Se7en Review
The film I am analysing is called Se7en, it was directed by David Fincher, it was released in 1995 and it starred Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman and Gwyneth Paltrow. This film’s plot revolves around the seven deadly sins: Gluttony, greed, lust, wrath, sloth, pride and envy.
The narrative structure of Se7en is linear, so it follows the A-B-C structure, due to having this structure the audience is put into the roll of the detective and is trying to solve the mystery and what twists and turns have been put into the thriller.
Thriller films have certain rules (codes and conventions) that the director has to follow, they are what the audience expects to see, each genre of films have different rules. Se7en has many of these rules for example: its very dark in nearly every scene, when its daytime the weather is still very dark and stormy, and even when they are indoors the lighting is still very dimmed, like when each body is found they are always in dark places. All this darkness relates to partial vision, where the audience can only ever see a certain area, this add’s suspense. The film is also constantly asking questions and having them answered for example, when they think they know has been committing the murders and go to arrest him, they find that he is the next victim. By using this question and answer method the audience can’t solve the mystery. Another code and convention they use is that the film is based in a city, by setting thrillers in cities it can create more chaos than say the film being set in the country side, another reason for setting them in cities is so that it is extremely difficult to find the criminal. In the last scene they use Lars Ole Saurberg’s method of delaying an outcome, when the box arrives at the scene you have no idea what’s in it and they don’t immediately open it so you ask your self “What’s in the box?” and then it takes a while for him to open the box with his knife adding to the suspense.
The camera has a variety of moves in each scene, there are a lot of close ups, to show the characters emotions, like when Mills finds out it’s his wife’s head in the box, the camera zooms in on his devastated expression. There are also a lot of low angle shots of John Doe to show that he has the upper hand on the detectives and this coincides to when Somerset shouts “John Doe has the upper hand!”
The Mise-en-scene includes the following: costume, lighting, acting, make-up and performance (C.L.A.M.P) the costumes for Se7en are very stereotypical, for example: the detectives wear long trench coats, hats, suits and have gun graces, they use these costumes because it is what you expect the detectives to wear.
The lighting is extremely dark all throughout the film, in every room the lights are dimmed, and even when it’s daytime they make the weather very dark, however in the last scene it is very sunny to me this connotates that the city is a much lighter place now that the murderer has been caught, then when he wasn’t and the city is a much darker place.
The performance of characters is extremely important in a film because it gives the audience a better insight into their life. Brad Pitt’s character(Mills) is very passionate about his job and is extremely aggressive when it comes to a case; he is very much shoot first and ask questions later. Morgan Freeman’s character (Somerset) contrasts Pitt’s a lot, he is less passionate about his job and can’t wait to retire, and he is also really reserved and does things by the book. By both being very different they compliment each other quite well, like the other ones weakness is the others strength, so they make a good team.
Both characters make-up and hair reflects their personality very well for example Mill’s has a much more rugged look, with his ruffled hair and unshaven complexion and Somerset is extremely neat and tidy with his immaculate hair and being clean shaven.
Props are a major factor in thriller movies and have to be carefully chosen, in Se7en the props mainly include weapons, for the detective’s there are guns, which you would expect and the criminal has a wide range of weapons, which you would also expect from the thriller genre.
The main sound in se7en is sound effects of the city e.g. Cars, trains, crowds etc. However music is used throughout the film and especially in chase scenes, this adds suspense to the chase and makes it more excitable for the audience.
In Sev7en there are quite a few montages an example of this is where Somerset is in the library and he is doing research, they also use a lot of cross-cutting, this is where one actor will be doing something and then it will cut between some else doing something at the same time but somewhere else. Shot-reverse-shot is also use quite a lot, using this you get to see the character reactions to what is being said in the conversation.
Finally in Se7en there is a certain colour scheme used and this is, black and dark green, these colours keeps to the thrillers quest of darkness, there are also flashes of red which connotes blood and anger so you know that there’s going to be blood spilt and makes you ask the question ‘will the main character survive?’
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Friday, 13 November 2009
Section 1: Critics and Authors
Critics and Authors Write Up
What is a Thriller?
There are many codes and conventions of the thriller genre and many authors have written books on it, they all came up with different rules, which directors should follow when making a thriller and also what the audience expects to be in a thriller. The first book explaining this was written in the 1900’s by G.K Chesterton, he came up with the basic rules, for example: Chesterton was determined that the thriller genre should be set in modern times, so technology id more advance, so they could explore more options than say a thriller set in the 1800’s. He said; A thriller should be set in an urban landscape. This is because if its set in a town or city, then there can be more destruction and devastation. And also more people would suffer in an urban landscape than say a country side area. He also said; Find excitement in everyday life, this means that the plot should follow an ordinary person, who does 9 to 5 instead of someone who has superpowers. And finally; Transform the ordinary into extraordinary, again this is taking the ordinary guy and making him do extraordinary things.
