Opening to Seven

Seven was directed by David Fincher in 199, it is an American crime film and stars Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, the film is based on each of the seven deadly sins, gluttony, envy, lust, pride, sloth, greed and wrath, where a series of murders take place.

                In Seven, there is two detectives, Detective Mills who is played by Brad Pitt and Detective Somerset who is played by Morgan Freeman. These two contrasts are stereotypically in contrast to one another. To start off with, we are introduced to Morgan Freeman’s character, Detective Somerset. A medium shot is used with dark lighting to show it is very early in the morning, however it also creates a negative setting. Ornaments are in the background of Somerset’s home which could identify his heritage and background as they are animal statues. The chess board that is lying on the table represents his intelligence. We can tell that Somerset’s character is a tidy and organised character as his kitchen is white and also very clean, this defeats the stereotypical view of a man that they are untidy, and messy, also his behaviour helps to indicate that he is a clean character as he is picking bits of fluff off of his suit just before he puts it on. A close up is then used to show he is preparing for work, with his tie to show he is formal and also could represent he is of importance in his job. The lighting is still dark which could help to represent his mood, and the atmosphere and situation. A close up of significant props are used which identifies to us that for the first time we see he is a policeman, and also this shows he is proud of his job, also it again identifies his organisation. A medium shot is then used, which shows the bed is made perfectly. It is a quiet atmosphere so we presume that Detective Somerset lives alone, so this could represent that he is lonely but also that he is dedicated to his job.

                On the other hand, Detective Mills who is played by Brad Pitt is the complete contrast of Detective Somerset. The sequence starts off with police sirens, so we know that the film may be dangerous and also identifies the profession of Detective Mills. Detective Mills wakes up with someone this identifies that he is in a relationship; a close up shot is used of this. Mills is portrayed as an untidy character as there are boxes everywhere identifying that he has just moved in to his flat. The shirt that Mills is putting on, is creased which represents he is a scruffy character and doesn’t care for his appearance much, also we can see that Mills is very unorganised as he has a few ties hanging from a hanger in which he just chooses one and it is already done up so he doesn’t have to go to much effort. The room in which he is in is quite bland and there is dark lighting which could identify the negativity of the atmosphere. It is seen to be bright outside, this identifies that he may have gotten up late as it is lighter than when Somerset woke up identifying that it is well in to the day. The busy atmosphere that Mills is in contrasts to the atmosphere that Somerset was situated as we can hear in the background that there is car horns, and sirens. A medium shot is used with a high angle when Detective Mills picks up the phone straight away when he doesn’t want to disturb his wife, he writes down information on his hand so he doesn’t disturb his wife which represents that he is too lazy and unorganised to get a pen and paper, which again shows the contrast between the two main characters.

Evie Mullahy