The opening sequence of "Se7en" runs for around 4 minutes and it is intended to introduce us to the central protagonist, Detective William Somerset (Morgan Freeman), as well as to set the mood for the remainder of the film. It also gives the audience lots of information about him- including what he does for a living and what he's like as a person, not least introducing another main character, Detective David Mills (Brad Pitt).
             The look of the entire opening scene (and, consequently, the entire film itself), is very rough and raw. This is to keep the tension high and the mood dark, it also links the film with dark ideas such a murder and serial killers. The opening cuts from the distributor's logo straight to Somerset in his apartment, getting ready for work. It shows he is very meticulous and exact- his things are all lined up parallel on his desk in the order in which he picks them up. Continuity editing is used for this scene so all of the audience's attention is focused solely on Somerset- although the edits are fairly fast, to keep both the pace and tension as high as possible. It also keeps the speed of the scene up- he gets ready very quickly, in the very next shot we see him at work straight away. This shows that Somerset lives a basic life, and his work takes up most of it.
             Most of these shots are close-up and medium close-up shots. In each different one of these we see a little bit more of Somerset- so to introduce him gradually. This is to get the audience to feel closer to him- instead of suddenly being thrown into his personal life, we are taken slowly- step by step. There is no music in this scene- only the diegetic background effects of the city in which he lives. There are people shouting, cars moving, dogs barking, and alarms and sirens going off. These could all be considered as different sins, which is a recurring theme of Se7en. This also suggests that this part of the city where Somerset lives is not a pleasa...