JORDAN HEWITT THRILLER ASSIGNMENT
SEVEN
What makes a thriller and how is this evidence in se7en?A macro/micro analysis of Se7en (Fincher :1995).
In this essay I will be constructing how Seven (Fincher :1995) was created for a thriller and I intend to ask this question through a number of codes such as the audience the genre narrative codes the media language, institution such as who funded it and who directed the film and who had written the film and the main characters.
Seven (Fincher :1995) was directed by David Fincher. David Fincher was born in 1962 in Denver Colorado 28th August and also directed other blockbuster films like Zodiac, Panic room, fighting club. He was also nominated for 10 awards and received 4. One award was for a blue ribbon award which he won in 1997 for the film (Seven Fincher 1995) and had won an award for (Seven Fincher 1995) called international fantasy awards. From the past films that David Fincher has made it seems he likes making detective and psychological thrillers.
Sevens (Fincher :1995) the target audience is mostly male aged between 18-60. The text is aim at both younger and older ages. As the film could appeal to a younger audience aged between 18-30 as the text contains a lot of murders and action and enjoy and are interested in suspense in films. The other reason it will appeal to the younger audience is that it has one of the hottest Hollywood actresses in the text which will attract the same male age group as her. Seven (Fincher :1995) also appeals to the older audience aged 40-60 through the use of Morgan Freeman is about to retire in the film and dedicated to his life to his job the older age groups can relate to this.
Another target audience is females aged between 18-60 this is they also have a younger and older audience. The younger audience watching the text aged between 18-30 as attracted to Brad Pitt. The older female audience can relate to the text as Gwyneth Paltrow plays a role of a wife who is pregnant and has trouble with her marriage.
David Fincher shows the audience two characters creating real contrasts with each other as Morgan Freeman is playing a role in the text were his is a old detective who is about to retire and then is young new detective who has been transferred to a different department maybe because he committed something negative which give the audience that twist of what they really know about the character and also the clothes the young detective wears is very mysterious looking with the leather gloves and the long leather coat this will appeal to a type of audience who enjoy watching protagonist sided character who shows some antagonist character as they show rebellious action and language used. When he swears a lot which shows he not strongly religious but is in a sense as he’s married to his wife and he new about the seven deadly sins from a book he was reading in the text. Also he is represented as very muscular in the text as through out it he has is stubble beards and is always bandaged up. Causal dressed but good looking for the female audience.
This is in contrast to the older detective in the text whereby he like to take things more relaxed approach to him and is very old fashion to the way he were his hats and long coats which reveal he’s old fashion. To even the way were he wanted to change partners in the text after the first murder. It also shows representation in the text on how easy it was for the murder who played the reporter to get Detectives Mills personal information in today society for a bit of money. John Todarof had been represented as a very religious man who took the law into his own hand to kill the people who were committing sins. But at the same time we see his character as very demonised.
The narrative structure used in Seven (Fincher :1995) was linear we could see this throughout the film as it takes use through day by day as on the first day it would say Monday etc. At the being the film equilibrium was used as everything’s stable at the beginning as the two detectives are getting ready for work in two different setting it also omniscient narration a the text showed who they were and what jobs they had. Disruption has occurred happens in the third scene the two detectives are doing their jobs investigating the first murder. When looking at the fat guy that forced to eat to his death. Restricted narration used throughout the text as the killer wasn’t shown and when we did see the thriller we didn’t know until revealed at the end and a scene in the text whereby the two detectives go into John Todarof house and we see a lot of point of view shot so we can only see it through the characters eyes.
To the audience this will create a lot of tension and suspense as we don’t know if some dead body is going to be hanging down or falling out of somewhere. The narrative devices used were enigma codes of which we could see in the same scene we they had found the murder to the picture seen in the background and the books the Detectives found of the murders everyday life but know relief, another enigma code used when the murder gave himself in and created a deal with the two detectives to find the last dead bodies. Gave the audience a sign that it would be a good ending. The action codes used in the text also when the two detectives arrive and a guy starts shooting at them and a big chase happens and he could of murdered detective Mills. This suggested that he had a certain order of who he wanted to kill in the film.
The protagonist and antagonist in the text are very complicated as Detective Summerset and Mills are both portrayed as protagonist automatically because of their jobs. Until the end of the text where Detective Mills shoots the murder in the head contrast with his job as he had a protagonist side to him. And also Detective Summerset and shows protagonist side in another scene were he’s speaking in the café with Tracy and doesn’t tell Detective Mills this may show a secretive side to the character.
The codes and conventions used to show the genre is a thriller are things such as the setting and the sound and the camera shots. The camera shot shown in different scene which mad it look like a suspense thriller was at the end whereby they had a aerial shot and close up of Brad Pitt over the criminal as the murder was on his knees. This created a contrast through the protagonist and the antagonist. The protagonist Detective Mills standing feels he has more power and antagonist by John Todarof when was on his knees. Seemed Detective Mills had the power over him until he knew what was in his box.
Setting used in the in the text as the murders to place in a big city which makes it more realistic to the audience as most people live in a city and would think that this sort of thing would happen in everyday life. They also in the text used dark rooms to suggest it had tension or to signify the films a thriller. The non deigetic music also played showed us in the text certain part were action or a chase is taking place as in the film when Detective Mills chases the murder and finds himself nearly killed. And in the scene were the SWAT team in the text had to follow up the finger print of the criminal who still alive after being tortured. Mise en scene is also used to in the text to show things such as crops costumes and locations to help the character to help in the film. In the scene were the Detectives came into the murders house there were crops such as picture and books to suggest to the audience that they’re close to finding the killer.
In conclusion through the use of different narrative techniques and representation and codes and convention used. Clearly we can see it made it a psychological thriller the way David Fincher is recognised for creating theses films. And the denotations used in the film. I believe through micro and macro analyse we can see the camera shots to sound to target audience that this film was made for a genre of a thriller.