9/9/14 | RESEARCH | THE ART OF THE TITLE | "SE7EN"

The opening titles of David Fincher’s “Se7en” are highly stylised with lots of film grain, and dim lighting. All of the colours are lacking in saturation which makes the piece feel even more bleak. Most of the shots are short and snappy, using jump-cuts to skip out bits of time in the middle of each clip. This makes the sequence feel edgy and unsettling. The majority of the shots are macro shots of somebody putting together what seems like a scrapbook. We also see the person using a razor blade to remove the top layer of skin from his fingertips, hence removing his fingerprints. This lets us know that this person is most likely a criminal, who is highly skilled in the field of not being detected. This sets a dark tone to the entire sequence, and henceforth sets the tone for the whole film.