Se7en vs. Rear Window: Similarities Se7en and Rear Window are both great Thriller movies to discuss on. They have many similarities to one another and that's how it makes the film really good. Firstly, the writers for both Se7en and Rear Window built their antagonists very well and used the micro elements in addition to the antagonists to build tension, suspense and enigma to the audience such as the killings in Se7en and how the killer in Rear Window constantly goes in and out of his apartment. Second, the main protagonists are all weaklings. They have to think their way through and make tough choices in order to be strong even though sometimes they are the wrong choices like when Mills decides to kill John Doe in the end of Se7en and Jeff making quick decisions in order to save Lisa's life. Also, our protagonists have other weaknesses and flaws such as Mills who needs to control his temper and Jeff who has a cast on his leg. Both films are Crime Thriller sub genres and they build tension very well due to the crimes the antagonists have committed. What makes these two films unique is that the movie is based in a world full of crime. However, the people in "it" do not seem to care about what is going on in their world. For example; the people in the world of Se7en don't care if a crime is committed near them (the scene when Somerset and Mills were talking as a corpse was being gurneyed out of the apartment), no one walking around them seemed to care or stop to look in shock. Similar to the people who are isolated in the apartment buildings. They have their own private worlds and doesn't care about whose dog died or what's going on below them. When it is obvious that there is crime, people do not take action. That is how the movies are great Thriller movies to discuss on.
Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock Other movies filmed by Alfred Hitchcock: Psycho (1960), The Birds (1963), Vertigo (1958), Rebecca (1940)
Setting of the Opening The opening of this film shows numbers of apartment blocks all seem to be residents for people in New York City (setting). Starting from a small window of the main protagonist and then pans and tilts through the residence. The area seems to have both high class and working class in the same area. The high class being the man shaving his beard. This is shown by his house in general, it's a house full of books and a Grand Piano and a bottle of champagne, showing he has a lot of disposable income. The working class being he couple sleeping outside in the balcony possibly because they can't afford air conditioning or a proper bedroom . The woman dressing up in her house would be the middle class as she has her own house but the house seems to be run quite run down and untidy. The main man would be in the middle to high class status as his house looks very neat and tidy, full of books and expensive alcoholic drink bottles, but he doesn't have any extra furniture to decorate his home. After all the panning of the apartment buildings and the atmosphere of the apartment blocks, the camera then pans back to the an in the window of the starting house. We know that the main man is called Jefferies from the broken bones and is very knowledgeable because he has books all around his house during the opening scene. During the scene we also see his wine and champagne bottles giving the impression that he's relatively rich. The broken leg, the smashed up camera, and the pictures of the car getting destroyed implies that he gotten into the accident as a risk-taking photographer. Him being the camera man of the car race implies he must have a relatively high status or works for someone high in power as it requires some status to get into the tracks of a race. The inverted photo he has shows that he is different from the people and surroundings around him.
Dead Dog Scene
The world of rear window is very ignorant, this is proven by the scene of the dead dog and the world revolving around it. During the scene of the dead dog, the world looked at what's happening then stopped. They all went quiet all of a sudden then resumed what they were doing at first. This shows the ignorance of the world revolving around them and the careless status of everyone around the main characters. It's as if they're all stuck in they're own blizzard and isolating them from the world outside they're house/ event. There are only some people who cares for the dead dog and took action was the owner and the "green woman". Some people felt sorry but did not do anything about it and the rest doesn't bother helping. Even though everyone lived next to each other in one big area of apartment blocks, but there is definitely no neighborly relationships between any of them, it can even be convincing that none of these neighbors know each other or seem to care what is going on around them During the dead dog scene, all of the apartment buildings had their lights on except for one room which could possibly be the killer and the antagonist of the story. Jeff as a Character and how he sees relationships
As said earlier, Jeff (James Stewart) is the main protagonist of the story, he is the one who discovers the mystery of the killings of the lady who lives opposite to him at the apartment buildings area by spying on them daily with his telescope during the times as a cripple due to an accident whilst taking photos at a race track. He was also the one who contacted the police to turn the killer in with evidence and has great connections with the detective who works at a nearby police station.
Jeff is an easy going person who is somewhat carefree in life and also does not life to rush things especially when it comes to love. Lisa (Grace Kelly) for example is madly in love with him and would do everything for Jeff. But on the other hand, Jeff does not really care about her as much as Lisa cares about him. This can be seen from the two videos above which shows Jeff being a carefree person and a chilled character who does not want to rush things (first video) and also his reaction to Lisa when she gave Jeff a fine dinner service with a hired waiter standing in front of his doorstep. As a whole, this movie highlights how women holds the upper hand being the strong character who does all the work around the house, having a job and doing hard work for a man she loves. Whereas man, could be seen as weak and crippled, not being able to do anything by himself and could only sit and watch.