Northrop Frye wrote a book where he elaborates more on the points that Chesterton makes in his book for example he says; the hero is often an ordinary person but he adds to this by saying, “the hero of romance movies in a world in which the ordinary laws of nature are slightly suspended.” This means that the hero in romance films is similar to the ones in thrillers because they are usually just a normal person, but they are put into a slightly more complex world. He then goes on to say; “we are happy to believe the situations because Thrillers are similar to romance fictions.” This is elaborating on the point made earlier because it’s saying that the situations like in romance are a bit far fetched and cliché but they are believable because it is everyday life. And finally he says “The thriller turns the enchanted forest into the modern city” by this he means a thriller is like a fairytale but with a modern take to it.
John Crawlett then wrote a book which combines both points made by G.K Chesterton and Northrop Frye but he adds “The exotic into everyday world” which means they put something different into everyday life, something the characters aren’t use to. For example ‘The Terminator’ puts killer robots into normal life.
W.H Mathews although agreed with the points above he thought there was more to Thrillers than just that, so he said “The image of Theseus descending into the underground maze full of twists, turns, puzzles and dead ends” this means that in Thrillers nothing can be simple or straight forward, something has to be difficult to solve, like in ‘Se7en’ when the characters think they are about to solve the case it takes a different turn and puts them back to square one again. Another reason for doing this is so that it is never boring for the audience member. He also says “Complex twist and turns so the audience doesn’t solve the problem too easily.” And finally “A thriller must have a puzzling journey.”
Pascal Bonitzer agrees with the maze theory but he adds that there should be partial vision when he advocates mazes; this means that the audience shouldn’t be able to see what will happen. He also says “The audience should only see so much” and “What the audience doesn’t see is part of the system of Thrillers.”
Lars Ole Saurberg adds to these points and then talks about the two ways suspense can be added to the thriller genre. The first one is deliberately hiding something from the audience, an example of this is when someone enters a room with a torch and you can only see what the torch illuminates. The second is delaying an expected outcome, an example of this is when a bomb is being defused and the person doesn’t know which wire to cut so they take forever before cutting even though the audience knows it’s the right one.
Finally Noel Carroll combines all of the above but he adds “A thriller should constantly ask a question and have it answered” and “One factor for creating suspense is in a battle against the odds” and finally “Will the hero survive?” all these add suspense to the thriller genre, making them more exciting for the audience.
What is a Thriller?
There are many codes and conventions of the thriller genre and many authors have written books on it, they all came up with different rules, which directors should follow when making a thriller and also what the audience expects to be in a thriller. The first book explaining this was written in the 1900’s by G.K Chesterton, he came up with the basic rules, for example: Chesterton was determined that the thriller genre should be set in modern times, so technology id more advance, so they could explore more options than say a thriller set in the 1800’s. He said; A thriller should be set in an urban landscape. This is because if its set in a town or city, then there can be more destruction and devastation. And also more people would suffer in an urban landscape than say a country side area. He also said; Find excitement in everyday life, this means that the plot should follow an ordinary person, who does 9 to 5 instead of someone who has superpowers. And finally; Transform the ordinary into extraordinary, again this is taking the ordinary guy and making him do extraordinary things.
Northrop Frye wrote a book where he elaborates more on the points that Chesterton makes in his book for example he says; the hero is often an ordinary person but he adds to this by saying, “the hero of romance movies in a world in which the ordinary laws of nature are slightly suspended.” This means that the hero in romance films is similar to the ones in thrillers because they are usually just a normal person, but they are put into a slightly more complex world. He then goes on to say; “we are happy to believe the situations because Thrillers are similar to romance fictions.” This is elaborating on the point made earlier because it’s saying that the situations like in romance are a bit far fetched and cliché but they are believable because it is everyday life. And finally he says “The thriller turns the enchanted forest into the modern city” by this he means a thriller is like a fairytale but with a modern take to it.
John Crawlett then wrote a book which combines both points made by G.K Chesterton and Northrop Frye but he adds “The exotic into everyday world” which means they put something different into everyday life, something the characters aren’t use to. For example ‘The Terminator’ puts killer robots into normal life.
W.H Mathews although agreed with the points above he thought there was more to Thrillers than just that, so he said “The image of Theseus descending into the underground maze full of twists, turns, puzzles and dead ends” this means that in Thrillers nothing can be simple or straight forward, something has to be difficult to solve, like in ‘Se7en’ when the characters think they are about to solve the case it takes a different turn and puts them back to square one again. Another reason for doing this is so that it is never boring for the audience member. He also says “Complex twist and turns so the audience doesn’t solve the problem too easily.” And finally “A thriller must have a puzzling journey.”
Pascal Bonitzer agrees with the maze theory but he adds that there should be partial vision when he advocates mazes; this means that the audience shouldn’t be able to see what will happen. He also says “The audience should only see so much” and “What the audience doesn’t see is part of the system of Thrillers.”
Lars Ole Saurberg adds to these points and then talks about the two ways suspense can be added to the thriller genre. The first one is deliberately hiding something from the audience, an example of this is when someone enters a room with a torch and you can only see what the torch illuminates. The second is delaying an expected outcome, an example of this is when a bomb is being defused and the person doesn’t know which wire to cut so they take forever before cutting even though the audience knows it’s the right one.
Finally Noel Carroll combines all of the above but he adds “A thriller should constantly ask a question and have it answered” and “One factor for creating suspense is in a battle against the odds” and finally “Will the hero survive?” all these add suspense to the thriller genre, making them more exciting for the audience.
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