Title Sequence Research: SE7EN

Where were told to look at the title sequence for the movie, "SE7EN" to obtain an idea of many types of title sequences. 

The movie "Se7en" is a psychological thriller that plays on the audience's mind, conveying an enigma straight from the title sequence; the motion graphic creator, Kyle Cooper, wanted to convey a portrayal of a murderer plotting his deaths - this instantly foreshadows what the movie is about, wanting the audience to stay on the edge of their seats.

The title sequence fits into the psychological thriller genre due to the aspects of the consistent use of dark lighting throughout; the iconography of darkness connotes misery and curiosity. It's clear that the "killer" is not in a normal state of mind, the psychopath wouldn't be depicted in a title sequence for a romantic movie, so his identity and activity initially points out the genre of the movie. However, there is a running colour scheme in this title sequence; just like the lighting, shades of blacks are used as well as faded whites and yellows which aren't desirable colours, so you would link them with negativity like isolation for example; because they haven't been sustained, only left rot away in awful conditions. Furthermore, psychology is all to do with the mind, which is exemplified when the actor is shaving his fingerprints, this indicates he wants to hide his true identity for only one reason - committing a crime - this also adds to why "Se7en" fits into this genre, because this unusual activity isn't emphasised in all genres of movies only dark horror.

These screenshots add an insight to the title sequence that contains strange and horrific activities that happen.

Moreover, you start to question why this man is doing such things of cutting, pasting and collating information about these strange and random people; this will clearly be answered in the movie so it engages the audience, wanting them to watch the plot unfold. Close ups giving a slight insight into an object or an idea, that's why Kyle Cooper chose to use close up camera shots in this title sequence because it still allows the audience to see what's going on but it doesn't fully expose the story line, leaving curiosity the main theme for this title sequence. It enables the audience to wanting to seek the solution to what the actor is doing, that's why the close ups are intelligently done.

Nine Inch Nails are an industrial rock band that has been nominated for many awards and even been celebrated a Grammy for their unique excellence. Their distinctive and set-aside music genre stood out for the filmmakers to chose them to produce the soundtrack for the movie; not only as a synergy for both institutions but it's also a unique selling point for the marketing of this movie. Moving this aside, Nine Inch Nail's sound flawlessly suits the title sequence because the heavy mechanical tones, mysterious sounds and lyrics "You got me closer to God" perfectly suits the genre of the movie. It has an amazing effect on the finish product of the title sequence because the soundtrack and title sequence are very similar, which is why they match effortlessly because the lyrics are at the end which leave you questioning what the song is about - just like the visuals of the title sequence, you don't know what's happening until you watch the full movie. I would describe the music very alluring, I quite enjoy the alternative and unique sounds because I start to think what's the background to this? What influenced the creator to produce such a thing? I believe that's why the filmmakers chose Nine Inch Nails for their soundtrack, it's like what's going through the killer's head all these strange sounds; connoting mentally ill patients who may hear these type of sounds which drive them to do terrible acts.

The typography, just like the close up camera shots, also give an indication to the story line. The scratched out and imperfect font against the black background creates an illusion of eeriness and something that isn't quite traditional; you would typically link fonts like this with dark and creepy attributes which is why the font is used. The actor uses a typewriter to write his documents; stereotypically this font and typewriters are used with top secret crime documents so it adds an effect of criminology and acts against the law which also foreshadows what's expected to come.

Imperfect and scratched out font, adds an eerie effect.

Mise-en-scene helps construct the genre of the movie because it contains certain iconography to help achieve this. For example, the actor plays with razors, which can do terrible damage so, this helps emphasis on the thriller this movie is. The thriller aspect leaves an enigma, which impacts the audience. He highlights certain words from a newspaper, whereas a newspaper offers information for the reader the potential killer is also exerting information as he's focusing on words like "transgender" allowing the audience to know his motivations from the outset. Religion is a very controversial subject, we are enlightened to bible prophecies, which are estimations from the bible - similar to the title sequence, it leaves the reader/audience wanting to find out the truth. The actor is writing on a document titling "Transsexual" and "homosexuality" which are two main problems within religion; especially Christianity seeing it as a "sin" or "playing God" and this leaves them infuriated so this indicates that there will be some controversy approaching as well as very opinionated topics. It creates the atmosphere of suspected tension. On the other hand, you see him cutting and pasting almost curating a scrapbook of people and information, which could also be seen as him playing God which may lead to a major problem - another enigma:  

"Transsexualism" "Homosexuality"

The editing takes on a fast approach because it doesn't give enough time for the audience to realise what's going on. Although they can see it they wouldn't fully understand what's going on. Jump cuts speed up the pace too, creating suspense and a sense of urgency, which could symbolise how he much he wants to kill these peoples from the photographs he, is collecting.