Auteurship: David Fincher

The Auteur theory is that a director's film reflects the director's personal creative vision. I am going to use David Fincher as an example, because he usually has similar aspects throughout all of his films such as bleakness of a setting; several single frames that flash, low-key lighting and characters that are in the shadows so you can’t see their faces. All of these styles can be found in Fight Club (1999).

In most of Fincher’s films the settings seem to have a bleak and uninteresting look to them. In Fight Club this is shown in places like the office of where Jack works, the cancer support group hall, Jack’s apartment. All of these places are just different shades of the same colour (mainly green, grey or dark orange). This is to convey a sense of misery and darkness within the storyline, which the characters are just drifting through their lives. Something that Fincher portrays beautifully in Fight Club. This is a good example of David Fincher’s position as an Auteur because this can be seen in many other of his films such as Se7en: The colours are mainly grey and the police office seems bleak and dull like Fight Club. The same trademark can also be seen in Zodiac where the office that Robert and Paul work at is grey and bleak. This shows a directorial trademark used by David Fincher in most of his films. Clearly supporting the statement that Fight Club is a David Fincher film.

Another technique used in Fight Club that supports the statement above is the use of silhouettes. In Fight Club whenever the audience sees Tyler from Jack’s point of view there’s a shadow over his face, making it impossible for the audience to see his face, but whenever it’s not from Jack’s view then there is no silhouette. Fincher does this is to hint at the true relationship between the two characters. Fincher also uses this technique in Se7en in the shot where the audience sees the silhouette of John Doe in a puddle, this helps to raise the fear levels for the audience because the shot makes the killer more sinister and evil, almost not human. Brilliant example of how Fight Club is a true Fincher film since it has the silhouette technique that he used in Se7en.

One of the most iconic scenes in Fight Club is the chemical burn scene. In this scene Tyler is burning Jack’s hand with Lye in order to make him see things the way he does. The audience sees single frame shots of what Jack is thinking. The audience shots of trees, dictionary definitions and the illustration of what the definitions are. Fincher uses these fast shots help to represent the pain that Jack is in and it’s very successful in doing so. Fincher also uses this in Se7en to show that Mills wife is truly dead and reemphasizes her death on use and the impact that it has on the character of Mills. This is another good example of similarities between Fight Club and Se7en and shows that Fight Club is a standard Fincher film.

Low-key lighting is another of one of Fincher’s tricks that he uses in his films. In Fight Club he uses the green colour temperature and couples it with the low-key lighting in order to convey the dark and depressing mood of the story. For instance, this is used at the testicular cancer self-help session scene where Marla walks in. This conveys the depression that Marla brings to Jack. Fincher also uses this technique in Se7en to convey the dark tone of the film, however he uses this technique differently in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button mainly because it doesn’t have the dark storyline that Fight Club does however Fincher still uses it to convey the light heartedness of the story. This is a brilliant example of Fincher’s status as an auteur and shows how Fight Club is undeniably a Fincher film.

Fincher is well-known for using fluid tracking cameras in his films. Fight Club has this technique in the very first scene where Jack is narrating Tyler’s plan to blow up credit card buildings. The camera goes all the way down from the top floor where Jack and Tyler are to the van in the car park and then to other bombs set to blow throughout the city. This is a great way of conveying to the audience Tyler’s plan. Another scene in Fight Club is the bin in Jack’s workplace, just to show that the rubbish can go anywhere. Helps to convey the message of a dysfunctional system that the characters live in. This is a great way of showing that Fight Club is a Fincher film since it has directorial vision entwined with it.

Most of Fincher’s films often end with unusual credits. In Fight Club the credits are shown in a slideshow manner. The same technique is used in Zodiac and Benjamin Button. Also in Se7en the credits scroll downwards, different from the orthodox upwards scroll that most movies use for credits. Although this doesn’t really show any conventional meaning it’s still a good example of how David Fincher is an auteur and how Fight Club is a great example of how he is an auteur.

Of course another of David Fincher’s auteur style of directing is the frequent use of the actor Brad Pitt, who has starred in three Fincher films: Fight Club, Se7en and the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This is mainly because he is a fan of Brad Pitt and thinks he’s a great actor. This can parallel with other auteurs like Tim Burton who frequently casts Johnny Depp in his films because he enjoys the way Johnny Depp acts and what he brings to his roles. This is what truly cements Fight Club as a David Fincher film because it shows his taste in actors.

All of Fincher’s films mainly have a theme to do with life. Se7en is about damnation, Alien 3 is an AIDS metaphor, The Game is discovering the worth of life and Zodiac is about losing life to obsession. This is a good example of how Fight Club is a Fincher film because it’s theme on life is society wastes its life on nothing, and Fincher portrays it wonderfully with the character of Tyler and the acts of Fight Club and Project Mayhem. A perfect example of how Fincher is an auteur and that Fight Club is his masterpiece.