The
se7en trailer demonstrates through mis-en-scene and a range of iconography that
it’s a police-thriller. For example, Morgan Freeman is in the costume of a
detective and his apprentice (Brad Pitt) is the person who will take over his
role when he retires. There are also location scenes of them at the police
station and having access to the crime scene which only police authorities are
allowed. This trailer can also come underneath the genre of mystery since there
are shots of dead bodies and a wardrobe of weapons that signify that they’re on
a case to find a murderer who is clearly hidden and there are no signs as to
who the murderer could be. The audience will be following the unveiling of who
the murderer is with detectives so it gives them the sense that they’re also
part of the team. The use of religious iconography gives a hint for the
audience that the murderer is killing in relation to religion hence, why two of
the victims in the trailer are already dead due to two of the seven deadly
sins; greed and gluttony.
The
sound at the beginning starts off with bass drums that introduce the production
logo and the characters in the first couple of shots (which change at each
beat). The pace of the drum beats picks up a bit as a ticking sound from a
pacer is brought in to signify the increase of the speed for the rhythm. There
is a voiceover that narrates during the trailer and mentions the main actors
featured in the film at the end. The music at one point softens to the sound of
violins and sounds of distortion by having screeching sounds. The music
continues with drum beats that continue to escalate and become faster, thus
creating a crescendo as it goes through the montage and ends with a drum beat
which silences as they say; “Have you seen anything like this?” “No.” The
trailer ends with a ‘shh-ing’ sound (like a sword/knife slicing the air fast).
The
cinematography used at the beginning were mainly solo shots of each of the main
male characters with different cutaways involved (suggesting to the audience
that it’s a crime scene they’re looking at). As the voiceover introduces the
main character, it’s linked with front-shots, American shots, and low-angle
close-up shots of the guy. There’s also a two-shot for the couple and the
detectives. Other shots used throughout the trailer; shot-reverse-shot, tracking
back-shot, establishing shots and a quick pan.
The
editing at the beginning of the trailer is shots matching up with the rhythm of
the drums (so the shot changes at each beat). The trailer overall includes;
flashes of white, shot-reverse-shot, dip to black and inter-titling. For the
inter-titles, it was changing at quite a fast pace with the wording of the
seven deadly sins and as it got closer to the end of the montage; it kept
speeding up until it was cut off.
This
trailer can be applied to our trailer through the genre. Since our trailer’s
plot includes the use of detectives (police authorities), this trailer shows
the crime-thriller side for our own work. The detectives are working together
to solve a case as well as it being a unique case that they have to solve. It
applies to our trailer since the detectives are also working together to solve
a mass-murder case but ours involves the use of trust being toyed with while in
the ‘Se7en’ trailer; they’re working together and seem to be cooperating.
