The opening title sequence of Se7en begins with a close up shot of a ticking barometer followed by another close up shot of a hand flipping the pages of a book, there is a shallow focus to mask the identity of the moving hand. This is combined with diegetic sounds of the clock ticking which immediately builds tension as the audience feel like they under time pressure. The first two titles are the production company's name and the producer, they are shown in bold capitals distancing them from the actors involved in the film. However the actors are shown in creepy handwriting to highlight their involvement in the film and potentially the crime. Moving images of the killer shaving off his fingers prints and looking through disturbing photos introduce the horror/ thriller genre. There is also a use of red colouring which reflects the potential use of blood in the film and is a convention of the horror genre. Also their is still images of CCTV which introduces a stalker story, to show the audience that the killer is most likely watching his victims. There is a continuous moving image of the killer crossing out the eyes of a photographed man which could be a visual metaphor of their death. Less important actors or people involved in the film eg. the editor appear later on in the sequence over images of the killers handwriting and highlighting in textbooks combined with photographs of potential victims. The closing sequence to the title uses non diegetic music which stops suddenly. The whole sequence had a eerie effect throughout to add tension and create further enigma codes.
Dawn of the dead:
The opening title sequence of Dawn of the dead opens with the name of the production company written across the screen. It is shown in a trickled blood font which instantly highlights that this links with the codes and conventions of a horror genre. There is a high, wide angle shot of a large number of people (around 200) who all appear to be praying at the same time. This could be linked with how people could be brainwashed and follow the commands of a leader. Another production company is then shown on the screen in bold capitals before it also disappears of the screen in a similar matter. The red colour connotes to death and anger. This is followed by 3 short fast moving images, the main stand out one was a close up image of a person who was presented as possessed and had blood pouring out of their mouth. This helped to build up tension to the title of the film appearing on the screen in red, bold capitals. This leads to a range of moving shots of a zombie like creature aggressively moving, linked with a voice over taken from some sort of news report asking questions about this virus alongside the sound of a heart beat speeding up gradually. The voiceover helps the clip to feel more realistic and the non diegetic heart beat connotes the feeling of worry. A diegetic song starts to play over the top off a montage of clips showing different TV news reports highlighting the chaos that has happened due to this virus, in particular the audience sees riots, explosions, zombie like characters and lots of blood. There is also an additional sound of the TV changing channel as it cuts from clip to clip to once again help with the realism and build tension. The diegetic sounds of screaming, crying for help and sirens can be heard over the top of the music create the feeling of fear. The final title used is the directors name, once again in the trickled blood, combined with a creepy final voice over, mumbling words about death and hell.
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