Someone's in depth Se7en scene...interesting...B. Monkey

I love the movies, and it's possible that I'll be taking a course at Georgia Southern University Fall semester called 'Art of Film', and it's probably likely that I'll be asked to write something like I'm about to put below. I saw this on www.imdb.com on the page about the movie Seven starring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt. This guy who wrote this REALLY looked deep into a scene, and it's a real interesting read...enjoy.......

There is a lot going on in the movie SE7EN that deals with camera angles, lighting and composition. I have always enjoyed this film and have recently begun to like it even more since I began to study film. Directed by David Fincher, this film contains the qualities that make it an instant classic. The scene that I am analyzing is the scene where John Doe (played by Kevin Spacey) turns himself in at the police precinct to Detective Mills (played by Brad Pitt) and Detective Somerset (played by Morgan Freeman).

We begin with an interesting series of shots as Doe enters the precinct covered in blood. The first shot of this dramatic series begins with Mills and Somerset walking up a set of stairs. They are talking about how they may never catch the killer, as John Doe ironically stands behind them. This is the first sunlit scene in the entire film, as it has been raining. There is some biblical implication here as it almost looks like Mills and Somerset are acceding into heaven as they climb the stairs of the old fashion looking police building (which is actually a converted hotel lobby). The camera follows the two men as they go up the stairs, and they are about to turn when Doe beckons them. The scene here is truly cinematic genius. We have the detectives separated by a giant pillar on one side, and on the other side, we have the killer, standing in the sunlight almost by himself. There is also a window behind the detectives to give some light but it is mostly illuminating on Somerset.

There is no music here but it is about to kick in, with a very dark undertone. The second shot is a quick glance of Pitt and Freeman, here we have them turning around, it is a close up of Pitt, while Freeman is in the back ground. Behind the both of them is an American flag, but Pitt is only in the red and white part of it, while Freeman is more in the blue. We see some police at a desk which is funny because it almost remakes the first shot, we have all these cops, dimly lit. There are 3 of them in a medium shot, and one is separated by a shelving unit with books on it. There is a desk lamp facing down, signifying that the cops are terribly in the dark about this case. John Doe brings in the light because he wants to, there is exactly 5 lights lit up behind these cops, and they represent the 5 lights that he gave them, with the 5 murders. We then see Doe picking up his hands in a very jesus-esque way, his hands are covered in blood and his shirt actually has a splatter that looks like the golden ratio. Here is where the music begins.

The music is a dark minor chord, pulsing like a heart beat with some brass instruments. As the rest of the scene unfolds the strings kick in with some short overhanging high notes that almost sound like screaming. This adds to the grotesque feel that you already have. This man is turning himself in and he is covered in blood. The worst thing is that it is the blood of the pride death, the blood of himself and the blood of Mrs. Mills and their unborn child. He is obviously in control, as he raises his hands people scatter all around him. We have a quick shot of Mills' close up as he runs down the stairs; we see Somerset standing, centered, focused on what's going on. The fast series of cuts begin here. We have a long shot Mills and Somerset running down the stairs they just walked up and then it is followed by a shot of the previous cops scattering. We see a medium shot of Somerset coming down the stairs and he has his hands raised. We then see Mills cut across the shot with his gun drawn. We get a medium shot of Mills, with two cops on the stairs behind him. Mills has his gun drawn. We then get a med shot of Somerset moving across the floor with lots of back up behind him. We then get a very compelling look at Doe as he falls to his knees.

The camera angle never changes and he is always in control. Never do we see an overhead shot of Doe that does not include Mills and Somerset in it as well. The series of close ups on Doe are never high angle shots, to show that there is a draw in power here, and give the viewer a sense of balance. We then see Mills coming across camera with a gun while Doe is lying down. There is a pillar that cuts the scene (as well as Doe) and on the other side of it there are no police officers. We then get a med CU of Mills with his gun aimed at Doe. It is a low angle shot, he is sort of in control, but his back up is separated even further by a large pillar.

We then see a close up of spacey on the ground. This series of shots utilized several motifs throughout the film. The dark tone set by the beginning of the film is now all of a sudden opened up and we see that it is clearly a movie that has much more depth than just a go get em' detective film. We also see that there are things such as the lighting and camera angles that show how much power Doe has manipulated. It is a very symbolic series because not only is doe turning himself in, he is shedding the light on the police that can not seem to catch him. When these cuts speed up so does the suspense, and the heart rate of the viewer.

Another movie constantly analyzed is Pulp Fiction, I've read a 10 page paper about it once, some people take their forms of entertainment very seriously.

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