Se7en

Director: David Fincher

Writer: Andrew Kevin Walker

Release Date: 5 january 1996 (UK)

Genre: Crime/ Drama/ Mystery/ Thriller

Production Comapany: New Line Cinema

Awards:

Won- ASCAP Award, Saturn Award, Blue Ribbon Award, CFCA Award, Empire Award, International Fantasy Film Award, Golden Trailer, Hochi Film Award, ALFS Award, MTV Movie Award, NBR Award, NYFCC Award, Audience Award, Universe Reader's Choice Award

Nominated- Oscar, Saturn Award, ASC Award, Award of the Japanese Academy, BAFTA Film Award, Best Cinematography Award, Video Premiere Award, Image Award, MTV MOvie Award, OFCS Award

The beginning of Se7en starts with a close up of William Somerset's hands picking up various items at a crime scene; he wears a long coat and a hat which is a similar costume to those in The Third Man therefore suggesting that the character is quite traditional. His costume is detective looking and is out of place within the mise en scene as his partner Detective David Mills is a lot more contemporary looking as are the other characters.

The films acts a clock, ticking down time; 7 days precisely. William Somerset retires in seven days and the new detective David Mills has seven days to learn the ropes in a new city. The seven days corresponds with the title of the film Se7en. The credits include pens, handwriting and a black/white/ red colour scheme, all suggesting crime and the Thriller genre. The pens and paper suggest police involvement and clues and the connotations of red are danger, anger, blood. Black and white could be representative of bad and good. The two sides represented in crime and in thriller films.

The urban setting of the film is another suggestion of the genre as cities are often represented as a place of corruption and criminal activity. The tall buildings and industrial look of it create an unglamorous perspective of the location; the dark lighting in the mise en scene is another generic convention of the thriller genre that is utilised in the majority of thriller films. The use of torches in the dark at the crime scenes is an interesting use of lighting also. I like the fact that the shot is very drab and the only light in the mise en scene is the spotlight coming from the handheld torches that the detectives are carrying. The murky light makes the setting obscure which creates on going tension. The sound of rain is the most consistent diegetic sound in Se7en and I noticed that it was raining throughout the film, a convention of the thriller genre and use of pathetic fallacy.

The seven deadly sins are used as the theme of the crimes committed meaning that there is a lot of room for grotesque images. The first crime is that of Gluttony; in the mise en scene you see a morbidly obese man that had died from being force fed. The scene is dingy and unglamorous. Another diegetic sound that occurs is when the detectives are at a crime scene and you hear girls screaming, this again suggests the genre and causes suspicion of other crimes being committed within the city.

A lot of close ups of the characters' faces are used and the camera particularly focuses on the detectives' hands; these are essential close ups to inform the narrative and give the audience clues about the forth coming events of the film. One of my favourite shots within the film is the tracking shot of Morgan Freeman walking through the library. Within this scene there are extreme close ups of pages of books focusing and highlighting words relating to the seven deadly sins and the relation of the crimes.

Violence, drugs and mental health issues are all addressed within the film which is generic to see within the thriller genre, especially within the characters of the films. Corruption from the detectives and police force is also evident in the narrative when a friend of Morgan Freeman's character finds information in the FBI files to aid the resolution of the case. Corrupt authorities are often used in thrillers and has proved to be a generic characteristic of the thriller genre. Corruption of authorities is something that has been utilised within crime fictions also, for example: The Big Sleep. The main character Marlowe is a very corrupt detective, working in a very unordinary manner and relying on vices to get through the day.

A chase sequence happens within Se7en, something that has been seen in other Thriller films, such as The Third man. Shadows and reflections are another feature used a lot in the thriller genre and it is used in this film through a puddle, the image is obscured by the rain which creates apprehension. Ironically, religion is presented in the film which is opposed by the use of guns and brutality within it.

Nearing the end of the film, the "good guys" ( two detectives) have a change in morality where their attitudes change; both characters seem to let the case get to them and they become more aggressive, swapping their calm, professional attitudes to ones similar to the criminals they are trying to catch. This transition is evident when Morgan Freeman's character throws his pendulum and when he uses a knife as a substitute for a dart on a dart board. A change in morality and/or epiphany is usually seen or realised near the end of films; a change in a characters personality or behaviour is seen often within the thriller genre.