Se7en Textual Analysis

There is a lot of mise-en-scene in the opening of se7en. One of which is the costumes worn by the characters. Morgan Freeman (played by Morgan Freeman) dresses smartly in a suit that is shown in dark colors, colors often associated with a thriller (dark showing uneasiness and light being happy and bunnies). He appears professional, unlike Pitt, who wears a leather jacket (which could show his reckless nature) and also chews gum, which is often seen to be the sign of someone rebellious if you chew gum at serious times. It kind of shows that you don't really care about much. The comparison between the two characters can be expanded during their walk down the street when the obvious boundaries and status' between the characters are set. Pitt bumps into, and has to walk around people continuously while Morgan Freeman is just casually strolling without incident This shows that Pitt is the more danger seeking type and rule breaker, whereas Morgan Freeman tends to follow the rules more often. Pitt also appears to be smiling, suggesting he doubts Morgan Freeman's leadership and also doubts his views on how things are run. However Morgan Freeman appears to be a very serious character and can take command of Pitt very easily because of his experience in this field of work.
There is a lot of paper in the title sequence, and some of the text covered over in marker pen to appear 'erased'. This could suggest that the person in the title sequence is trying to hide information to conceal his identity, but it could also represent the fact that he is "crossing" people off of his list of victims.

Camera shots are used effectively in this opening. For instance, there is use of a tracking shot as Morgan Freeman and Pitt walk down the street. This shows that their conversation is important as it highlights who is "leader" and who is "student". It is also slightly low angle to show the characters' importance early on. However, Morgan Freeman appears closer to the audience, and looking slightly larger than Pitt, showing the dominant character in the scene, which of course is Morgan Freeman. A wide shot is used when Morgan Freeman lies in bed and this shows the room in much detail, and gives an insight into Morgan Freeman's life; for example, Morgan Freeman sleeps on one side of a double bed, which shows that he is clearly used to sharing a bed with someone, which starts to open the door into the past of Morgan Freeman.

Sound is used to a brief extent during the opening scene, however it is mainly dialogue between the two characters at the beginning. However, when Pitt tries to take over Morgan Freeman in conversation to gain more power, Morgan Freeman cuts him off, and this lets the audience and Pitt know that Morgan Freeman is always going to be the dominant character, especially in conversations. No one cuts Morgan Freeman off mid-sentence. Morgan Freeman also makes it clear that he is in charge by physically telling us that he is in charge. Other uses of sound are the sirens of the cars made in the city while Morgan Freeman and Pitt walk down the street. This could represent the fact that the city as it is now is very dysfunctional and is full of crime. Morgan Freeman does not really pay much attention to the sirens at all which suggests that crime is a constant happening in the city and that he has gotten used to all of the sounds that are associated with crime. However, Pitt shows clear annoyance at all of the noise which shows that Morgan Freeman has more experience with these matters, which can also suggest that Morgan Freeman is going to remain superior to Pitt throughout most of the movie. Another use of sound is the Metronome and its ticking. Once it began ticking, all other noise was cut out. This shows that it could be a methodical way for Morgan Freeman to get to sleep, which could suggest that he has had a troubled life, has seen many grisly things and perhaps the death of his possible wife could have been fairly recently. Lastly, there was the use of the non-diagetic music playing over the opening credits. This music was very distorted and very unsettling to the ears. This could suggest that there will be points represented by the music that will be very unclear and unsettling to listen to. It could also suggest that the mind of the victim is very abnormal, as the music could represent the thoughts of the antagonist and how he may be crazy.

Finally, the way editing was used in the title sequence could also represent the kind of movie that it is. The writing appears to be very scrawny, and could represent gash marks, suggesting that the antagonist like to cause pain to his victims. The flashing that was lightly used also distorts the man's features, shrouding him more in mystery. The text also jumps around its base point a little. This could represent the uneasy movements of the antagonist, as maybe his insanity causes him to act differently to the other characters. It could also be used to get the audience's eyes moving as there may be things happening in the background of every scene that the director could want us to try and pick up on, and the titles moving kind of gets our eyes to follow it, making us see things that we might have missed of the titles were still

Se7en stars Morgan Freeman.
Also Brad Pitt.
But no-one really cares about Brad Pitt in this movie.
So Morgan Freeman.