Se7en: How does the director establish character?

The director uses geometry and symbolism to establish character.

In this shot, symbolism is used. For example, the chess set and the elephant. The chess set symbolises how there was once two characters within this home, but we only see one. The chess set is in the middle of a game which means that the partner left suddenly and unplanned. Also, chess is an intellectual game which tells us that the character we see on screen is smart and has quite a high sense of knowledge. The elephant links back to the partner. For example, elephants only have one partner for life. A soul mate, if you will. And there is only one elephant on the screen which suggests that the character has lost a loved one. On the other hand, there is a cat statue next to the elephant which could symbolise a partner that was very different.

This shot uses geometry to tell us about the character. The precision and order of the items tells us that the character is organised and efficient. The badge tells us that they are a character of high importance (on the force), which also makes the knife seem less threatening. The flower tells us that they are a sentimental character by keeping something from the past. However, we do not know the importance of this which tells us that they are also a very private character and keeps things to themselves.

The use of focus in this shot allows us to see that the character in the front is very important and work focused as everything else within the shot is not in focus- such as the man in the background. The use of shallow focus tells us that this character is the most important and the other (in the background) lacks significance at this point. This establishes character by allowing us to see who is the most important and how the character works- by blocking everything else out from around them.


This shot tells us that the character is very neat as they pick of lint from the laid out jacket before putting it on- letting us know that the character feels that everything must be right before they can proceed with their tasks. The suit tells us that they are professional and that they are a respectable character. The neatness corresponds with the bed as it is neatly made. We see both sides of the bed made to the same degree which emphasises that the character is alone as they only slept on one side of the bed, but feels the need to make both sides up to the right standard.