essay

What makes a thriller and how is this evident in 'Se7en'? A macro/micro analysis of 'Se7en' (David Fincher, 1995).


The film ‘Se7en’ is a crime/psychological thriller. It covers most of the micro/macro elements that are common in thriller films such as; genre, narrative, audience, institution, representation, ideology and the micro techniques; cinematography, sound, editing and miss en scene. I am going to explore the elements that make ‘Se7en’ a crime thriller and how they show this.
The film was directed by ‘David Fincher’, a director who kind of specialises in thriller movies, such as ‘Fight Club and ‘Panic Room’ (These being few of his previous films). The screenplay was written by Andrew Kevin Walker. Like Fincher, Walker is known for his history in the thriller genre, having re-written 'Fight Club' (a Fincher Film). The film was produced by Arnold Kopelson, who also has links to the thriller span, having produced suspense thrillers like ‘Outbreak’ (which stars Morgan freeman). Kevin Spacey had just stared in his new movie ‘The Usual Suspects’ a massive thriller success, Brad Pitt was Qiuckly gaining recognition and Morgan Freeman was already a start in the industry with his hit movie ‘The Shawshank Redemption’; it’s obvious that the studio, New Line Cinema, were putting a lot faith in the film, as is supported by the $30 million budget and the scope of stars they were willing to cast. This is even more significant considering that, at the time, New Line Cinema was an independent studio, and not only this but the film is relatively contrasting to typical Hollywood releases with very dark themes that would normally be frowned upon; they were putting a quite substantial budget and cast, despite their setbacks, along-side a style of film that was relatively less likely to succeed than most films.
The age limit on this film is an 18, so this obviously means for an older audience, but I would specify males early twenties up to about forty and below. This is because of the cast in the film and the plot, the cast in the film generally being male with 2 male protagonists and a male antagonist. The only female we really see is Mills’s Wife. The two protagonists both are parallel with eachother. One is calm and submissive and one is violent and short tempered with a crude mouth. This related to the target audience because Mills (The crude detective) would appeal to the younger side of the target audience where as Somerset would appeal to more of the older side of the target audience.
Another element of representation, also through use of the miss en scene, is the clothes that each character wears. Not only do each characters' clothes represent their role (antagonist, protagonist), but they also represent the characters personality. This highlights much of the normality of the characters, especially their flaws. For instance, the two morning scenes of the two detectives can contrast each other. While Somerset dresses very slowly, a point-of-view camera showing as he individually took and adjusted peripherals, with very neat and professional clothing, Mills appears the opposite; he is very rushed, and throws on an un-ironed shirt. Throughout the film he wears the likes of a leather jacket, crumpled shirt, rolled up sleeves and so on. Somerset will always appear professional and tidy however. This highlights each characters' personalities in that Mills is very much like his clothed: rough, rushed, impatient, and so is Somerset: calm, tidy, considerate.
The relationship between the two protagonists is shown throughout the film. For example. When the 3rd murder is discovered, there is a photographer on the stairs (The guy being the antagonist without Mills and Somerset knowing) when Mills tells the photographer to go away Somerset says something to him about his temper and anger therefore showing us that Somerset is more wiser that Mills. Basically telling Mills that he needs to calm down if he wants to be successful in his line of work.
Suspense and tension is used to give the film a thrilling feel to it. For example when the 3rd murder is discovered everyone in the room suspects that he is dead and therefore motionless but then a cheap surprise is used and the ‘Dead’ guy comes back to life and screams. But the story leading up to the cheap surprise does get the audience wondering because Somerset says that they are in the room exactly a year after the first picture was taken, making the audience think that something may happen.
The mis-en-scene throughout the film is very dark and is pretty much always raining, this creates the sense of depression during this time. The only real sign of happiness is at the end of the film when the weather is sunny, but still doesn’t end well. The rain could also represent the relationship between protagonists and antagonist because the antagonist could plan the murders during the worst weather in America. The weather also plays a big role in the film to create darkness and suspense.
Sound doesn’t really play a big role in the film. The sounds are all natural, by this I mean they weren’t added on when the film was edited. I think this is important because the film isn’t a Sci-fi it’s a thriller. Thrillers have to be realistic because they can create the sense of realism. Realism is an important role to play with the audience because the audience start thinking that because there are no aliens or out of this world objects it could easily happen to them.
The relationship with Somerset and Mills’s wife is shown at the end of the film when Somerset finds Mills’s wife’s head in a box. Somerset seems speechless and starts to look angry/sad. This is important because Somerset got close to Tracy (Mills’s wife) when Tracy asked Somerset to go and see her to have chat they bonded and became closer friends.
This film is not a horror because the film has a sense of realism. But saying that some horrors have realism but sometimes use things that would be totally impossible to pull off. Se7en is a classic example of a thriller. Creating tension, giving of cheap suprises sending the audience in the opposite direction and then coming back into the story line for example the antagonists in the last deadly sin, but the detectives thought it would be someone else.

