The introduction establishes the isolated setting of a car driving alone on a lonely road through mountains, pursued by the camera like a predator, intensifying the eerie atmosphere. It then shows the simplistic blue credits against shots of the camera wandering further into the vast, threatening wilderness. Finally, it establishes the hotel located deep in the snowy mountains as the main location where the story will take place.
2. The camera begins to follow a car that is running in this
isolated setting. There are no other cars around, or even
villages. The action is constantly building up to something, as
the camera continues to pursue the car, like a predator. The
aerial shots of the mountains connote vast wilderness. The
sound is continuously playing in the background, intensifying
the eerie.
3. The typography is simplistic, strikingly blue. As the camera wanders
into the wild, the credits are opulently showing. The sound is now
emphasized by some voices that are wailing.
4. The introduction to “The shining” foreshadows what is possibly going to happen next. The road
is lonely and narrow, camera is focusing on that car(deducing that the protagonist might be in
it) -the audience is invited to deduce themselves that this could be a horror and leads to
something possibly macabre. The location is a horror genre convention, mainly because it is set
in the middle of nowhere. Mountains are known for being highly unreachable especially during
the winter, thus making them a great location for such things.
5. The title sequence ends with an establishing shot of a hotel in the heart of the snowy
mountains. The audience is positioned to think that this could be the main arriving point for
the protagonist. Also, this place could be the main location where everything takes place.
Although there is nothing macabre about it, it still has a threatening nuance.
6. SE7EN-analysis-
This title sequence establishes from the very beginning the
character. There are various explicit close-ups of hands, usually
writing. It is presumably a male (considering the hands) who is
obsessively taking notes in his “diary”. He is also sticking
developed photographs of persons and objects.
7. POV are used several times as he is inspecting various articles/pages of topics
related to sexuality and religion. This can be considered a hint of what his
person is. Analyzing its title and its religious connotation, seven refers to “the
seven sins” such as gluttony, wrath, pride, greed, lust, envy, sloth. Assigning
pictures of persons next to several notes connotes that he is planning
something or fulfilled something he has planned. This title sequence
accentuates his psychological side.
8. The gesture of peeling off skin is mainly specific to serial killers and
murderers. They usually do this in order to get rid of their fingerprint
thus never getting caught. The audience is invited to deduce that a
serial killer is presented, a methodic one. Since religion has been
brought up, it is easily to see that his possible victims are linked to
that.