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Screen and Genre Studies!!

Assessment 1!!

Screen Analysis for Genre!!

Fight Club

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Jack is suffering from insomnia, and struggling to cope with it. He goes to support groups for different diseases such as testicular cancer, and tuberclosis, except Jack isn't sick like these people at all. However, it helps his insomnia. When Marla Singer shows up at his support groups, Jack once again cannot sleep. On a business trip, he meets the impressive Tyler Durden, who works as a soap maker, a waiter, and a movie reel changer in old cinemas. After the business trip, Jack discovers his apartment has been bombed. Tyler allows Jack to stay with him on the one condition that Jack hits him- thus beginning the first fight club meeting. As things get more intense, Marla begins a sexual relationship with Tyler, and Jack begins to get more and more frustrated as fight club turns into project mayhem, and he is left out of the plans they have made. This ends up with Jack realising that Tyler is in fact Jack, himself.!!From just watching the film alone, and looking at the storyline, we can see there is noir, psychological thriller, action and drama. !!Classic noir cinematography uses very dark shadows, lots of silhouettes, and significant imagery, including shadows that cover eyes, low hats, and cigarettes. In Fight Club, the shadows are prominent. It's so dark you almost can't see some shots- David Fincher said on the DVD commentary that he intentionally underexposed many shots.!!A classic action movie incorporates a huge amount of characteristics, including elaborate fight scenes, quick cuts and edits, chase scenes, countdowns (like bombs), and huge explosions. Fight Club uses a countdown at the end of the movie- there's a bunch of bombs that jack tries to defuse. Explosions seen throughout the film- end, Jack’s exploding condo, the computer store exploding. And the chase scene where Jack is trying to find Tyler. !!Drama genres focus on a particular theme or problem within the storyline, including drug problems, alcohol problems, mental illness and relationship problems. Drama normally focuses on the development and arc of characters. Jack has insomnia in the beginning of the film, and then it is later revealed that he has a split personality, or schizophrenia, which falls until mental illness. Jack’s problems include his condo exploding, Marla ruining his support groups, and his insomnia. Jack, Tyler and Marla are obviously very well thought out and multidemensional characters, as Jack begins as an insignificant office worker, by the end of the film he’s changing almost into Tyler Durden.!!Typical psychological thriller includes a storyline that focuses on internal struggles within a person. The antagonist is usually within the protagonist’s head. The genre also challenges the audience as they’re watching. Mystery and drama are also incorporated in this genre. A very strong stream of consciousness and first person POV is also used. Fight Club is obviously internal, as Tyler is completely within Jack’s head. We see the mystery when Jack is wondering around project mayhem trying to find answers. We can hear Jack’s thoughts throughout the film, which ties in with strong POV. !!Once tying all these genres together, it creates a little something like Fight Club!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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References!!CABASWEEKLY, 2014, CABASWEEKLY, ‘David Fincher and Brad Pitt on Fight Club’, viewed 30 March, 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-a36Zk1SjY>.!!Carter, J 2009, ‘Brad Pitt and Edward Norton: The Fight Club’, YouTube, viewed 25 March, 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VaA6_CDRyY>. - 25/03/15!!FilmBug 2015, FilmBug, ‘Action Movies’, viewed 30 March, 2015, <http://www.filmbug.com/dictionary/action-movies.php>.!!Filmsite 2015, Filmsite, ‘Action Films’, viewed 29 March, 2015, <http://www.filmsite.org/actionfilms.html>.!!Filmsite 2015, Filmsite, ‘Drama Films’, viewed 30 March, 2015, <http://www.filmsite.org/dramafilms.html>.!!Filmsite 2015, Filmsite, ‘Main Film Genres’, viewed 29 March, 2015, <http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html>.!!Gradesaver, 2015, Gradesaver, ’Fight Club (Film)’, viewed 28 March 2015, <http://www.gradesaver.com/fight-club/study-guide/summary>.!!Hu, D 2014, Quora, ‘How does shooting himself in the cheek helps the narrator get rid of Tyler Durden’, viewed 25 March, 2015, <http://www.quora.com/Fight-Club-1999-movie/How-does-shooting-himself-in-the-cheek-helps-the-narrator-get-rid-of-Tyler-Durden>.!!Johans, J 2015, Film Intuition, ’Where is my mind?’, viewed 28 March 2015, <http://www.filmintuition.com/unreliable_narrator.html#.VRat_0vHPLR>.!!Loman, M 2010, Nonstopkarate, ‘Elements of Action’, viewed 30 March, 2015, <http://nonstopkarate.com/2010/08/13/elements-of-action/>.!!Lindsay, S 2003, Senses of Cinema, ’David Fincher’, viewed 28 March 2015, <http://sensesofcinema.com/2003/great-directors/fincher/>.!!Norman-Golding, C 2013, ASFilmStudies, ‘Codes and conventions of the drama genre and how they fit into my imagined film’, viewed 29 March, 2015, <http://chantellefm1.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/codes-and-conventions-of-drama-genre.html>.!!O’Neil, O, 2014, ’20 Things You Didn’t Know About the Film’, Telegraph, viewed 17 March, 2015, <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/11130111/Fight-Club-20-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-film.html>.!!TvTropes, 2011,’Fridge: Fight Club’, TvTropes, 17 March, 2015, <http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fridge/FightClub>.!!Rodreguez, G 2015, Life123, ‘Elements of the Action Film Genre’, viewed 30 March, 2015, <http://www.life123.com/arts/cinema/action-movies/action-film-genre.shtml>.!!Russell, L 2000, Culture Court, ‘Fight Club’, viewed 28 March 2015, <http://www.culturecourt.com/F/Hollywood/FightClub.htm>.!!Shmoop, 2015, Shmoop, ‘Fight Club’, viewed 28 March 2015, <http://www.shmoop.com/fight-club/genre.html>.!Sicoe, V 2012, Veronica Sicoe, ‘Creeping up on Psychological Thrillers’, viewed 29 March, 2015, <http://www.veronicasicoe.com/blog/2012/10/creeping-up-on-psychological-thrillers/>.!!The Script Lab 2015, The Script Lab, ‘Action’, viewed 29 March, 2015, <http://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/action>.!!The Script Lab 2015, The Script Lab, ‘Drama’, viewed 29 March, 2015, <http://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/drama>.!!The Script Lab 2015, The Script Lab, ‘Thriller’, viewed 29 March, 2015, <http://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/thriller>.!!Williams, C 2009, Clyde Williams, ‘Genre Films’, viewed 29 March, 2015, <http://www.clydewilliams.com/page5/page22/page22.html>.!!!

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