Fight Club (1999) is brought to us by the director David Fincher, whose work includes the movies Seven, The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It is based on the novel with the same name by Chuck Palahniuk.
Summary
Fight Club revolves around an unnamed male suffering from insomnia. A tragic turn of events leads to a new friendship with the quirky character Tyler Durden. The two set up an under ground fighting club that chaotically transforms into something much more.
Main Characters
The main characters of Fight Club are:
Tyler Durden played by Brad Pitt
The Narrator played by Edward Norton
Marla Singer " " Helena Bonham Carter
Scene
The scene I have choose to analyse occurs at 1:48:08 and ends at 1:50:28. The scene is about the narrator looking for Tyler Durden.
Characters
The Narrator who's trying to find Tyler.
Detective Stern who wants to talk with the Narrator.
Background People.
Bartender with a plaster on his face indicating his is in a fight club.
Men at bar.
Laundry Man who wants to keep the rules of fight club.
Men fighting on the street.
Two men in a bar restaurant. One in white and blonde, the other is black and dark haired with a plaster on his face. They want to know if the rumors are true and if Tyler Durden is really building an army.
Setting
This scene is set in multiply location as its a montage.
Tylers house on paper street.
Police office.
Runway
In a plane
Arrivals in an Airport.
Boarding
Side of street.
Bar.
Taxi.
Launderette.
City from above.
Car park.
Airport renta car
Side of the street (fighting)
Bar restaurant.
Escalator
Basement.
Mise-en-scene
Tickets,bow-tie,bobbles,pencil to make it seem like a cupboard.
Teacup, mold, cracked paint.
In the police office we have a window in the back with shades and some one in the back offices walking past. Gives the feel of a real office.
Plane inside is an actual plane inside. passenger has a napkin on.
In Airport arrival, other people with bags and theres the air hostess and the pilot.
In the first Bar, we have beer,ashtrays, beer on tap, Adverts, neon signs, dart boards, arcade machines and pictures.
In the launderette we have clothes on hangers, steam, rails, sign on window, leaflets and knickknacks on desk.
in the Airports 123 rent a car we have a cars available sign, a phone and a computer.
In the bar restaurant, we have other people talking and drinking. We have beer, condiments, a glass, weird lamp and its dark.
in the side Alley we have rubbish, puddles,steam and bins.
In the basement we have a brick wall, rusted steel supports and pipes.
In the bar restaurant we have a man cleaning floors , chairs on tables, TV, pictures, map and bottles of whiskey.
Camera Work
Starts with a close-up on the drawer.
Cuts to Narrator looking at tickets.
Cuts to fixed angle of tickets in hand.
Cuts to show him looking at tickets.
Cuts to fixed angle of close up on tickets.
Cuts to show him as phone rings.
Cuts to phone on the ground.
Cuts to Narrator picking up phone camera follows narrator.
Cuts to Detective on the other end of the phone, he swirls around in a swivel chair as if to introduce himself to the viewer while saying who he is.
I believe the director used all the cut jumps in the beginning of this scene to produce a sense of urgency.
Cuts back to the narrator on the phone. The camera pans down as the character goes to slam the phone down. The camera cuts to the phone as the character slams the phone down.
Cuts to an airplane flying off at a tilted angle to inform the viewer what is now happening in a way that makes it seem unhinged.
Cuts to inside the plane and zooms in and i think pans towards the narrator but i'm not a hundred percent certain on the the panning towards.
As he is running through arrivals in the airport the camera pans diagonally down.
Cuts to plane landing.
Cuts to plane taking off to the left hand side of the screen.
Cuts to a man walking past up close to the left hand side of the screen. This transition allows the movement of the previous scenes plane to transition into the up close mans movement.
Cuts to a tilted shot of him trying to get into a taxi.
Cuts to plane landing.
Cuts to narrator getting into Taxi.
Cuts to Bar, fixed shot showing the man behind the bar and two others at the bar.
Cuts to behind the guys at the bar and shows the narrator talking to them.
Cuts back to the people at the bar.
Cuts to a eye level close up on the narrator.
Cuts back to the people at the bar.
Cuts back to the close up on the narrator.
Cuts to plane landing.
Cuts to an eye level shot of the narrator walking through the airport from panning to the right with objects obstruction the viewer from time to time.
Cuts to planes taking off and landing.
Cuts to narrator leaving airport.
Cuts to a shot above a city.
Cuts to a low angle shot of the narrator calling for a taxi as a plane takes off above him.
Cuts to a first person perspective of a taxi man as he refuses a ride to the narrator.
Cuts to an over the shoulder shots to indicate who is talking in the conversation taking place between the narrator and the laundry man.
The narrator is on the left hand side and the laundry man is situated on the right hand side during the conversation sequence.
1st person of the narrator.
A fixed shot shows the narrator running to board a plane. A bus passes in-front going left and the camera cuts to the narrator on a bus up close going right. The camera cuts back to the narrator boarding the plane as another object was passing the camera going left again.Another object the appears going right and the camera cuts to a panning close up on the wheels of a plane traveling right. This right traveling pan is then transferred in to the next shot in the bar restaurant where the camera pans right to rest with an over the narrators shoulder shot of the conversation with two member of a fight club.
Camera cuts to the narrator and then back to the over the shoulder shot.
In the next airplane scene, there are two shots layer over one another. The narrator is on the sitting in the airplane and there can be seen an aerial view of a city through the plan. the aerial view of the city is moving in the opposite direction to the direction the narrator is seated on the plane giving the illusion of movement.
Sound and Music
Noise of project Mayhem downstairs, people shouting
Hitting the tickets
door slamming
tickets moving
telephone ringing
noise of picking up the telephone
Chanting slowed down
Jets
planes taking off
Airpot crowd noise
telecom
Music of guitar playing, is kinda exciting in a funny way, it gets the heart beating.
Narration
Beeping of cars
Taxi door closing
Walking
Chairs moving
Drinks being placed on a table
A bowling noise?
Music stopped
Music kicks back off again as if re-winded and the music sounds as if it was laughing at the narrators circumstance.
Woman giving out to narrator "Hey"
Slight honking
Cars passing
The honking of the cars tying in with the trumpets in the music of the scene
People grunting while fighting.
Bus passing
Wheels of plane landing
Cutlery hitting plates
Flying noise inside plane
Heavy metal doors closing
People shouting at each other in an echoing room, fighting then fades out.
Music dies down during talking scenes
What did you appreciate?
The irony of the whole movie on second veiwing.
I really enjoyed the formating of the story telling.
The filming and the transitioning.
The film is very close to the book, apart for the changing of the end story. I found no problem with the film changing the end.
What didn’t you like?
I think I heard a bowling noise in the first bar he enters durring the scene i choose to analyse it seemed out of place. In the begining of the movie when the narrator is explaining the the buildings are rigged to blow the camera travels in to the ground below the very building he is in implying that his building is going to blow up which doesn't happen.
The irony almost becomes to much on repeated viewings, with this said i still wouldn't change it.
