Seven Essay

Se7en Essay: ‘What makes a thriller film and how is this evident in Se7en? A micro/macro analysis of Se7en (David Fincher 1995)’

Introduction: In this essay I am going to analysis the film ‘Se7en’ through the uses of micro elements and macro elements to explore the conventions of a thriller film.

Institutional research: The film was directed by David Fincher (It was produced new line cinema) and was written by Andrew Kevin Walker. The release date of the film was in January 1996, UK ,in 2,441 theater, where it grossed $139.9 million on it’s opening weekend. It went on to gross $100.01 million in North America and $227.1 million in the rest of the world for a total of $327.3 million.

From this piece of evidence we could tell that this film is a success because it's budget is $30 million and it had made a increasingly high amount of profit.

The film was generally well-received through critics and currently 84% rating at ‘Rotten Tomatoes’. Gary Arnold, in Washington Times, praised the cast: ‘The film ace in the hole is personal appeal generated by Mr. Freeman as the mature, Cerebral Cop and Mr. Pitt as young, head strong cop. Not that the contrast is inspired or believable in itself. What gets to you is the prowess of the co-stars as they fall out sketchy character profiles.

Shelia Johnson, in her review for the independent, praised Freeman’s performance: ‘The film belongs to Freeman and his quiet, carefully detailed portrayed of the jaded older man who learns not to give up the fight’.

The critics, frequently praises the actors that cast in the film, which indicates that most part of the success (Box office: 29^th place out of 250) was through the actors. For example, the audiences may have been interested in Brad Pitt or Morgan Freeman, which encourages audiences to watch the film.

Audiences: The film ‘Se7en’ is targeted at adults/older teenagers as their primary audiences, for example the DVD stated that it is for 18+ and most importantly the film is classified as a crime thriller, which is a mass appeal.

It is classified as a crime thriller because it possess the conventions of intrigue and enigma codes, for example the equilibrium of the film revealed where the death of a victim took place and immediately the body of the victim was in the scene, this is an example of an enigma code and intrigue because it makes the audience think what happened. This is also created through the restricted narration which also gives a sense of investigation and theater of the mind.

The film ‘Se7en’ may also be targeted at male audiences as their primary audiences because both protagonist are males (Mills and Sommerset), this represents that males are more dominant at the time in 1995. The main women character in the film known as Tracey is a victim in the film and another women who is a prostitute was murdered because of ‘Lust’. This demonstrates that women’s are stereo typed as being a sex object, seen as maternal figures and vulnerable, which is conventional in a crime thriller film.

Narrative: The narrative structure of the film is linear, this is shown throughout the film (week), which gives it a sense of normality/reality. It is also shown through the bad whether conditions, because it has rained throughout he whole days in the film, which links the scenes together, which is also one of the main conventions of a thriller film because it signifies to the audiences that negative events may occur latter on in the film. The use of linear narrative is deliberately used because it explains clearly to the audiences about the story plot. It is also linked in with the thriller genre because it’s structure is a linear narrative, which is also a form of restrictedness because the audience would not know what is going to happen in the future or what had happened in the past, which creates a enigma code and may also build up tension, which is a convention of a thriller film.

There are also a constant use of restricted narration in the film for example, in scene number 6, when the police located the criminal and is on a mission to capture the criminal. The camera shots in the scene was restricted because we did not get to see what the characters point of view (i.e.: eye line match was not used) and that the editing of the camera cuts is fast paced, which is deliberately used to confuse the audience but is also used to represent the confusion in the situation.

The interior lighting was very weak, which made it difficult for the audience to see what is happening, which creates a sense of enigma and suspense and is a example of iconography in a thriller film.

A close narrative is used in the film, for example the investigation has come to the end and they have arrested the criminal, which is the goal of the protagonists and most importantly Mills gets his revenge on the antagonist.

However on the other hand it could be argued that it is a open narrative because not everything at the end is tidy, for example Mill’s wife was murdered by John Doe and in order to show his ‘wrath’ Mills shot John Doe with his gun, which means that the murderer took the easy way out and as for Mills he would have to suffer all the pain and to repent for killing a murderer. (not a happy new equilibrium, which subverts the conventions of the Holly wood theory/Todorov’s theory).