Creating Tension
From the scene from the video above we see Lisa (Kelly) approaching the apartment building opposite to Jeff's apartment to search for important evidence of the killer who has been in and out of his apartment.
From this scene, we know several things of how Hitchcock creates tension to build up the scene.
Firstly, from Jeff's point of view (camera shot) we see the killer returning to his apartment, Jeff and the nanny knows, however, Lisa does not know so the tension is built through the use of characters and their emotions. After Jeff realizing that the killer is back, he feels guilty for not being able to walk and go help Lisa (building up tension through use of emotion of character).
Now, tension is further built on through the use of limited ideas and abilities that Jeff has, immediately letting him make quick choices which was "calling the police" and praying for Lisa and hoping that nothing happens to her.
The next way of building tension is the lack of noise and silent activity that goes on in the flat opposite to Jeff. Jeff and the audience does not know what the killer is going to do with Lisa or what they are saying. After that, the tension reaches its climax when the killer realizes that he is being watched. This was seen through the use of the close up shot and POV shot via camerawork. Jeff zooming into the face of the killer and noticing that the killer saw him, which leaves with the audience not knowing what the killer is going to do next. Is he going to kill Lisa in front of his eyes? Or is he going to come to Jeff's apartment. This final event causes the audience to jump because the camerawork gives an effect as if the killer is looking straight at the audience.
From the first scene of the opening, we see a crowd of people watching television at a cafe. Whilst watching, the man walking in (Theo Faron) grabbed a his cup of coffee and walked out uninterested to what other people were watching on the TV. It was a news broadcast claiming that "baby" Diego had just died after being stabbed a fan. Diego was the youngest person on the planet at the age of 18 years. Back at the cafe' there were diegetic sounds of people sobbing and crying to the death of Diego, however, it did not seem to interest Theo at all, in fact, while other people were somber about the news, he was able to keep a straight face about it and remained emotionless with no care of what is going on around him. Theo is one amongst many that had given up after the 1000 day siege. There was a split second when Theo looked up to the television screen which can be seen from the use of editing and POV shot of the screen from Theo's angle. This shows that he had nothing else to do whilst waiting for his coffee but to look up and see what was going on in the world, yet still caring less.
This opening scene creates a lot of enigma to the audience:
1) Who was the man who had just walked in and out of the cafe?
2) Why is he so uninterested about what is going on?
3) Why is the world's youngest person an 18 year old teenager?
4) Why aren't there any babies being born in the last 18 years?
5) What happened during the 1000 day siege period?
After Theo walked out of the cafe, he walks to a nearby locker of some sort to place his coffee. As he walks out of the cafe, he budged through the crowd whilst the sound of the television slowly fades out and changes to a robotic sound of a many titantron screens attached on buildings which clearly indicates the future. Moreover, we know that it is the future from the date that baby Diego died which was shown on the TV screen and the font editing as Theo walks out of the cafe [November 16th 2027]. London in 2027 seems dirtier and at the same time, more hi tech. Furthermore, there seems to be more mixtures of culture and race in London which can be supported by the use of pan shot at Theo walks out of the cafe to show a 180 angle from where he walked out of the cafe to the camera following his foot steps and panning again as he approaches the lockers and placing down his coffee. The major racial changes are seen from the vehicles people use. There are a lot of three wheeled motor-bikes like the Thai "tuk-tuk" seen riding around the streets which shows more illegal immigration in London. Furthermore, there is more garbage on the sidewalks and more pollution. What is unique about all the semiotics in the setting is that it shapes the world of "Children of Men" and a foreshadowing by the director to what might happen in the near future.
Next, as Theo is putting "alcohol" into his coffee, a bomb went off inside the cafe and walking out of all the smoke, rubble and aftermath was a woman holding her own arm, screaming for help. As he was pouring alcohol into his drink, it suggests that he is a man who had given up and tries every single way of forgetting his past and ignoring society. The use of a depressant drug will help him with that problem but also tells a lot about the character of Theo in a whole. He is a man who is tired of life and does not care on spending his money or breaking the law anymore because there are other things that are important to society than his actions. Later in the movie, we see him smoking "Ganja" or cannabis which is illegal in many countries, but also another form of depressant to ease the mind.
