Fight club- Movie Scene Review

The movie I chose this week is Fight Club, because people always talk about how good it is, and it really is a good movie. I really enjoyed it. I love watching movies that are not predictable and that have a twist, just like this one. The movie was released in 1999 and was directed by David Fincher.

The movie is about the narrator that works in an office and suffers from insomnia. After being advised by his doctor he joins the testicular support group and then becomes addicted and joins many more other support groups even though there is physically nothing wrong with him. This cures his insomnia for a while until Marla Singer join. The narrator is greatly disturbed by her presence and they decide which support groups each one gets so their paths wont cross.

One day when the narrator gets home he finds his house blown up. Having nobody else to call, he phones Tyler Durden, who sells soap and whom he met on a flight home from a business trip. They meet at a bar and end up having a fist fight. After that the narrator moves in with Tyler in an abandoned house that is falling apart. From then on every Saturday they fight each other outside of the bar which ended up attracting more crowds and eventually the Fight Club was born.

Marla and Tyler begin to have a sexual relationship after Tyler saves Marla when she took an overdose. Fight club spreads all over the world and becomes known as in anti-materialist organisation known as Project Mayhem. After one of the narrators friends gets shot during a mission he wants to shut down the organisation but Tyler is against it. One day Tyler disappears and he travels from one place to the other using the tickets Tyler left behind. He then starts to notice that people he has never met call him Tyler and think he is the leader of fight club. When he finds Tyler he is told that they are both the same person and that the narrator just made him up.

So all this time he was the one running the organisation and that he was the one who slept with Marla. He begins to understand and tries to stop the next plan of Project Mayhem which are bombs placed all over the city. The narrator even goes to the police to confess but then finds out that members from fight club also work there. he ends up fighting Tyler falls and no longer exists in the narrators head. Marla is brought up by his henchmen and they stand together holding hands as they watch the while city explode.


This movie was defiantly not what I was expecting but it was great.

The scene that I picked is at the start of the movie at around 7.5 minutes into it and ends around 3.50 minutes after that.

It starts with the narrator describing his daily life and the struggles he has with insomnia. He is lying in bed unable to sleep. It then moves on to him at his workplace and then his daily life at home. Just in the first minute we learn a lot about the main character and his boring daily life. The only interest he seems to show is his obsession for furniture.

He then goes to hospital to speak about his problems with a doctor. The doctor refuses the narrator's request to give him tablets so he can sleep and instead advises him a natural way to get rid of his insomnia problem. He suggest him to go to a testicular support group.

When the narrator visits the testicular support group, even thought he has no physical problems, he begins to feel a comfort there and manages to cure his insomnia semi-permanently.

Characters:

The Narrator (Cornelius) is acted by Edward Norton. The scene starts with him lying in bed unable to sleep and then continues to show his struggles with insomnia. Throughout the scene he is trying to find a way to cure his insomnia. In the office he uses coffee to keep him awake. Then he seeks a doctor and ask for medication to help him sleep but the doctor advises him to find a natural cure and tells him to visit a testicular support group. There he finds a cure for his insomnia and is able to sleep again. The narrator is dressed like a typical office worker wearing a tie and shirt. On his wrist is a watch, maybe to help him to see what time of day it is since is is always unsure due to his insomnia.

The narrator's Boss comes into the scene around 30 seconds into it holding a folder in his hand and is also wearing a shirt and tie. He has a ring on his right hand. He sits on the narrator's desk for a while explaining his next job to him. From the narrator we find out that his boss only wears a blue tie on Tuesday and that could mean  that the narrator is able to distinguish what time of week it is when looking at his boss's ties. The Boss leaves the scene after a few seconds when he is done talking to his employee, the narrator.

The Doctor enters the scene around 1.50 minutes into it and refuses to give the narrator tablets to treat his insomnia. He is wearing the typical doctors uniform. He seems like an insignificant character but he is very important in the over all story. Without him the narrator would have not gone to support groups and the story would not have unfolded properly. If the doctor would have given him medicine maybe the imaginary character, Tyler, would not have appeared again.

Thomas is one of the testicular victim who tells the others about his life to the support group and enters the scene around 2.42 minutes into the scene. His shirt is dark and depressing just like the story he is telling. John is another victim who is shown for w few seconds toward the end of the scene. There are a few more victims whose names are not revealed and the support group leader.

