NARRATIVE THEORY – ‘SE7EN’Hermeneutic code

The initial minutes of se7en cause the audience to be intrigued because of the use of medium close-ups, close-ups and extreme close-ups distorting the audiences view and keeping them from knowing what is actually knowing on. This allows the audience to ask questions which cant yet be answered, this adds to the pleasure of watching the film.

Hermeneutic codes are codes which pose questions or enigmas which can provide evidence

Ameerah

What questions are posed?Who's hands are these a drawing of? Why is this here?

Who is turning the pages?

The extreme close up of the pages being turned distorts the audiences view of who exactly is turning the pages of this book and causes the audience to question and imagine what is going on and predict what could happen next.

Restricted narration is typical of a psychological thriller.

The birds eye view/ close up of the drawing causes the audience to question why this has been deliberately placed here.

What is this? What is happening?

These images restrict the audiences understanding as they flick through so quickly that the audience isn't allowed enough time to figure out what is going on.

Who’s hands are these? Why is he cutting off the skin?

The extreme close ups are accompanied by several high pitched non-diagetic screeches and a few non-diagetic squeaky sounds. The non diagetic music causes an audience to be constantly on edge which is typical of a psychological thriller. Also the ECU of the fingers cause the audience to wonder what is going on without an explanation because of how fast the clips are edited.

Non linear – the scenes are not in chronological order and so restrict the audiences understanding of whats going on.

Disequilibrium

Hidden identity – removing the D.N.A from this persons fingertips shows a want to disclose the persons identity, this could be to commit criminal act or just typically to inflict self harm. The identity of this person has been disclosed throughout the beginning of the film, this connotates that the person is secretive. The fact that the person is removing his/her D.N.A depicts an element of insanity.