All of the sudden, a bomb went off in the cafe, and the use of the diegetic "noise" implies Theo being able to hear the impact of the bomb and that it effected his hearing, wiping out the noise in his ears with constant ringing. The editor added the ringing sound of his ears to merge an isolated character of Theo into society. Throughout the opening scene we see Theo being a character who does not care about the world around him, he is detached from others, but when the bomb went off, he flinched with the others as well and was affected by the bomb nearby. Through the use of the bomb, the director brilliantly merged Theo into the movie by the end of the opening scene.
These answers can be given through theories of famous directors and scholars.
Horror and Thriller films are used in many ways. Theoretically to build up suspense, break the rules of camera angles, break the rules of sound and to finish off with breaking down tension through jump scares and screaming. Why do we enjoy watching them? It is because people like suspense; they want to know fear and they want to really understand what ghosts and the paranormal might look like through these types of media XD. We like being scared in order to increase our heart rate, release energy and many more ridiculous reasons.
Theories:
[Theory 1] Aristotle: He believed in CATHARTHIS ==> we watch violence/ negative imagery to purge suppressed emotions (basically to release internal emotions through jump scares)
[Theory 2] Zolf Zillman: Excitation Theory By experiencing negative and scary imagery, we intensify the positive. We enjoy the negative imagery being vanquished.
[Theory 3] Glen D Walters: What makes a film scary?
1) Tension and suspense: created using narrative and filming techniques.
2) Relevance: The fears explored are relevant to the audience, The 'Believe' that these fears do exist.
3) Unrealism: we know we are safe. We can experiment x explore.
The crimes that had been committed in Se7en were all done by a man named John Doe (Kevin Spacey) I psycho who believes in justice. All the crimes that he committed were based on the 7 deadly sins from Christianity.
Pride is an excessive belief in one's own abilities.
Envy is wanting what others have, be it status, abilities, or possessions.
Gluttony is the desire to eat or consume more than you require.
Lust is a powerful craving for such as sex, power and money.
Wrath is the loss of rational self-control and the desire to harm others.
Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain.
Sloth is laziness and the avoidance of work.
From the order of the killings in the movie, it started with Gluttony where a man was force to eat spaghetti to death and was also kicked to the side during eating which caused internal bleeding leading to his death.
Greed was the second killing where Mills and Somerset discovered a dead body aside with a pound of flesh in a lawyer's office. The lawyer was forced to dissect a pound of his own flesh in payment of the greed he has shown in his career as a lawyer. He died of blood loss afterwards.
The third was Sloth which was one of the slowest and most painful death by far in my opinion. A drug dealer was drugged by John Doe and was tied to a bed for a year whilst under a overdose-like coma. When Somerset and Mills arrived, he is surprisingly STILL ALIVE but only just. This scene also reveals the only jump scare seen in this movie and is also the scariest crime solving scene out of all the killings due to the rise in suspension from the previous killing leading to a surprise jump scare to finish off.
Lust was the fourth killing in se7en. In this crime scene, a man was force to wear a custom made bladed cod-piece and was forced to have sex with a prostitute while having a gun pointed at his head. The final outcome was the death of the prostitute and the man left traumatized by his own actions. Lust was a sin reflected on the desire of men and the "disgusting" occupation of women who is willing to give up her body in exchange for money whilst spreading infections to others, in summary being a "disease-spreading whore" as John Doe has clearly quoted.
After Lust was Pride where John Doe cuts off the nose of a model and was given a choice to either call for help or taking an overdose. In the end, the model died of an overdose. Pride is used to reflect on one's beauty and the pride that she takes to become beautiful in order to hide her weakness emotionally and choosing to die if something ever happens to her it in any shape or form. "A woman... so ugly on the inside she couldn't bear to go on living if she couldn't be beautiful on the outside" highlights on how people judge and take credit each other not from their emotions and personality, but more of their outside looks and clearly reflects on how serious an issue it is and the choices that one makes in order to prevent critique and negative comment.
