Analysis of the opening of Seven

In the opening credits of ‘Seven’ the first thing we see is Morgan Freeman sitting in bed, we can hear exaggerated non-diegetic sounds of an argument which, although could possibly be noises from next door, feels as though we can hear inside his head and are sharing his thoughts with him which establishes an immediate connection between Morgan Freeman and the audience,this makes us as an audience feel close the character and we now care for him, as we are listening to his thoughts. It then goes into a sequence of extreme close ups of, what we interpret to be the killer making a kind of record book documenting and planning his murders. There is an accompanying non-diegetic mechanical-like sound which set an unsettling atmosphere also helped by the dim lighting which is mainly black and white with hints of red which provide connotations of violence, as an audience this unsettles us and we know instantly this a villian. However, the contrast in this scene compared to the previous backs up our original impression that Morgan Freeman is a good character and one we can trust. We get the impression that the ‘killer’ is perhaps mentally ill due to an obsession in violence (shown with continuous extreme close ups of body parts having clearly enjured some kind of harm) yet he is also shown censoring out sexual references in passages of text, which presents some kind of disturbance in his mind. The extreme close ups of the killers hands whilst he attempts to remove his fingertips, creates a sense of filth and makes the whole title sequence seem unclean which can prove unsettling with the audience, as we too, feel dirty watching it. The song which plays throughout the opening, although has no lyrics has one line at the end which says: "you bring me closer to God" the reference to God and religion contrasts to the previous darker imagery of the bodies suggesting clashes in themes throughout the film.
The editing is cut to the beat and as the song builds up, the shots become faster. The overlapping and jumping of some shots reminds us of 'home cinema' and bad quality filming. This is also related to a few quick shots of the killer cutting up film.
The shots shown in the title sequence are very quick and range from things being stuck down, to quick flashes of pictures. There are a couple of shots showing passages of text which are too fast for us to read: creating enigmas within the audience as we want to know what the words say and why etc.
Although the overriding feel of the opening is that of filth and unsettlement and violence, the beginning does start off calmly as Morgan Freeman is sat in bed alone and peaceful. He puts on a metronome which adds a stable rhythm which although keeps with the calm feeling, does also hint at some element of tension mounting as we are waiting for Morgan Freeman to come to do something and the repeated beat from the metronome emphasises and exaggerates this.