Seven

I was recently watching the movie Seven. The movie is about a religious serial killer who has set out to kill people in relation to the seven deadly sins. The ending of the movie is the sort of famous scene where Brad Pitt is repeatedly screaming, “What’s in the Box?” The scene slowly builds on itself using dramatic irony. The viewer isn’t exactly sure what is wrong, but the scene begins with Morgan Freeman, alone, saying “this is not good; [the criminal] has the upper hand.” Here mis en scene is used as the dialogue happens with the box in the middle of the screen. The camera switches to Pitt and the murderer. A close-up on the killer is used as he starts to explain his story, claiming he has paid a visit to Pitt’s wife. Music picks up in the background and as emotions rise, so does the music. He eventually reveals to Pitt that he has killed Pitt’s wife and put her head in the box. The camera switches back to a medium shot as Freeman tries to calm Pitt down. When the murderer interrupts Freeman, the camera shot switches back to a close up on his face. As everyone starts to argue, the camera flips back and forth between actors very fast. On top of that, the camera work now includes tracking and panning. The last shot in this scene is an extreme close up on the gun in Pitt’s hand. The camera is focused on the gun when he shoots it, and kills the criminal.