Taylor Durden was played by Brad Pitt he is shown in this scene three times, only for less than a split second each. So it's not very noticeable. Tyler comes into the scene around 12 seconds when it starts for the first time. This is were the narrator slowly starts to imagine the character, Tyler. For the second time Tyler is seen roughly around 2.23 seconds into the scene beside the doctor. For the last time Tyler is shown at the last second of this scene wrapping one arm around the leader of the testicular support group. The actor who plays the character of Tyler seems well suited for the film as they both have one thing in common. Brad Pitt is a well known popular actor and Tyler's character is also well known and popular in the movie. Tyler wears a bright red leather jacket which is very noticeable and matches his outgoing personality.

Settings:

The narrator is lying in bed that has mostly green covers. After that he is at his workplace which is a plain looking ordinary office with little colours. The colour panel of the office mostly consists of greys and light greens. Overall it's a  very boring looking office. All the lockers, boxes and folders look the same.

The scene cuts back to the narrator in his bathroom sitting on the toilet. The colour panel is similar to the one in the office he works in. His apartment looks just like the ones the narrator looks at in furniture magazines. Everything looks new and unused.

Now the narrator is at the hospital talking to his doctor about his insomnia problems. The colour panels of the hospital are once again similar to the office and his home. It is just like any ordinary hospital with x-rays of peoples bones in the background.

For a short few seconds we see the outside of the building of where the meeting of the support group is held. Then we see the narrator walk up the stairs into the sports hall were the other members are waiting.

Mise-en-scene:

The narrator uses three different blankets which might suggest that his apartment his cold. His house phone is lying beside him, as if he is waiting for someone to call. When the camera focuses on starbucks cup it  could mean that to  the narrator coffee is  part of his daily routine to keep himself awake. But he isn't the only one. Trough a one point perspective we can see his fellow workers are also drinking coffee. The fact that the office and the workers in it is so plain and boring looking could be a metaphor to show how empty and dull the narrators life is. Everyone seems like lifeless, like zombies.

The office is light up brightly despite the dull colours. In the bin beside the narrator's office desk we see empty coffee cups, junk food packaging and fizzy drink cans, this tells us that the character's diet just consists of junk food and energy drinks.

Behind the narrators desk are folders that look very similar to each other. This again could be a metaphor of how the narrator feels like everyday is the same to him. The fact that he uses is bosses tie colour to distinguish what time of the week it is suggest that the narrator is always lost in time due to his insomnia.

The scene cuts back to the narrator in his home, which is also dull like the office he works in. From this the audience learns that not only is his career dull but also his life at home. The fact that his house nearly looks the exact same as from the magazines the narrator looks at proves his obsession for furniture. His apartment is shown almost like an add for telly, advertising the furniture within.

The layout of the narrator's things in his apartment are so perfect looking as if he has never used them. The fact that his fridge is almost empty and only contains old food, junk food and sauces states that the narrator never cooks for himself as his cooker looks unused. His whole apartment looks like it's just for show and he doesn't actually live there. It is more for the visuals rather than the functional us eg. he has an exercise bike but never exercises.

There is constantly a reference shown of time. For example music that sounds like clock ticking, watches on the narrators wrist and clocks hanging on the wall in the background. The reason for that is once again because I think the narrator has no sense of time and needs something to know what time or day it is since he is never sure if he is awake or asleep.

The tag on the doctors chest reveals the location the narrator is in is a hospital. In the background are x-ray scans of a patient and a noticeboard with many notes on it. There are also lockers in the background, which is maybe where the patients files are kept.

After taking the doctors advise he goes to a testicular supports group meeting. For a few seconds we see the outside of the building where it is held and the inner staircase. Since it is dark outside this suggests it is some tome in the evening and there is only the lighting from the building.

The place where the meeting is located is just a normal sports hall with chairs in a circle. When he walks in he walks past a fan maybe indicating that the hall is warm and in the background is a basketball hoop.When the narrator puts on his name tag at the support group we find out that his name is Cornelius, although I am unsure if that is his real name or just a name he made up for when he goes to that support group. Through the name tags the audience can read some of the testicular support group victim's names.

