Comparison of the Opening Sequences of 'Legally Blonde' and 'Seven'

Narrative Expectations

Legally Blonde

- The first shot is of the long, well kept hair of a blonde girl and the audience immediately gets an idea of what type of girl the main character is.

- Every clip of the girl is slowed down enabling the audience to get a grip of what she is about (Cosmetics, Hair, Make-up, Beauty etc.)

- The main character's possessions are instantly very stereotypical of a 'girly girl' - pink clothes, room scattered with shopping bags and clothes, little toy dog dressed up. This also gives the impression of her being very materialistic.

- While the main character is getting ready in her room, the camera cuts back and forth to a travelling envelope with the name 'Elle' on. The audience immediately gets the impression that the girl who it's being delivered to is very important and popular as the other girls take great care of it.

- The main character is made instantly recognisable as 'Elle' as the envelope is posted through her door - character recognition.

- There is a lot of reference to high brand labels such as 'Prada' and 'Tiffany' which connotes affluence and wealth.

- A lot of focus is placed on the typical college life perception - 'Jocks' jeering and cheering the stereotypical cheerleaders - a life which many aspire and wish for.

- The lively music playing throughout connotes happiness and the 'Perfect Day' lyric that is repeated perhaps suggests a certain irony to the story line - perhaps 'Elle' won't have a perfect day?

- The 'girly' font used for the title sequence leads the audience to believe that the film will follow this steretype of girly and pink.

- The weather is sunny and fine which also adds to the 'perfect' feeling of the sequence.

- All things seem to be almost too perfect as if they will all come crashing down - the main character seems to have a carefree life with a perfect boyfriend which perhaps suggests a link with a romantic storyline - boyfriend dumps her?

Seven

- Very serious mood set straight away with a dark colour scheme and no music. You instantly get the feeling of a serious storyline and the audience is thrown into the narrative with the assumed main character Morgan Freeman getting ready and going to look at a murder scene.

- Morgan Freeman seems very practiced and perfect - everything is in it's place and he dresses in a certain order suggesting that he likes things in his life to be well thought out and done thoroughly in a certain order - his suit is immaculate and we see him pick a hair off of it.

- Straight away you get a feeling of hostility from other characters towards Morgan Freeman's character as if he annoys them by being too nosey and being so good at his job.

- Brad Pitt's character is introduced as a loud, excitable, young detective- a complete contrast to Morgan Freeman who is seen as a quiet, untalkative older man - conflict of old vs. young?

- The stormy weather connotes a rough and imperfect story line with many problems along the way - against Morgan Freeman's typical way of going about his life.

Comparison

By looking at just these two opening sequences we instantly see two completely contrasting films. Immediately you get the feeling that 'Legally Blonde' will be a very 'girly' and upbeat with a storyline that encounters problems but the main character will come out of it better off and ending happily. The feeling we get from 'Seven' is completely different. The dark mood portrayed in the sequence connotes that it will be a very troubling film with elements of horror and thriller, the audience gets the feeling that there will be a resolve at the end but it will not have a happy ending.

Shot Types

Legally Blonde

- ECU's are used frequently throughout to show the main character in close detail so the audience can get a feeling of what she is like and what the film is likely to be about.

- A VLS of the college campus is used to get a feeling of where the film is set, the hustle and bustle of everyday school life is seen to be a key image of the sequence.

- A tracking shot of the girl on the bike is a key shot as it shows where she is passing through and shows the two main student groups - the 'Jocks' and the Cheerleaders.

- MCU of main character at the end shows her face for the first time to the audience as a pretty, young blonde as is stereotypical of the build up shown (Hair care, make up etc.)

Seven

- The first shot is a long shot of Morgan Freeman's immaculate apartment, the main character walks towards the camera and we see him clearly for the first time - he seems very composed and in control.

- Low-Angle shot used during the scene with Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt - gives the feeling that everything is coming down on them and is quite scary for the audience.

- Over the Shoulder mirror shot to show Morgan Freeman's emotions as he is getting ready, although he looks composed his eyes look troubled as if they have seen alot in their time.