Envy is John Doe himself because he envies the life of a normal person and envies troubles that Mills have gone through being in the world of se7en. Doe wanted to experience what it would be like to have a family like Mills so he decided to visit Tracey and decapitated her in the end. Doe wanted to be like Mills, having a beautiful wife, beautiful family living a good life, Doe was jealous of these values and wanted to take it all to himself. He states that he tried to "play husband" with Tracy that day but it didn't work out and he took a souvenir instead: "her pretty head". It was Doe's plan that Mills kill him, as he was guilty of ENVY. He also reveals to Mills that Tracy was pregnant. Due to the actions of John Doe, it drove Mills mad and seeking revenge. In the end, he killed Doe and became Wrath the last sin and killing of the movie. What I liked about the 6th and 7th killing is that it was unexpected and at the same time interesting from the way that Fincher presented it. He used the characters of John Doe and David Mills to build tension and suspense throughout the movie, and in the end, created a perfect ending and a solution to an enigma thought by the audience and making the last 2 killings being the peak of all the others due to its unique twist in the plot where the main protagonist kills the antagonist in the end and using the character of Somerset being the one to try and stop Doe's "mind games" that he tries to play on Mills who is already in a vulnerable vengeful state.
In conclusion, I really liked how Fincher creates meaning on each of the killings and created also a moral to each of them reflecting what society in a whole is like and in this world, there is always one of the seven deadly sins hiding on the streets.
Director: David Fincher=> Gone Girl, Fight Club, Alien 3, Social Network, Panic Room, The Game, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Benjamin Button, Zodiac
Setting and Location
Location: Place Geographically
Setting: How its portrayed atmosphere time period
Scene 1
Location: City=> Diegetic noises of sirens and noise Busy; Hustle Setting: 90's polluted- buildings are locked, rusted and gross rain- Dirty "dirty green" "dank"=> dead body being wheeled out Crime- siren (diegetic sounds) "the real world"- realistic Rough Area; people seeing dead bodies on a daily basis Apartments have bars and wnidows <= not a pleasant place to live in (0:27) Detective Mills (Brad Pitt) gets bumped into a person from the area- no one flinches/ apologizes/ reacts. This gives a sense of aggression and we can see that Mills is not from around here. Scene 2: Somerset's flat
Somerset's flat may be one of the neatest and clean scenes and location in the movie. His flat is decorated with antiques and old furniture, fit for an old person who has been in the world of Se7en for a long time. Somerset lives alone in his flat and does not seem to worry about the violence that is happening around him. This is evident when we can hear the non-diegetic sounds of banging, sirens and construction that is going on around Somerset's flat. However, during the scene when we see him putting on his badge and coat, there is a flip up knife as well on the side of the bed where Somerset is going to pick up next. A flip up knife is a weapon that policemen and detectives don't tend to use, it is a weapon more fit for a burglar or an outlaw, someone that commits crime usually holds this weapon due to its stealth and quickness. Further on in the movie, we also see Somerset throwing his flip-up knife to a dart board, this emphasizes that Somerset is detective but will still use outlaw tactics and thinking if neccesary which is shown near the ending of the movie when he slaps John Doe. Moreover, the editing of the diegetic sounds of the honking of the car creates an image of reality. Somerset's apartment may look peaceful and classy on the outside, but really, it is still located in the world of se7en where crime never stops. In addition before the ending of the video, Somerset resets the metronome in order to mark a new day of crime solving. He uses the metronome as a reminder to not be consumed into the world of se7en and to stick with his own thoughts and calm mind. Moreover, it is used to cut out the sound of the outside world whilst Somerset is sleeping.
Scene 3: Tracey and Somerset scene
In this scene, we see Somerset and Tracey having a serious conversation about Tracey and Mills' future at a downtown diner. Tracey told Somerset about the baby that she's going to have a baby soon. However Somerset gave Tracey 2 choices to either keep the baby but also strongly suggests her to get an abortion before its too late. This conversation tells a lot about the setting and the world of se7en. Usually, when someone is pregnant, she would not get depressed that easily and have to make choices in keeping it. However, the choices that Somerset gave to Tracey gives us a clear image on what the world of se7en is like. It is a place full of crime and killings, everywhere you go, it is always unsafe and furthermore, nobody wants to have a baby in a place like this because they can't imagine what their child's life will be like if they have to grow up in a horrible place like the world of se7en. This scene also highlights on the character of Tracey. She cannot handle this place and thinks that it is miserable. Tracey struggles to find a job here and feels insecure. Fincher made Tracey's character insecure to foreshadow here fate. Her insecure character creates vulnerability to John Doe and is also the key to Mills' becoming the 7th sin. In terms of camera work and editing, the use of a close up shot and following the 180 degree rule creates tension and depression which does not fit in a typical conversation that normally has good news like someone being pregnant. Moreover, in every setting of se7en we will hear the diegetic sound of sirens to remind the audience all the time that the characters are still in a world of crime. This is also supported by use of dull colors and dim lighting to create a grim mood in the scene.
