SE7EN ESSAY

This essay is an analysis of the crime thriller film 'Seven' and how it is classified as an original thriller movie by looking at it's key factors.

First of all, a thriller movie is not a actually a thriller without an thrills at all. No tension or suspense whatsoever.

What does make a film a thriller ,like 'Se7en', is that there is always this really exciting build of suspense and tension throughout, whether it's just in a conversation between the characters or the protagonist entering and roaming around in an abandoned warehouse, there is always going to be some level of tension in the atmosphere.

Also, in movies that is in the thriller genre, there's majorly this storyline where the protagonist of the story encounters various types of sinister, mysterious and dangerous situations. Although, it often ends up being very risky as the protagonist tends to often always run into the antagonist's traps in one or several parts of the story, like an explosive or a trap door, or even some action leading to the death of certain characters that they may be with. This leads me to my next point, there are two types of  antagonists in thrillers:

- A strategic, psychological mastermind who's identity is often found out at the very end and turns out to be someone who has a strong hatred or envy for the protagonist as in 'Se7en'. Also, this sinister villain would purposely leave clues behind for the main characters to gather in order to finally confront the villain.

- A huge deadly brute or a blood-thirsty killer that leaves nothing but the severed body parts and gore of random victims as clues but are not usually intentional.However,normally in some dark thrillers, each horrific murder acts as a subliminal message or a message or map encrypted onto the victims' bodies.
 Antagonists like these often create really tense atmospheres as they can be lethal and stealthy, usually the one that causes a death of one or more of the main characters in the story.

Furthermore,these types of antagonists are often not afraid to compromise their identity and is one who is most likely to have a final encounter with the our main character or protagonists.Also, what makes a good thriller movie is that it has to have a genius premeditated storyline that engages the audience and that also puzzles them, featuring red herrings and cheap suprises progressively as the viewers are visually captivated in a tense storyline.
The characters have also got to be well thought of as each character may act as a representation of something, whether it's the setting or apart of a subliminal message that all comes together at the end.
Also, to make a thriller even more better, there's nothing better than that one creepy character that appears and disappears out of nowhere, because then the audience has that one character to suspect and this draws the audience in more into the storyline, keeping an eye on this rather mysterious character. Furthermore, as the story progresses, the viewers raise more and more suspicion for this one character before later finding out that he had no major part in any of the antagonist's actions or even the story itself.

Now 'Se7en' portrays itself as a thriller film is that it has a very mysterious theme to it.
This is evident as there's mystery and investigation in the film which cleverly links to the factual 'Seven Deadly Sins' which is a biblical reference.
 That had been important to the story as  the antagonist justifies his crimes as absolution for the world's ignorance of the Seven Deadly Sins.
Like the sin of 'Gluttony' coming first in the film,which introduces the theme of the seven deadly sins, and the antagonist's horrid capacity is graphically demonstrated in the dark and bleak tones and characteristics of film noir. 
Also,there's a highly strategic and psychological antagonist who commits a string of horrific and graphic murders all linked to different factors of the 7 deadly sins as whole. Also, later on in the film, the villain intentionally gives himself into the police and allowed himself to get caught after all of the 6 sins were committed  however, the last of the deadly sins was 'Wrath' and the antagonist had geniusly premeditated this form the very beginning, as he pushes detective Mills over the edge as he learns that his wife was savagely beheaded by the antagonist. Dt Mills is tempted to shoot him, and by shooting him, Mills becomes 'Wrath'.

There's a very bleak and dark outlook on the city judging from the series of unfortunate events that happen there in the storyline. 

This is evident as shown throughout the movie, there is NO high-key lighting in any of the scenes at all. But instead, they decreased the amount of lighting whether it was in a highly-lit cafe or a house.

This was effective for creating this strong old-fashioned Noir feel. Furthermore, the use of the really dark weather reinforces the idea of the city not being a very nice place to be and nothing but but a place of ruthless killings and constant crimes.

NARRATIVE The film is runs in a linear narrative as it shows day-by-day how much the case gradually progresses, although there are flashbacks of crime scenes but still does not alter the way in which the storyline is being told. However,if the movie was to run in a non-linear narrative, the storyline and the ways it is told would be absolutely puzzling.
The film does feature some visual codes such as the entire setting, the city, which is a dark and bleak place where murders always happen, political problems are out of control and it is always a cloudy and rainy day. This works as a foreshadowing that the investigation with our two protagonists, Detective Mills and Sommerset, will go deeper and deeper and that more blood will be shed.
Also, there is that shot of the photo frame of detective Mills' wife with blood on around her eyes, which then foreshadows that she will get caught up in some unfortunate event later on in the story or that death would soon be coming her way.

Throughout the the film, there is very restricted narrative, however,as the story progresses, the viewers start to also get an insight into both of the two protagonists rather than just one of them as they play a vital part in the noir-styled storyline. This is evident as it was all viewed from the two detectives, Detective Sommerset & Detective Mills, our two protagonists' perspective, and showed how this homicidal killer had both affected them personally.

CHARACTERS
The two protagonists in "Seven" are original protagonists of an average thriller movie, first we have detective Mills,a rookie who is married, but however has no children, which implies that he is not much of a family man, or that he From the very start of the film, we learn that he is a rather suspicious and paranoid character at first, judging from the way he swiftly grabs and answers the phone as soon as it rings before is wife does. This then suggested that he played some part in police unit or relative to that. As the story goes along, we start to see this lack of seriousness and concentration as he investigates the first crime,'Gluttony'. As the story progresses even further, we start to see this short-tempered character which plays a significant role at the end as he is tested to see how much he would actually do when pushed to being in absolute rage. From beginning to end, we gradually learn more and more about his character.

On the other hand, Detective Sommerset is first introduced in the film and our first impressions is that he was as an average working-class man.
This was evident from the clothing he puts on and that he has set an alarm, for a certain time that then implies to the audience that he does have a job, and a formal one, judging from the long coat.formal shirt,slacks and tie.
The way the movie allows the audience to make first impressions of a character is throught that very first scene where they get ready to go out.

This was an effective component within the movie as first we would not guess that he had anything to do with an investigation of a crime or even crime-related, until in the next scene, it cuts to him entering an investigation of a murder in what seems to be a flat. However, his countenance is calm and tired but annoyed, telling from his really calm face, this implies to the audience that he may have had years and years of experience in criminology or even that he has witnessed so many crimes that it is the usual for him.

Detective Sommerset is the most persistent and determined out of the two protagonists although he does not often show this with enthusiasm we the audience would expect, also, he does become desperate to solve the crime once and for all, but shows that he is in a way eager to solve the mystery.

This is evident in the film where at some parts of the story, there would be shots of him investigating and doing some in-depth analysis in books and independent study of the '7 Deadly Sins' after he finds out that the killer is associating all his murders with them.`

In the story, `Sommerset' almost immediately understands how the villain thinks and he plays a seriously vital part as he educates both himself and the audience about how the villain works psychologically.

MISE EN SCENE
Mise en Scene, through Production Design,  is used to create a bleak,small and restricted setting.

This is