Red Dragon vs. Se7en

 

Similiarities

• They both have opening credits that feature superimposing shots of scrapbooks from the featured killer. This is quite obvious because during the opening credits we get layered shots of the killer's handwritten notes in both movies that introduce the credits and story. In Se7en we shown religious symbolism that foreshadows events that take place in the movie and show the connections to "The Divine Comedy", plus some shots of industrial machinery. This is also used in Red Dragon to show events that passed inbetween the opening and the scenes after the credits and to reference the Tooth Fairy's past with disturbing images. This type of opening is promiently featured in crime thrillers but it was Se7en who was innovater of this type.
•  A lot of the first-half of each movie is spent in crime scenes of victims of the central serial killer. This might be a bit of a no-brainer but crime dramas involve investigation in the environments of the crime. The difference with these two films they are shot with camera tropes that are featured in horror movies like tilted angles and obscurity of the viewer's sight of a scene (e.g. darkness, people, placind cameras in awkward positions... etc) and the Mise en Scene is a lot more gruesome in detail like blood, disfigured bodies and symbolistic imagery in attempt to disturb the viewer. Scenes like this are featured in the Leed's House from Red Dragon and the Attorney's Office from Se7en, all scenes of murders.
• Both movies use subjective point-of-view shots when characters are in either uncomfortable or disturbing situations. Shots like these put the viewers into the shoes of the characters so that we are immersed in story and more likely to be disturbed. This is used in Red Dragon where Will is walking down a corridor and we walk past the different cells to get to Hannibal's who was his mentor and friend that tried to kill him, which is quite uncomfortable. Se7en uses this when we see most of the murder scenes to establish a uneasy mood and some very disturbing imagery like the gluttony victim who is found with his head sinking into his last meal.

Differences

• Bodies aren't really featured in Red Dragon and are only featured as brief imposed imagery or photographs within the movie, while Se7en doesn't shy away from showing everything exploitive to it's viewers. Red Dragon likes to not show any bodies in most of it's scenes and instead leaves it to the imagination of the viewer to pitch together what happened since usually a person's imagination can create scarier imagery then a director can because it has no limits, only showing glimpses of murders and using mise en scene of the murder scenes to give the viewer an idea of what happened. Se7en holds no boundaries because it is trying to depict a world of corruption and gritty crime and finds it better to show what is going on in this world rather then attempt to hide it.
• The musical score in Red Dragon and Se7en are drastically different in tone and style so that they can depict the atmosphere of each movie accurately. Red Dragon depicts quiet city/suburban life turned upside down by murder while Se7en depicts a cruel, corrupted city that is being taught a lesson on sin so their tone of music should vastly different. Red Dragon uses a orchaestra of instruments to reflect the intelligent sophisticated side of society but the suspenseful score and heavy use of strings alludes to something darker and more sinister, just like our main characters; Will, Hannibal and The Tooth Fairy. The score in Se7en starts out dark with industrial instruments and deep gritty bass and becomes more disturbed during the run of the movie depicting our character's as people who are slowly losing their grip on their sanity, becoming more suspenseful in the murder scenes.
• Each movie has there ownunique colour scheme within their mise en scene to depict the themes that they want to explore. Red Dragon deals with the upsetting of society and the exploration of the psyche of people who do awful things, Se7en deals with themes of action and consequence and the people who feel that they can change that, the serial killer and the police. Red Dragon has mostly pale colours that are mostly yellows, and blues to give an eerie sense of calm and then sudden intrusion of brighter and darker colours that reveal what is beneath that sense of calm. Se7en overall has very dark colours like blacks and greys to reflect the dark, corrupt world that it lives in and more brighter colours that the end to represent a revelation of what society has driven the people of this city to do.

Here are two scenes that stand out for me:

What are your interpretations of these two iconic scenes?