Comparing Two Opening Sequences: 'Legally Blonde' with 'Se7en'

Narrative Expectations

Legally Blonde

- It starts of with her blonde hair, slowly being combed to show that the main character is blonde and a girl, straight away. The expectation of her to be a 'typical blonde' comes up, and the meaning of the movie title is shown straight away
- It has close-ups of her getting ready; doing her legs, the perfume, necklace, all of her shoes and possessions in different shades of pink. This shows that she is a very bubbly, girly teenager maybe.
- The girl on the bicycle shows how the campus on which she lives is very expensive, exclusive to those higher and richer in society. The fountain and houses give the look of perfection and bliss around the campus.
- The boys playing about in the garden that cheer as the girl goes past shows the stereotype set in this film, with the boys showing their rugged masculinity with them all being topless and in a sort of brawl. The girls here are all for show, all about physical perfection and looking fabulous for boys.
- This is seen further as the girls go around the sorority house and you see all the girls working out or trying to look good, with the steam-filled powder room full of girls putting make-up and cream on.
- We see that the main character is popular, with the Homecoming Queen banner up him her room and the fact that everyone was signing her card, no-one was saying no but was excited to sign it for her.
- The boy at the end shows her love interest, and with prior knowledge with these kind of films you can guess that something will go wrong with the boy, especially with the girls giving her a 'Good Luck' card.

Se7en

- It starts off with him getting ready, in silence on his own in his apartment. You can hear nothing but the busy streets outside, and see a chess board in the distance giving a sense of him being an intellectual.
- We have a close up of Morgan Freeman's character getting ready, doing his tie slowly, and picking up his suit from the perfectly laid bed. Everything looks sorted and regular, like someone who is used to doing something in their own way.
We get a contrast with Brad Pitt, as he comes in as an opposite to Morgan Freeman; young and not so neatly dressed, and with some style and urgency in the way he walks and talks, unlike the slow way in which Morgan Freeman talks and thinks about things.
- We see death upfront from the start of the film, showing what they both do and also showing how death will be a major factor throughout the film, not something to be anticipated only for the end of the movie.
- The way in which Morgan Freeman is treated by his first partner shows how he does things his own way, he asks questions beyond what other would understand any reason for and he thinks about things more than others would, trying to do a thorough job rather than trying to quick wrap it up like his partner.
- The way Brad Pitt enters we question why he has come, just as Morgan Freeman does, and find out how he has only come for a week, and also find out of Freeman's retirement in a weeks time, so the film is only about these seven days.
- The conversation with Brad Pitt in the loud street edge contrasts the apartment straight after, when it is absolutely silent but Morgan Freeman still finds it hard to fall asleep, he needs the help of a metrodome to fall to sleep, again giving an example of his life being regular and how the entry of Brad Pitt could be a change in that regular lifestyle.

Character Information

Legally Blonde

- We can see from the start that the main girl is the one whose identity is hidden till the end of the opening sequence, Elle.
- We find out all about her appearance without once seeing her face, by seeing her legs, the dress and shoes she's wearing, the necklaces, the perfume and her blonde hair.
- Her favourite colour is shown to be pink, with everything in different shades of pink around the room.
- She is clearly rich as she has Prada bags in her room and expensive looking clothes and shoes, as well as living in such an exclusive looking campus.
- She's popular, with the homecoming queen banner on her wall and everybody signing a card for her, and she looks like a very likeable person.
- The end of the opening sequence shows her kissing a picture of her boyfriend, showing how her love interest in the film also plays a big part.

Se7en

- Morgan Freeman looks like a very calm character, there is nothing eccentric about him. He sets out all of his clothes in an orderly fashion, and likes doing everything slowly and precisly in his own way.
- He seems intellectual, with his question being outside the box, more than the understanding of any common person. He is not a popular person like Elle in Legally blonde, with his co-workers quite rude to him and question his style of working, maybe because they just don't understand him.
- He is the wisdom in the film, he shows the age and rank that Brad Pitt lacks, and portrays the greatest saying 'with age comes wisdom'.
- Brad pitt plays the part of the new comer, but not just the usual apprentice; he is different from all the rest. His demeanor of a young cop coming in with a leather jacket was not really seen before, and so he was the contrast in the film with Morgan Freeman, representing 'new thinking'.
- We see that Morgan Freeman's character is very lonely in the film, he sleeps alone in his bed, he lives alone and in regards to the way he is treated by his co-workers, he even likes to work alone. We find out more about him that Brad Pitt in the start of the film, maybe suggesting that he is the more important of the two characters.

Shot Types

Legally Blonde

- It starts of with a close up if the main character's hair, and the fact that it's blonde. This fills the whole frame up, and allows very little room for anything else to be seen, to show the importance of the hair and make the shot a lot more extreme.
- It then has many of these cut into the sequence showing different aspects of her getting ready, to show how long it takes for her to make herself up, that looking good is a very important thing to her.
- There is an establishing shot with the girl on the bicycle, showing the fountain that she appears out of, then going past the houses and the boys in the garden. This shows the environment that the girl lives in, and also gives the scene with the boys cheering the girl on the bicycle. It then ends with her riding into the campus, where we see it in the background, and see the name in the foreground.
- Once inside, it has a few shots following the girl that is getting the card signed, almost as if we were looking from her eyes and seeing all the things around. This envolves the audience a lot more and gives the shot a more real view, seeing around as if we were there.
- There is another shot following the girl from above, and then spiralling with her as she goes up the staircase, showing the different things that the house is made up of, the girls going past all giddy, the huge bouquet of flowers in the middle, and the elegant staircase itself. This then leads well to a close up of the flowers in the room of the main character, showing how she thinks similar to all the others and how they like very much the same things.

Se7en

- It starts of with close ups of Morgan Freeman getting ready, to establish that he is one of the main characters in the film. The close up shots are also mixed in with other shot types to give a sense of his character in the filmare like, their true identities.- Legally Blonde builds up the character different likes and dislikes, whereas Se7en does the opposite, showing the characters straight away an, right at the start.
- There is the typical shot from above of the dead body in the apartment, showing the blood and disfigured body of the victim.
- The entry of Brad Pitt starts off from far and then moves into him as he walks up the stairs, and then we have a close up of him, also establishing his importance in the film.
- The conversation between the two is not a normal level mid shot like usual, but it is at a low angle. This emphasises the rain that is pouring down, and gives the feeling that the rain is falling down on the audience itself, and makes the first encounter even more miserable. We don't know where things could go from here.
Comparison
- Both films have very different opening sequences, with one giving more information on the surrounding and main character, and the other doing the same but with less shots, and with more conversation to actually find out what the characters d giving a sense of what the story could be about. We do not get much of a story outline or even much of a guess at the story in Legally Blonde as it is concentrated more on the people and the environment, unlike Se7en which goes into the story straight away; The introduction of Brad Pitt and the death of someone happening within the first few minutes.
- Both are very good opening sequences in their own way, and work well for the effect they were trying to achieve, going well with the movie genre.