Fight Club
The film opens with a fast-paced, tense, non-diegetic music track accompanied to a CGI background of a virtual journey through the inside of the head – the brain, muscle tissue, skin, pores, etc. – along with the film titles and actor names brightly flashing up on screen. This combination of quick; lights, sounds and images is sure to catch the viewer’s attention immediately. When the CGI sequence reaches the outer skin it is seen to be a sweaty brow, the camera pans down along the nose to the mouth and then back to follow along the barrel of a gun. When it reaches the rear sight the focus switches from it to the frightened face of our unnamed protagonist, gun between teeth. The fear in his eyes is amplified by the close up shot used, even though the voice narration, his voice, is calm... almost bored sounding. The situation is tense; this is made clear by the sudden lack of musical backing, and the fact that the protagonist is clearly bruised, beaten and bleeding. He also appears to be tied to the chair he is sat in. The lighting is dim which also adds to the feeling of a tense atmosphere and puts a dark aura around the action focus. By having introducing the film in such a manner the director has set up the audiences expectations for the film. It could also be noted that we never see Tyler Durden’s face in this opening scene, keeping an air of mystery about him.
Research into Existing Products
Existing Products we have Researched thus far:
- Camera Angles, Shots, Movements and Positions
- Lighting
- Sounds
- Mise en Scene
- Editing
- Representations
- Genres - ie. Romantic Comedy, Thriller and Horror
Media products used in order to grasp a better understanding of these concepts:
From studying the introductions to these films we have been able to grasp to a better understanding of what can be typically expected from the genres of films we will be using for our coursework pieces of film introductions.
The choices of genre to base our work around are thriller, horror or romantic comedy (rom com)
I have decided to choose thriller as my genre for my coursework piece. I have done so because I find it the most interesting to explore as it is very attention-grabbing and malleable - of the 3 genre choices thriller seems to have the most varying films - and so I am allowed more freedom with what can be done with my piece in terms of plotline. As proof for this claim, here is a short list of Thriller Sub-Genres:
- Action Thriller - The most common of thriller sub-genres, this one focuses on an obvious hero/heroine overcoming an enemy, usually containing lots of violence and some kind of time limit/race against the clock.
- Crime Thriller - Focus is on the criminals, the usual antagonists become the protagonists. Central points are usually murder, robbery, betrayal etc.
- Disaster Thriller - Thrillers in which the main conflict focus is on some sort of natural or artificial disaster. Natural disasters being weather phenomenon eg. Hurricanes, Tornados, Storms, Blizzards or more tectonically based natural disasters such as earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. Artificial disasters being things like nuclear strikes and chemical warfare.
- Psychological Thriller - The main conflict in this thrillers is being fought emotionally and mentally as opposed to physically, up until the resolution when generally most thriller films will opt for a violent conclusion.
These are just a few examples of the many sub-genres can be extracted from the core of thriller films. It is a very ranging, flexible and open genre in terms of what can be altered within the main storyline context and are well known for their abilities to capture and hold viewer attention.
Image sources:
- mr-faust.xanga.com
- babble.com
- art.com
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