detective at home we are still finding out more about his character and are being helped by what we see to establish the character. We can see how he doesn't seem to like his job any more and the ticking of the clock that he has started helps him to clear his mind and helps him to get to sleep.

Throughout the rest of the opening scene the setting remains very dark and gloomy in an attempt to set the scene and set us up for the rest of the movie. The characters are still being established between the more inexperienced and the more experienced detective.