Time to revel in the awesomeness of opening credits: Se7en is one of Fincher’s best and its intro is probably the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. I mentioned in my Gone Girl post that I wanted to share this with you but before I get started, I want to warn you that this is probably the longest visual post so far – there are almost 100 images of it!
Se7en is a great movie with an interesting plot and it obviously deserved a meaningful intro. There is slow, eery imagery, mixed in with flashes of images, a lot of double layers of images and a cool effect usage on text elements. Driven from the movie is also the usage of book pages, hand written pages, the blackness of it all and of course the creepy theme song playing in the background: it reminds me of American Horror Story a little bit, especially in the beginning, which totally makes sense.
Love the movie and the opening credits. They set up the movie extremely well. I’ve never imagined looking at them the way you have them laid out here. Cool idea.
I mean, one could even have more.. i had over 200 stills from the intro but these were the ones that stood out.. then it tells an even more intense story.
Who doesn’t love themselves a little Trent Rezonor? Clearly Fincher doesn’t.
Does, I mean. Sorry, a bit too early for me.
Clearly.
Excellent post, this is one amazing intro with a cool visual style.
It is.. I hope Gone Girl has a same kind of dark eery opening.. I can almost picture it!
Easily one of the best opening credits sequences ever and through the great music of Nine Inch Nails.
Indeed! But does the song also remind you a bit of AHS in the beginning? I think AHS theme was inspired by it..?
I’ve never seen that show. Then again, I’m not a fan of Ryan Murphy.
Great post! One of the best opening credits ever made and accompanying track by NiN is just a perfect fit for the movie.
It truly is awesome.. all the elements combined just work so well!
So much brilliance in this opening sequence! Great post! I feel like this sequence has inspired a lot of what we see today, you know? And gotta love Fincher’s love for NIN!
Indeed, maybe the symbolism of elements and things, and the eery feel of it. There’s certainly a few things that come to mind with a similar feel.
I have delayed seeing this film too long! I cannot do it much longer, not after this post, though, so thanks! Great post!
Yeah, you cannot ! 😀
I love how much you’ve broken this down! It’s a perfectly creepy way to start this movie. One of my favorite things about Fincher is how his detail oriented approach carries over to the opening credits of his movies. Whether they’re really simple like in The Social Network or really involved like TGWTDT.
I know, Fincher really does focus a lot on how the movie starts but for sure, Se7en is so far my favorite. Hopefully Gone Girl can bring some new flare on the table!
This was a damn amazing intro!
It still is. 😀
True that! 😛
Great post! Fincher is a master of the opening credit sequence (it’s arguably the best part of Panic Room), but Se7en has got to be my favorite. It immediately throws us into the film’s dark and fucked world. Love it.
Panic Room’s concept of a single shooting location is for me also its best part but yes, Se7en is still better with the intro.. Maybe Gone Girl would be even better!?
Fantastic intro to an exceptional movie
French Toast Sunday helped bring me here. Great post. I agree that AHS (1st season) was influneced greatly by this. It helped set the tone of this fully and was just as awesome then as it is now. Great post
Thank you so much and glad to see you ending up here!