Research - Title Sequence

Seven - 1995
The sequence starts with the pages of a book and the white scratchy writing of the titles being shown between the pages of the book; as if they are a part of it. A hand proceeds to turn the page as the screen blacks out and more white writing appears containing the producers name in a thin, even scratchier font. It almost appears as if it is the signature of the person and flickers. We are then shown a piece of paper containing the image of two distorted hands pasted onto it; this image is quite strange and the fingers appear to be bent in odd ways. Black shadows fall over the image and the writing appears again but soon disappears to present a series of images that flash up in quick succession. These are hands turning a dial and contraptions opening. The music is quite eerie and almost sounds like an electric razor buzzing in the background. The sequence appears to use darkness as a dramatic device to let the audience know what kind of film this is as the black background appears again. Next we are shown the fingers again, this time the person is shaving skin from them with a razor blade. The fingers appear grubby and hard-worked under clearer inspection and there is almost something strange and creepy about them; they give the impression that this person is not ordinary and may be the villain of the piece. A screeching noise begins to play as the screen blacks out again and appears to be in time with the flickering of the text which pulsates and changes direction. The screeching sounds almost like someone screaming and sends chills through your spine. Next some sort of cloth-like object is shown being placed in water and the image of a person who has been severely mutilated and probably tortured then flashes up quickly. The object appears again, this time looking more like a teabag and the screen blacks out once more to show the title which fades in and out of focus and changes size. We are then shown a book being opened and again we flash back to an image similar to the very first one; a page being turned and writing contained between the pages, however this time the image is darker which suggests that as the film goes on it may become more sinister. Someone writing in the book is then shown until a red substance is presented with something floating in it. The substance looks almost like blood which will disturb the audience and let them know what themes they can expect in the film. Then the person is shown cutting a strip of film and a piece of paper and a plaster becomes noticeable on one of their fingers; this is probably due to their extensive amount of work with blades. The person proceeds to stretch a piece of plastic across a blade and is then shown holding pictures of a naked child before we see him place one of these pictures in the book he is making. A picture of the face of a man who appears to be dead then flashes up and the person runs their hand along this; this indicates that this person enjoys looking at these photos and that this may be their hobby. We realise that whoever this is must be a sick individual. In the middle of this shot however, pieces of paper are shown strewn on a surface and a drop of blood drops onto one of them telling us that this person is doing something creepy. The pages of writing are shown again and after this a number of pieces of text flash up of which the person proceeds to cross out certain words. The pages of the book are shown from the side again, a shot that has become quite eerie throughout the course of the sequence. Things become even more strange as the person crosses out the eyes on a picture of a boy, this tells me that there is something really wrong with this person and that he is probably psychotic. The picture is shown again, fully blacked out this time and the word, "you" appears in writing that seems almost as if it has been cut into the frame with razorblades. This is strange and really disturbing, in fact it makes you feel a little uneasy which is what the film itself is supposed to do. The red substance is shown again and is revealed to be developing fluid for film. The next few shots are of the person placing more pieces in his book, including a strip of small hooks which is strange. More pictures of mutilated bodies are shown and it becomes clear that this person takes their hobby very seriously; it is quite sickening and makes you question who this person is, making you want to keep watching to find out. The now classic shot of the pages of the book appears again which then changes to the person stroking a needle, placing more pieces in his book, threading the needle and sewing the pages together. Throughout the entire sequence writing flashes up over each frame which is quite chilling and makes you feel as if you are missing something. A long row of books is shown along with the person placing what seem to be small hairs in an envelope; this makes me think that this person may be blackmailing or taunting someone. A piece of money that was previously shown earlier in the sequence reappears and this time the person cuts the word "god" from the note. This links back to the title and plot of the film as "seven" refers to the seven deadly sins which is thought to be a religious belief. As this word is cut from the note you can hear the words "closer to god" being uttered over the music. The long row of books are shown again, showing how many books of this disturbing hobby the person has made and suddenly making them seem a lot more eerie than before. The screen fades to black for one last time before abruptly changing to show the word "Monday" on top of a background consisting of city buildings. This changes the tone straight away and makes you feel suddenly safer as the film now begins. The fact that throughout the entire sequence you do not get to see who the person is is quite chilling and makes you feel a little uneasy, however it is a good device.

How can we use this as inspiration?
The sequence contains links to themes at work in the film and helps to introduce it well as it gives you an idea of what you can expect to find in the film and what it is about. The shots are shown quite quickly and for some of them you cannot even tell what you are seeing which adds to the mystery of the film. We could not create a title sequence like this as it makes you aware straight away that something is wrong where as in our film we want the men to seem normal until their secret is revealed to the audience. However we could take a couple of ideas from this, such as the style of the writing; I think it's really effective in creating the right tone and the way it flickers and distorts gives a nice effect. Also the music is really dynamic and paints a picture, we want to use something like this in our film. I particularly liked the screeching noises and the way that at times the track sounded almost like a heartbeat. I think that incorporating these factors into our film would make it seem more professional. Also, the writing shown on the black background wouldn't be good for our film as to conquer time constraints we decided to place the text onto moving images, however we could take ideas from the way the writing is placed on images such as the page being turned as this created a really nice effect and the text faded in and out in creative ways. Overall we can take certain elements of this sequence and allow them to inspire our title sequence, but not all of it is relevant.