Case Study - David Fincher

David Fincher is an American filmmaker who is best known is well known for his dark thriller movies such as Seven, The Game, Zodiac, Panic Room and Fight Club. He received an academy award nomination for best director for his film in 2008. The four films I have chosen to compare are Seven, The game, Fight Club and Panic Room.  After viewing the opening sequences of several separate films I decided upon these four, as they were the most appealing to me as a viewer.

Seven

The opening of seven creates an automatic sense of tension for the viewer and this is due to the use of very dark setting with deep hollow, creepy music, which heightens the levels of tension. The sub-genre of this film is horror-thriller, which can be easily seen, as it is set in a dark environment and the events that occur in the opening are the type of events that happen in a horror thriller. There is also a sense of mystery as the only thing we see in the opening is the characters hand, and so the audience becomes intrigued to find out whom they belong to.

The Game

The game is fairly different from ‘Seven’ as it is not set in a dark environment and the atmosphere isn’t as eerie and there is no evident tension in the music to start with, however, as the opening progresses the tension increases in the music and so it becomes quite mysterious, as a thriller should.  It also seems as if the rest of the film would make the viewer jump and but it doesn't look as scary and creepy as seven and this is because 'The Game' is more of an action thriller as many of the scenes involve props such as guns and cars.

Fight Club

Fight Club is another Action Thriller film by David Fincher. This makes it completely different to the horror thrillers he has directed especially one like ‘Seven’. We can tell it is an action thriller from the opening as the tempo of the music is fairly upbeat which means that the audience can denote that the film is going to be fast paced and full of action.

Panic Room

Panic Room also fits into the action thriller sub genre.  The viewer can see this from the opening as it is set in the city with many bright lights, which suggest that it is an action movie as this tends to be the main setting for most action films and horror thrillers would be set in a dark and tensed environment. The music is a little tensed, it keeps on building up and the sound of the music suggests that something bad will happen.

 

Comparison

After viewing each opening I have found that they are all fairly similar in terms of sub-genre. Panic Room, Fight Club and The Game are all action thrillers and this is evident through the music as it creates the idea that something bad is going to happen as you watch the film, whereas Seven is quite different to theses three as it is a horror thriller and do the opening is more mysterious and the settings used are eerie and dark.

The openings of Panic Room, Fight Club and The Game come across as quite interesting and intriguing for the viewer, it gives the audience an adrenalin rush as well as being quite nerve wracking. With Seven the opening makes the tension of the audience rise as they start expecting something gruesome to occur, and are brace themselves.