Omniscient narrative is mostly used near the end of the film, for example when Mills and Sommerset was in a different scene because Mills went to reveal the box, however we knew what was within the box before Sommerset does because the camera cut’s to John Doe when he reveals that he had killed Tracey. However, even though we knew what was in the box labeled fragile, the camera remained restricted, for example the camera does not show what was in the box, which is creates theater of the mind. Even though it is a omniscient narrative, it still creates a enigma code because restricted narrative was also used so it the audience would think if it’s the truth that John Doe murdered Tracey. Through the enigma codes the audiences would than become more passive, which allow audiences to participate in the investigation.

The two main protagonist includes Mills and Sommerset, even though they are both protagonists, they both have different personality, for example Mills has a fiery. I could denote that through the plasters on his face, which signifies that he puts his life on the line when it comes to his job as a police (serious) and that he maybe rash at the same time he always carries his gun, signifies that he is violent and maybe a danger. We could also tell that he is short tempered through his dialogue/verbal codes, for example he swears a lot, especially near the end of the film, this connotes that he has come his limit, for example he killed John Doe. He is also into dogs, for example when we was saw him arrive home he interacted with two dogs, this signifies that he is a caring person and also that he is a loyal person because dogs are a symbol of loyalty.

Near the final scene when when the camera kept using shot reverse shot (close up) of him having a conversation with John Don, there was cross bars over both the antagonist and the protagonist (except Sommerset), this signifies that Mills might be in the same position as John Doe.

Sommerset, on the other hand is more calm and in controlled, this could be denoted when Tracey chooses to talk to Sommerset over Mills (announced that she is pregnant), through this event this could also connote that he is trusted and easy to get along with. He is also a tranquil person, for example when he was invited to dinner, he put down his gun before he sits at the dinner table (Tracey dislikes guns, which signifies that he respects her.)

In the final scene John Doe wore red T-shirt, which signifies that he is stained with the blood of the victims and it's a symbol of him as a dangerous person.

In the scene when he investigates the death I could denote that he wears a long coats and a hat, which is a conventional costume in a crime/mystery thriller, especially when it comes to detectives.

Genre: This film is classified as a hybrid genre because it is a crime genre but at the same time it could be a example of a psychological thriller, this could be denoted when Mills went to investigate the death of the first victim, the word ’Greed’ was stained on the floor (Blood). This connotes that the antagonist is purposely leaving clues for the protagonist, in order to play mind games with the protagonist. This is an example of a convention in a psychological thriller.

It could also be described as a crime thriller because it has characters such as the police and the forensics, who are most likely to be the protagonist, which gives a sense of investigation and enigma code, for example when in the scene 6, there was the police force that located the area of were the criminal might be. In the scene there was a lot of restricted narrative, through the camera because we as the audience would only see what the characters see (point of view shot), which builds up tension and the of the dramatic music (non-diegectic sound), also creates tension. Eye line match was also used in the scene, for example when there was a sudden scream, when the camera was focusing on the polices (asynchronous sound), we immediately focus on their frightened face expressions of the police, which creates tension (cheap surprise). The camera eventually cuts to the a different scene, allowing the audience to see the victim remained living (horrific sight). This could be a example of it subverting the conventions of a thriller because a conventional thriller don’t usually allow the audiences to view horrific scenes (this is more conventional in a horror film) because a thriller film usually plays on with the audiences mind (theater of the mind).

In conclusion, I think the film ‘Se7en’ is a crime thriller because it included many conventional element, such as the linear narrative, which gives it a sense of reality and that the whole story was set in a city, for example at the first scene there was a establishing shot of the city, which gives it a sense of normality and that it is conventional in most thriller films. However on the other hand, it could be argued that this is not a conventional thriller (challenges the ideology) film because the new equilibrium is not a conforming to the Todorov's theory of a happy ending, for example the tragic death of the wife leads him to despair and to push him to make a rash decision to revenge the death of his death was all due to John Doe's manipulation, which indicates that the antagonist has won against the protagonist. In addition it also subverts the conventions of a thriller film because in most thriller film there would be only one protagonist.