Gothika Trailer [2003]

The trailer of the film 'Gothika' has alot of tension and suspense to let the audience know what genre the film is. the genre of the film is horror/thriller. the trailer creates suspense and tension by the editing and the voice overs within the trailer. the trailer uses alot of screeming and is very dark throughout. tension and suspense is also created through the soundtrack which is an eary and intimidating sound because the music creates the image of anything can happen in the time the music is being played. we know this creates tension because it keeps the audience guessing what is going to happen, this is also theatre of the mind.

The music througout is very eary, the music picks up in tension to the end of the trailer the end the trailer with a scary image of Halle berry getting smothered by something or someone. Thus creating tension aswell as suspense.

Theatre of the mind is when the audience is left guessing what is going to happen. during the trailer. the main character approches a girl giving the image that they are going to have a conversation, then there is suddenly a screem and you see the girl holding Halle berries face with both hands. then the clip fades out leaving the audience guessing what has happened. shortly after this Halle berry wakes up in what seems to be a dark flickering room, giving the impression that she has been kindnapped, until the next few clips reveal she is imprisoned.

Realism and normality are included within this because anyone can be in prison. supernatural elements are present but they are not that supernatural, anyone can be a killer. this also is a red herring. because at the beggining of the trailer halle berry is interviewing a young girl who states "How can you trust someone who think your crazy?" this sends the audience thinking that the girl is crazy and cannot be trusted. later on in the trailer Halle berry ends up going crazy and says to the inspector "How can you trust someone who thinks you are crazy" this is unexpected to the audience creating a sense of a twist in the story.

another convention that is big in this thriller is slow paced movements. from the beggining to about 1:07 into the trailer is very slow paced, so the audience can soak in all the important imformation that the audience need to soak in to understand the plot of the story so far. the slow paced created a mood. this mood is a calm one but it also leaves an image in your head that the story will have a tiwst, because of the music that is used.

cheap surpises are throughout this thriller trailer because during the trailer there is a car crash. after the car crash your see halle berry saying "are you okay?" this is a cheap suprise because you would think you would see halle berry in a hospital getting treated for her injuries. this gives the audience the impression that because she never went to hospital something else will end up happening to her.

The ending of the trailer is also an enigma because you see halle berry getting taken away yet again. this throws the audience off of point. because you think she has already been taken but is taken YET again.

You can tell that this is a thriller film because of the conventions that have been covered.

Mis en scene

This is a good example of a mis en scene because it used dark lighting to set the scene and the mood of he film and the character. we can tell this because the lighting is dark and the character is shouting. connoting he is angry. the costumes the director has chose to use is very minimal, he has chosen for the main character to be topless to show off his muscles to show dominance. this shows that the characters means business. props are used, for example the gun. this shows that hes fighting someone or something and he is very angry about it because he is shooting the gun with one hand, this connotes his strength, power and determination to win. the production design looks like it is outside at night signifying his stealthiness. the space however doesnt look that spaceious but this is to represent the time he has to win his battle.

Moderators edit

in this edit i included dialogue. which is one of the aspects we had to cover. i didnt do any special fx editing. just a normal movie edit. no fancy stuff.

Fame Official Trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRPca0Lvp1w

The editing starts off with lots of cuts showing several different students. this works in conjunction with the voice over at that time. after the cuts the music kicks in the an establishing shot of the city. the shot of the city is used to get the audience to know where they are situated. we know this is an establishing shot because you can see the whole city and not just one builiding, although one building would be enough to create an establishing shot. this shot sets of the movie.

throughout the video their are 12 text clips. all the same colour and all have the same cross over effect. the text was meant to look like disco lights or something of that genre. this creates knowledge because the text looks like what you would expect in dance/musicals. i know this creates a sense of knowledge because as soon as i saw the text i recognised the genre of the trailer.

The trailer uses 3 soundtracks and all fit in the with sync of the editing. i know this because when a certain part of the song is playing there will be a clip of someone doing some dance moves to that song. also indicating that the 3 songs that are used in the trailer will be used in the film.

The main transition used is an overlap/dissolve. i think this is used because it shows just one location throughout the video and it also shows the relationship between each character and the similarities that each have towards eachother connoting that they each have talent. however a few flashes are present to create slight tension and suspense to keep the audience watching throughout. there are also a lot of fade outs and fade ins dennoting emotions. fade in a fade outs show emotions because they slowly introduce of get rid of a clip. fades can be both happy and sad.

the clips are very small. by this i mean they are not on the screen for long. the longest is probably 4 seconds long. but it includes dialogue. i think the editor has done this because he wanted it to flow with the music and wanted it to keep to an up beat tempo. i know this because again, the music is in beat with the video clips. and the music is often fast, hense a fast edit.

the editor has not only successfully created an up beat tempo but has also included comedy within the trailer, making it more appealing to an audience. trailer often use the best parts of the movie but avoid spoiling the main plot. cuts are often use to create an up beat edit that creates suspense and excitement however this is not the case with this trailer, this trailer uses a lot of dissolves and still creates the same mood as others.