Camera Work:

1. Medium shot from above looking down at the narrator in bed. 
2. The camera is zoomed in on a starbucks cup going from left to right and then back again just like the printer is photocopying in the background.
3. Medium close up of the narrator struggling to keep his eyes open.
4. One point perspective of narrator looking at the office and his fellow workers at the printers. 
5. Medium close up of narrator.
6. The camera is zoomed in of the inside of a bin and zooms out of it until the bin is fully shown in a unusual way.
7. Medium close up of the narrator holding his hand at his tempel as if he is trying to cure a headache. 
8. One point perspective of narrator looking at his Boss.
9. Over the shoulder view of the Boss looking down at the narrator. 
10. One point perspective of narrator looking up at his Boss.
11. Over the shoulder view of the Boss focusing at the narrator.
12. Medium shot of Boss walking away.
13. Medium close up of narrator.
14. Wide shot of Boss walking away with his back faced towards audience.
15. Low angle of the camera zooming in at the narrator sitting on the toilet while making a phone call and reading through a magazine. 
16. Medium close up of narrator holding a phone on his right ear and looking through the furniture magazine.
17. One point perspective of narrator looking at the furniture in the magazine. 
18. Medium close up of narrator.
19. One point perspective of narrator putting the magazine down.
20. Camera goes around in a semi-circle showing the narrators apartment. 
21. Medium shot following the narrator walking through to his kitchen. 
22. Medium close up of narrator looking into his press.
23. Narrator looking down into his fridge.
24. One point perspective of narrator looking around of what's in the fridge while the phone is still close to his ear. 
25. Narrator taking something out of the fridge and closing the door as the phone call is no longer on hold.
26. Screen is black for a second.
27. Wide shot of narrator standing beside the fridge in his kitchen while trying to open a glass of some kind of sauce with the phone to his ear. 
28. The camera zooms out following the narrator walking towards the camera while licking the knife. 
29. Medium shot of doctor talking to narrator in hospital. 
30. Medium close up of narrator talking to doctor.
31. Medium shot of doctor.
32. Medium close up of narrator.
33. Medium shot of doctor.
34. High angle-shot looking at the doctor and narrator sitting in front of each other, then doctor gets up moving towards the camera.
35. Medium close up of narrator.
36. Medium shot of the doctors profile in focus and narrator's profile in the background unfocused
37. Medium shot of narrator walking towards the camera to follow the doctor in the corridor.
38. Medium shot of doctor in corridor turning around to face the audience.
39. Zoom in Medium close up of narrator.
40. Medium shot of doctor turning back around and walking away. 
41. Wide shot of narrator outside at night time walking from left to right.
42. Medium shot of narrator walking up the stairs camera follows him into the support group hall.
43. Medium close up of testicular cancer victim talking.
44. Close up of narrator putting on his name tag.
45. Medium close up of testicular cancer victim.
46. Camera slowly zooms out to show other victims. 
47. Extreme close up from a low angle of Thomas crying.
48. Medium shot of other two victims.
49. Medium shot of narrator and another victim.
50. Wide shot of the leader from the support group walking up behind crying Thomas.
51. Medium shot of two victims thanking Thomas for sharing his story.
52. Low angle medium close up of support group leader.
53. Medium close up of other victim called John.
54. Medium close up of narrator.
55. Wide shot of the support group leader behind Thomas.

Sounds and Music:

The scene starts with the narrators voice saying that he hasn't slept in six months and then his voice fades as his working day starts. There is no other music playing in the background just sound effects and the voices of the characters talking. When the scene goes to the office we can hear the sound of printers and phones. The fact that there is no music makes this office seem even more boring and lifeless.

When the narrator gets home the only music played is the one that is coming from the phone because he has been put on hold while ordering furniture. Some kind of ticking music starts around the same time.
When the narrator is in hospital crowds can be heard in the distance.

When the narrator walks into the building where the support group is the sound of cars passing can be heard outside and inside people are singing along to a piano somewhere in the distance. This could mean that the building where the support group meets could be rented out for various different things. From then on there is no more music to be heard just the voices of the testicular victims.

Why I liked it/ Why not? What would I change/ not change?

I like this scene because I find it very interesting. I like the way that the narrator's imaginary friend, Tyler, slowly starts to emerge from that scene on wards. It is barely noticeable as it is less that a a split second each time. When I first noticed it I thought it was just my eyes playing tricks on me. There is noting I would change about this scene it  is perfect the way it is and it reveals almost everything about the main character's life within just a few minutes. Not only the script but also the visuals give us information about the characters and places which they are at. The acting is suited for each characters and the overall story is good. I have no complains about this movie.

Since my animation is also about a guy beating up others this could be used as a good reference.