Research: Fight Club

"You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world" - Tyler Durden

To save writing another whole plot summary, you can just read it here;

Fight Club Plot Synopsis

And, here's the trailer;



Things I noticed:

- The trailer begins with the usual stuff - The distribution company, certificate rating, etc;

- Introduces what else the director has done/been involved in;

- Plus, the actors name appear in the same consistent way;

- The narrator acts as the voiceover, explaining the plot line. For example, "I couldn't sleep", which is relevant to the shots on screen;

- Characters use the name of the film in dialogue, "... We just gave it a name... Fight Club."

- Plus, the film name appears in a quirky and unusual way at the end of the trailer - embossed in the soap;

- There's inter-textual references/realism;

- Use of humour: The club members picking fights with strangers, for example, and it being called 'homework";

 

 

- Shots of action or big events in the plotline. For example, the first 'Fight Club' in the carpark, or the building exploding. This gets the audiences interest;

 

-Use of unusual CGI effects. This surrealism catches attention;

- Shots on screen relevant to the dialogue/narration. This helps get an idea of the plot. An example of this is when the narrator/main character meets another man who is obviously a member of Fight Club, but Brad Pitt's character's dialogue is "First rule of Fight Club, you do not talk about Fight Club". The two look at each other knowingly, but do not talk;

 

- Also, the music used reflects the mood of the shots. The tempo of the music is faster during shots of suspense or action, like fighting, whilst it is becomes slower during surral or emotional moments.

- The music fades out at the end of the trailer.

- There is no outside 'Voice-of-God' narration. It all comes from the main character, or actual dialogue.

- The trailer ends on this screen (see below), which shows all the actors and crews names together, as well as a release date and the website address, etc;

Ideas:

After watching Requiem for a Dream, I really wanted to try my hand at quick transitions and maybe a montage of some sort. I especially like the breakfast scene with Sara in the film, so I thought that maybe I'd quickly try recreate something similar.
I touched a little on this in my mind map, although it's not all that clear;

So, here it is;

That's me doing the voice-over too, ha.

I also got some feedback on YouTube (thanks, Ron):

"Good start there, I can see how it would be on the start of a trailer, but not sure where the story is going."

He's right. I can't really see where the story is going at this stage, but I'm glad I developed the idea. Now it's not rattling around in my head, and I know how much effort it can be to sync the image with a voice-over, and sound effects, which I had to record separately on my video camera.

So, back to the drawing board. I think I want to stay away from drugs and addiction, as making them convincing is pretty difficult. There's nothing as cringey as a group of kids pretending to be high.

Research: Requiem for a Dream Trailer

- The trailer is only 1.34ish minutes long (teaser trailer length), but features at least 12 seconds relating to the production and distribution company.

- The style of the trailer is quite unconventional and very similar to the editing of the film. The fast montages and cuts are sometimes called "hip-hop montages", usually a rapid series of simple actions accompanied by related sounds effects. You'll see this in the trailer almost all the way through, like when the money levels rise in the box, or the syringe being plunged, for example. I really really like this, and might adopt something similar. I love the energy and chaos it implies.

- Aronofsky also uses split screen shots to show the different perspectives of the characters. This creates quite an objective narration. However, he also uses a lot of extreme close ups, which help us to identify to a greater degree with each individual character. 

- The soundtrack of the film was composed by Clint Mansell and performed by Kronos Quartet, which you can hear at the start of the trailer. This was played on instruments usually noted for their warmth, like cellos, but instead they are played to sound cold and eerie. This reflects the nature of the film - dreams are supposed to be warm, possibly happy, things, but Requiem for a Dream portrays them in quite a different and unsettling light.
This trailer mostly features another song from the film however, which is maybe more suited to the fast pace. The classical music features of the film's full length trailer. You can listen to it here;

Requiem for a Dream theme

And, if you like really epic remixes, here's the recording by a full orchestra that was done for the second Lord of the Rings film, although it was never used;

Requiem for a Tower

Research: Requiem for a Dream

I love love love this film. It's an adaptation of the book originally by Hubert Selby, Jr and was released in 2000. It was directed by Darren Aronofsky, and starred Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, and Marlon Wayans.

The film depicts the different kinds of addictions, suffered by the main characters. The film charts three seasons in the lives of Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn), her son Harry (Jared Leto), Harry’s girlfriend Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly), and Harry’s friend Tyrone C. Love (Marlon Wayans). Each character is ultimately destroyed by addiction and self-delusion - reflected in the mise-en-scene and camera work of the film, and obviously its name.

'Requiem' - A mass for the deceased. A deceased dream. In the book, Selby criticises the American Dream as unattainable, and each character is said to represent a part of it. For example, Tyrone wants money. The name comes from how each character substitutes their own dreams with addiction, and how they ultimately destory themselves.

Here's most of the films info, like the producers and distribution company, which I took from Wikipedia;