- Camera seems almost hidden when Morgan Freeman is at home which makes the audience feel as if they are invading his private space - like a lurking monster.

Character Types

Legally Blonde

- The main character Elle seems as if she has a perfect life, she takes great care with her appearance and has a lot of money to spend. We get the feeling that she is not selfish as she looks after an animal and she seems very popular with the other girls as if she is well liked and not just feared as is the case with many popular girls. A sash in her room shows Elle as the president of her sorority which also adds to her popular image.

- All the characters shown in the opening sequence are very stereotypical. All the girls are well preened and the 'jocks' seem brutish and beastly. The girls are all dressed in pink and seem to be in an almost happy daze.

Seven

- Morgan Freeman seems to live a very isolated life and doesn't show much emotion at all suggesting that he has seen a lot of dark things in his time. He takes care of his appearance and everything he does seems very purposeful and in a certain way. He dresses immaculately and the scene we see of him dealing with a murder he seems to take just as much care with his work as he does with his appearance.

- Brad Pitt's character seem's the opposite, young, energetic and very charismatic. He speaks very quickly to show that he is eager and keen about his work and seems to have a more relaxed attitude - chewing gum and dressing more trendily with a leather jacket.

Analysis of a Horror Still

1. Describe your shot and identify in what way it could be seen as representing ‘horror’.

- Mid, low angle shot in a darkened room, only shaft of light coming through a crack in the door.

- Female body lying motionless on the floor, suggesting she is sleeping or, more likely, injured or dead – the lifeless body is obviously the victim in the still.

- Silhouetted legs standing above the body in a powerful stance with feet spread connoting this person as an attacker as they are clearly not helping the person on the floor even though they would be in a position to do so.

- The assumed killer’s legs are framing the shot, showing they are dominating the still.

- Female body following the typical conventions of a ‘horror’ victim – innocent and helpless against a mindless killer.

- The body is cast in a white light connoting innocence and showing her as the ‘goodie’ in the still.

- The long shadows and silhouettes promote the feeling of a horror genre and the darkness lets the audience’s imaginations run wild as to where the characters are and what has happened.

- What little of the room is visible is clearly run down and not treated well suggesting that the still is set in a dingy building, possibly a basement – commonly used in horror films.

- The light and dark contrast follows the main horror convention of good vs. evil

2. What did you actually do to achieve the effect?

- We turned off all the lighting in our chosen setting in order to create darkness – needed for suspense and mystery – and a paglight was shone through a crack in the door to create the silhouette effect on the legs and also light up the victim’s body.

- In order to achieve the low-angle shot, a key feature in creating the unique horror effect in our still, the person taking the shot was lying on the ground beneath the ‘killers’ legs and on the same level as the body – this created a third person view of the scene and brought the audience’s focus to the body, whilst still keeping the mystery of the legs.

- We used a setting of a dark room, which promoted a feeling of remoteness and isolation, making it seem like the victim would have found it hard to escape the killer and also adding mystery to the shot as the audience cannot see anything but the two people in the room – they don’t know what else is out there.

3. What is successful about your shot?

- I feel that we managed to light the scene well; by creating the silhouette of the legs we managed to follow horror conventions by creating mystery and also made it obvious to the audience who was who in the scene.

- I think the low-angle shot worked well in terms of drawing attention towards the body on the floor and making the killers legs seem more important and imposing.

- The large shadow cast by the legs adds a feeling of horror to the shot and by framing the body with the legs we managed to make both characters equally important but in different ways – the body was clearly motionless and the white light connoted innocence whereas the legs were fully in darkness and standing in a very dominant, scary position.

4. What would you do differently in hindsight?

- If we were going to retake the shot I think we should make the framing a bit tighter – by coming in closer to the two characters we would draw more attention to them and create more suspense and feeling in the shot without losing any key imagery.

- I would like to have moved the table leg to yet again draw more focus towards the characters and make the still less busy – this would increase the raw emotion of the shot.

- I would make the light source less sharp and obvious in order to make the image more eerie, this would be achievable by moving the light source and using a different filter.