As part of my AS Media Studies coursework I will be analysing the dramatic thriller- Seven Pounds which is about a man who tries to save the lives of seven people because of a recent event that is killing him inside. I would recommend this great film to anyone as it is thrilling in every way and has drama, romance and comedy as well as staring Will Smith.
I think the purpose of this opening sequence was to hook the reader and make them psyched about enduring the whole of this dramatic film. When you put it into perspective, the first scene or first couple of scenes are the most important because they allow the reader to either keep watching or turn it off and watch something else. Ideally, the perfect opening scene forces the audience to keep watching as if they don't have a choice because then they know that they really want to watch and fully understand the film. As well as that, another intention of the director was to create tension and mystery to leave the audience engaged. Roland Barthes described several codes that are woven into narrative media texts. In this first scene, the Hermeneutic Code is present because you can see that some of the story is not yet fully explained which creates an element of mystery which is perfect for a dramatic thriller. Another one of the codes used is the Proairetic Code which essentially builds tension which is clearly shown in the first scene of Seven Pounds because it infers that something has happened to cause the character to behave this way and at some point we will find out what it is. This builds tension and creates excitement amongst the audience which is the main aim for the director and producer. In the first scene we can already see an outline of the plot for this film, the fact that the scene starts right in the middle of the climax and then switches to a different time zone implies that the narrative structure will contain lots of flashforwards and flashbacks which will change the chronology of the story. This repositioning of texts will influence the way the audiences will understand and interpret them.
The scene begins with the diagetic sound of the main character'so heavy breathing and the faint sound of the emergency service woman asking for the emergency. Immediately we know that something is wrong, already we can hear heavy breathing which indicates panic or fear and nothing has even been displayed on the screen as of yet. When the picture comes on screen we see a broken down Will Smith in a darkened atmosphere who tells the woman on the phone the problem at hand. It is especially surprising when the character states that the suicide is in fact his own which leaves the audience both confused and intrigued. Never the less, they are hooked into the thrilling film. The setting then changes and Will Smith's character is present. It's at this point when we realise that we just witnessed a scene that happens in the future which makes the audience ever more curious to find out why he was committing suicide and why he looked and sounded so broken.
In the film, the director used diagetic and non-diegetic sound to hook the reader and make them want and even need to endure the rest of the film. Firstly, the soundtrack in the background is slow and quiet to emphasise the sorrow and misery that the character is feeling. Next, the phone line, just after it's dialled, makes a long 'beep' noise as if to resemble a heart rate monitor in a hospital when the patient passes away. This foreshadows that Will Smith's character will in fact pass away. The Audience continue to be confused by this because it is not the norm for the main character to die in the film so they keep watching to find out the outcome. Moreover the speech from the character was very shaky as if to show real fear from him, in particular, when the woman said, "Who's the victim?" There was a three or four second gap before he answered with, "I am." This implies that the character might not want to commit suicide but has no choice we know this because he is hesitant to say he is the victim because he knows there's no going back.
Furthermore, the director uses a wide variety of camera shots and angles to portray different meanings and show different emotions in this scene. Primarily, at the start of the scene a close up shot is used on the characters face. The reason for this is because it allows us to focus on their facial expression which helps us understand how the person is feeling. For this instance, we can see the man's fear and worry on his face which indicates there is a real problem already in this film. The low camera angles when he is swimming to when he first starts walking up the steps shows power and superiority however, the camera angle then tilts and shows him walking up the steps from a wide high angle which shows him to be weak and maybe even alone. It also makes us think that maybe the character used to be superior and successful but now, because of whatever has happened, it's been taken away from him. Moreover, the lighting at the start of the scene is quite dark and low-key which adds to the sense of mystery when he is on the phone. The dark setting of Will Smith's character foreshadows the mood of the scene- dull, gloomy and deep.
Throughout the opening scene we see different sign which instigate varied things about the mood and emotions of the scene. First of all, the characters facial expression, when he is on the phone to the emergency services woman, is panicked and terrified which helps the audience to gain a bit of insight into the situation. It shows them that something is clearly wrong already in this story which is odd and confusing for them to understand considering it's not normal for the main character to be dying so early on. We see more semiotics used in this scene when the setting changes to him getting out of the see; there is a large house located on the beach that the character is walking up to as it's clearly his own possession. The fact that we are shown his grand and costly house so early on gives the reader more information about the background of this character which in my opinion is a really good idea because before this moment I can imagine the audience were quite intrigued to know more about Will Smith in this narrative as not a lot of information was revealed. Additionally, the character's clothes are another type of sign that we can interpret. The first time we see the main character in the light, where we can actually see him, is when he gets out of the sea after swimming. He wears nothing but swimming trunks leaving his body looked quite bare and exposed. This was actually intended as foreshadowing that the character is left with nothing after losing his wife. This of course is only understood by the audience once they have seen the whole film and have had time to process what they have seen so they can understand the director's thinking behind the scenes.
Overall, I think that this is a really effective opening scene for this dramatic thriller because it used the thriller conventions to build tension and create mystery for the reader. It essentially makes them want to watch on to see the outcome of the story. I think the fact the film begins right at the peak of the drama and action is especially effective because the audience will already know what to expect in terms of character emotion and thrilling drama.
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