Legally Blonde and Seven Opening Sequences Comparison

Legally Blonde
Narrative Expectations

• Can assume film will be set on campus
• First thing we are introduced to is girl brushing her hair. She is distinguished from everyone else, close ups just of her, everyone signing the card for her, allowing us to assume she is the main character.
• Build up to her character is withheld, due to slow motion shots which make us focus on her more
• Card wishing her good luck for the evening, so we know there is something happening and there will be a build up to this evening.
• Major event coming between her and Warner
• Due to how we’ve seen she likes perfection, we can expect things are going to go wrong and there will be trouble, comedy
• Upbeat music and high key lighting suggest an exciting film

Seven
Narrative Expectations:

• Dark lighting and distorted music suggest a gloomy, mysterious film
• We get a build up to the next 7 days, something is going to happen
• Slight conflict between two characters, during next 7 days, something could happen between them
• get an introduction to what the detectives are up against
• Introduced to man getting ready at start, assume he is main character

Comparison:
There is a big difference between the two films. We know from the opening sequence, Legally Blonde is going to be a fun, girly, up beat film whereas Seven is going to be quite mysterious and more of a thriller. The two films start fairly similarly with the introduction of the main characters getting ready however it then moves on to show two completely different lifestyles.

Legally Blonde
Character Information:

• introduced to girl named Elle
• - girly – doing her makeup, painting her nails, room is very pink, pays attention to detail
• - physical perfection is priority
• - popular – student president, homecoming queen, everyone goes round signing her card
• - well off – Prada bag, tiffany necklace, well off university
• - Love interest in Warner
• People on campus, stereotypical jocks, cheerleaders etc.

Seven
Character Information:

• introduced firstly to Detective Somerset – main character
• - lonely, isolated
• - organised, belongings all neatly laid out
• - seems focused on work
• - detective
• Detective Mills, re-assigned, more relaxed

Comparison
We are introduced to the main characters both getting ready for the start of their day, however the characters are extremely different. In Legally Blonde, she is a young girl at university and is presented as girly and popular with many friends whereas in Seven, Detective Somerset is old and soon retiring, and presented as very lonely.



Legally BlondeShot Types/Technical Information:

• camera is used extensively to give a sense of place and character
• extreme close ups of girl brushing her hair, putting on her necklace, doing makeup (getting ready)
• high angle – looking down onto the staircase of the campus, we can see it looks expensive
• long shots – set the scene
• establishing shots – when girl is riding bike, people in gym so we are able to get a sense of the surrounding
• high key lighting – adds to upbeat mood
• upbeat music – adds to atmosphere, lyrics such as ‘perfect day’ and ‘Mercedes’ connote the lifestyle

Seven
Shot Types/Technical Information:

• Extreme close ups to show character getting ready, close up of fixing cuffs, sorting out tie
• Long shot, when alone in bed
• Low angles – when Freeman and Pitt are talking in the rain, sense of rain is bringing everything down
• Extreme close ups of cuttings out and pages and writing
• Flashes, quick cutaways, we are unaware of exactly what is going on
• Dark lighting – gloomy mood

Comparison:
The wide range of shot types are very similar in both opening sequences. There are lots of close ups of the characters preparing for their day and establishing sots to set the scene. However the music and lighting is very different. In Legally Blonde, the music is upbeat and the lighting bright compared to Seven where the lighting is dark and music is quite distorted and can make audiences feel uncomfortable.

Horror Shot Evaluation

1. Describe your shot and identify in what way it could be seen as representing 'horror'
We took an extreme close up focusing mainly on the characters eyes and the angle is tilted and unbalanced. The shot is framed by a gate. This gives a trapped, uneasy feeling representing horror. The whole shot is very dark with light only on the right hand side on half of the characters face. This makes the character mysterious and adds to the horror genre. The character is looking away from the camera at something which makes the audience want to know what he is looking at which adds to the mystery and horror.

2. What did you actually do to achieve the effect?
To achieve this effect, we found a dark area with limited light. We placed the actor behind a gate so that the gate framed the shot. We used a light source with the barn doors almost shut to create only a small shaft of light and held this upwards on the right hand side of the actor so that only one side of him would be lit and the other in darkness. This way only half of his features would be illuminated. We held the camera about a metre away and used the zoom to get in close. We tilted the aslightly to get the unbalanced effect.

3. What is successful about your shot?
I think the whole overall shot does look like a horror still mainly due to the lighting. The lighting worked well due the the half darkness/half light and i think this makes the shot have the horror characteristics.

4. What would you do differently in hindsight?

In hindsight, i would make the gate in the shot more apparent as in the shot at the moment, you can't really see the gate very much. This way, it would look like the actor was more trapped. I think we also could have over exaggerated the tilted angle more to get a more unbalanced effect.