comparison between se7en and the shining opening title sequence
the shining was produced by Warner’s brother studios and was directed by Stanley Kubrick written in the year 1980. the director uses different aspects such as sound, camera and editing in the opening title sequence to get across the different themes of genre and narrative to the audience. the techniques he uses induces physical feelings in the audience which is what makes his opening title sequence so interesting to analyse.
for example, the sound depicts the genera of the movie in different ways
firstly, the music almost sounds like horns and in parts of the music it almost mimics police sirens. this may tell the audience that something bad is going to happen therefore it tells them this movie has a horror or a thriller genera.
another aspect of the sound in the opening title sequence that depicts the genera of the film is that the music has a clear juxtaposition to the visuals on screen. for example, the scenery in the opening sequence shows pretty green fields in the mountains but it is juxtaposed by the sound which has been edited to make it sound weird to physically effect you. This gives you a feeling of solitude which gives the idea of being isolated and trapped from society as you watch reinforcing the fact that the genera are horror.
Fr the entirety of the opening sequence the camera is doing a tracking shot of the yellow car and the birds eye view moving shot makes audience feel uneasy the camera moves and knocks the shot off centre, turns 180 degrees left and right which creates an unsettling feeling, this attempts to make you physically uncomfortable whilst watching it. the birds eye view makes you work to find the position of the car while inducing vertigo and adding to the unsettling feeling being created. The helicopter and camera man are working together to move the shot around. slow shots mean there is nothing else to do but watch the car and scenery. In one shot the camera zooms into the car and then goes off somewhere completely that we lose the car, there is something ghostly about the movement of the camera swooping towards and then away from the car and the scope of shot show massive depth of field which adds to the feeling of isolation.
We are not physically introduced to
The target audience for the film is teens and young adults and the film is a horror movie so is going to have an older age of which is the target audience as I would be inappropriate for younger audiences.
The titles of the opening sequence start with the opening production company logo at the front in this case it is Warner’s brothers. The titles then show us it is a Stanley Kubrick film as the expectation is that you should know this director and it is an attention grabber. next it shows the lead actors name on the screen and the title of the film. the fact only two actors are mentioned before the film title shows that the cast is small. Stephen king is credited as it is his story. the director credits himself in big bold writing with the other credit being smaller which gives context to who the director was as a person.
We are also not fully introduced to a character in the opening sequence which creates suspense but the camera shot where it scopes into the car and then away adds even more suspense as it is messing with the audience as a usual format would be to have a wide shot to show the context of the environment the car is in and to then cut into the car to see the character but the director messes with you and it stays at a wide tracking shot.
In the opening title sequence of se7en is also gives off a psychological thriller sort of theme
For mise en scene the needless and razor blades shown make the audience feel uncomfortable as he is cutting his fingerprints off with a blade already giving the impression he is trying to hide or cover something up. The only physical part of the character we meet are the man’s hands which appear dirty and there is no dialogue which adds to the suspense. There are also disturbing images in the man’s diary such as early medical operation images a man with a clamp in his head and stitches and the close-up shots of weird images such as the eyes of a photograph being crossed out suggest that the character is weird
There are lots of camera shots being taken at once making the scene feel hectic to the audience. The music in the back round of the scene is diegetic and if you listen closely sounds in the track resemble hospital beeps of a heart machine making the music parallel to what we see on screen due to the medical pictures.
The titles change in sync with the change of fast shots and add a distraction to what is happening on scene, but they don’t go out of their way to be annoying on screen.
In comparison from the shining to se7ev opening sequence
like the shining opening sequence, you do not meet a full character in se7en opening sequence and there is no dialogue meaning both title sequences add tension by keeping their characters hidden from the audience.
However, they also differ from one another for example in the shining the sound is juxtaposition and in se7en the sound is parallel to the visuals on screen yet both title sequences manage to give off similar feelings to the audience
They also differ as in the shining it is a slow shot and in se7en there are multiple fast shots of shots being taken at once, from an editing point of view it is very different from the shining opening sequence due to it being an elongated shot with only a few cuts.
In conclusion I think that both opening title sequences are successful as they manage to convey the correct genera of psychological thriller and built significant amounts of tension and suspense immediately and successfully grabbing the audience’s attention.
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