The+Social+Network+(2010)

1. For this assignment, think about some of the **thematic**, and **stylistic** motifs that you've seen in the four previous films by the director that you've watched. What do you notice in this film that fits in with this director's body of work?

//This answer should be about 200-300 words.//

Throughout all of David Fincher’s films, there always seemed to be a very dark mood and theme. This was not only portrayed through the very grim color correcting but also through the story itself. Many of his movies did not seem to conclude but instead left his audience wondering. As seen with his fiction and non-fiction works, this is very true. In Seven, Fincher ends the movie with Mills loosing to John Doe and by loosing, I mean Mills loosing his wife and possibly his job. I say “possibly” because as I mentioned before, Fincher doesn’t seem to wrap up his movies but leaves a lot to imagination, which in the case of Se7en was what was going to happen to Mills? With Zodiac, Fincher definitely lived up to his “unfinished conclusion” style. The movie ends with us never knowing who the Zodiac is which is probably why Fincher picked up the directing deal of this movie in the first place. Another notable thing Fincher does is the use of CGI in his movies. Fincher, in my opinion, strives for perfection. In the Social Network, the Winklevoss twins’ faces were actually CGI implemented with the real Winkevoss twins’ faces so as to add to that realism. Also with Fight Club, Fincher uses CGI during the shot where The Narrator shoots himself. He manages to use CGI in a way that didn’t make the film seem somewhat tacky in the overuse of CGI. He used it in proportion where he felt it would have the biggest effect.

2. What are some of the most iconic director's choices that you've seen in any of the five films you've watched? What directors choices stood out the most to you? These examples don't necessarily need to be repeated in multiple films, but have helped define the director's image. For example, Kubrick might be known for the iconic scene of Danny riding his bike in one continuous steady-cam shot, or the most famous match cut of all time in//2001: A Space Odyssey// (which we will talk about later). Both of these examples are inherently 'Kubrick' moments, even though they don't have 'echoes' in his other films.

//Please list 2-3 examples for each film. This can be a bulleted list but should incorporate complete sentences and explanations of what the choices were and why they were so effective. Screenshots would be appropriate but not required.// __Fight Club__ - Tyler Durden laying down the rules of Fight Club during the very first meeting. Script wise, this was very important. This was the point where Fight Club started to become official as opposed to just Tyler and the Narrator and besides, the speech itself was so badass. - Another iconic scene was the very last shot of the movie. The Narrator (with a hole in his head) and Marla are holding hands as they witness the destruction of NYC with happy music playing in the background. I thought the contradictory images and sounds being portrayed really helped show that even though the Narrator seemed to have failed to stop the bomb, he managed to kill Tyler which all by it’s own, was a huge victory for The Narrator.

__Se7en__ - Besides the very last scene, I thought the best expression of Fincher’s style was every single one of the murders. Honestly, I found them very disgusting the way these people were killed and tortured which really, really helps the dark mood Fincher tries to express in his movies. A specific example would be Jon Doe’s murder victim who he fed the very bare minimum of food needed to survive resulting in a body that pretty much deteriorated…but was still alive. - “WHATS IN THE BOX!?” This scene definitely summed up Fincher. It was a horrible conclusion for Mills because his wife’s head had just been delivered to them in a box and he killed Jon Doe which was what Doe wanted rendering Mills to be the “smaller man” and the looser having given into Wrath. All very dark and everything seems to go from worst to horrible.

__The Curious Case of Benjamin Button__ - The first choice I made wasn’t a specific scene but it was throughout the whole movie. Fincher used CGI, which he is so famous for using, (Curious Case won an Oscar for best visual effects) on Benjamin’s face. He put Brad Pitt’s face, all at different ages, on different sized bodies and not a single flaw could be made out. This distinctive use of CGI seems to keep popping up with Fincher’s movies as also seen with The Social Network. - The scene that I chose expressed Fincher’s need to have something dark happen to someone in his films. I chose the scene where he and his crew encounter a German submarine and engage in a fight. We have spent literally an hour getting to know this great captain who shows Benjamin many qualities of life but Fincher decides to kill him off…woooo.

__Zodiac__ - The scene I chose for the Zodiac was when Graysmith went to Vaughn’s house. With previous films, Fincher never really implemented the scary factor into his films as much as he did with this scene in the Zodiac. In Vaughn’s house, lighting, sound, and cinematography all led to the extremely scary scene that I was tempted to skip through. What starts off as an innocent interview turns for the worst when Graysmith realizes Vaughn might be the Zodiac and Fincher effectively shows this realization of how screwed Graysmith is through film (sound, cinematography, lighting). - The last scene was the one I chose as a representation of Fincher’s stylistic choice. We see this factor again of an unfinished conclusion however Fincher doesn’t just end it in the 1970s, he fasts forward 30 years to an interview with one of the Zodiac’s survivors and he identifies Arthur as the Zodiac. It is up to us if we will trust the judgment of this man who last saw the Zodiac 30 years ago and hence, this was another one of Fincher’s “decide for yourselves” conclusion.

__The Social Network__ - Fincher once again uses his well-known CGI effects in The Social Network. He does something similar to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in which he implements the faces of the Winkevoss twins onto the actors’ faces. This show how Fincher strives for perfection, no matter how small the detail may seem to us, Fincher is willing to spend countless of hours making it happen. - Throughout this entire film, Fincher uses parallel editing in which there is some sort of legal hearing happening with Zukerberg against his friend which gives us this very dark foreshadowing as whats about to happen because in the beginning, Zuckerberg and his friend is extremely close but then in one shot where they’re being best friends, the next shot is of them at the legal hearing, and then back to them being friends.