Panic+Room

What Do You Think? > > // This answer should be about 200-300 words. // > Thematically, Panic Room fits in with his other films. It is a thriller in which the main character and their supporting partner is thrown into a chaotic and unpredictable situation due to a crime. The movie itself is mostly centered on the progression of a crime, as are many of Fincher’s other movies. Thus as the movie progresses, we as the audience are able to observe how the extremes are affecting the duo (in this case mother and daughter). In doing so, character aspects such as morality are put to the extreme as the characters themselves are put to the extreme. This leads to a highly unpredictable plot. Stylistically the film fits well with the rest of Fincher’s films. The green color grading creates a sickly feeling to the film. The cinematography’s numerous close ups also creates a semi claustrophobic feel (after all the main characters are unwillingly trapped in a steel box) to the film that is consistent with his other films. There is also an abundance of camera tilts and pans to add to the claustrophobic feel of the cinematography. This helps to avoid shots that include more of the background (emphasis on the character development over the film).
 * 1) 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?

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.

The Game -Slow dolly Shot of Nicholas entering the hotel room -This is effective as the shot forces us to look at Nicholas as he looks increasingly shocked at what is before him. The audience wants to look at what Nicholas is seeing, but can only see how Nicholas reacts, building up tension. We are only teased with snippets Nicholas sees. When this scene is combined with the simple soundtrack, the scene becomes incredibly tense.

-The Use of Blacklight In this scene Nicholas enters his house bathed in backlight, vandalized. This scene’s use of backlight is particularly effective not only because its visually exciting, but more importantly, it’s symbolic. Nicholas’ world has been turned upside down, what he knows is real might not be real anymore. Thus it should be fitting that his home, a place of safety, has been revealed to have a sinister underside (the backlight reveals the graffiti).

Se7en -Tendency to use heavy low key lighting -Rooms are often lit with imbalanced light sources so some spots are in near complete darkness. Characters often go from black silhouettes to being lit with low key lights as they move through a scene. This kind of lighting makes scenes incredibly mysterious, as the darkness hides all sorts of visual details. It becomes visual metaphor, as the visually darkest places/moments in the film are also metaphorically the darkest. This kind of thematic depth from lighting is what makes this choice effective.

-Faded Color Grading -The coloring in this movie is incredibly unsaturated; all colors in the film feel faded and almost blend into each other.. Like classic noire films, these bleak colors serve to give the film a bleak and gritty feeling, a common staple of the noire genre. Crime is not a good thing.

Fight Club -This movie has several moments that seem to “screw” with the audience, (Fincher’s words exactly) one of the most glaring examples being the single splices of Tyler Durden in the film. This not a mistake, rather it is the director’s way of showing that these points in which Tyler appears are just physical manifestations of his insomnia induced craziness. This kind of physical manifestation is much more effective than a more traditional way of showing Tyler’s emergence as it mimics the real life “hallucinations” one would get from no sleep.

-Fight Club also utilizes set design to show the different realities Norton’s character faces during the film. Set design separates the clean, but sterile environment Norton lives in without Durden. This safe zone of conformity and routine makes it clear Norton’s life exudes no excitement. However, in the world with Tyler Durden, rooms are broken down, wet and grimy, distinguishing it from Norton’s other life. From set design alone, the audience is able to get a description of what both worlds feel like. We as an audience can tell from the differences just what kind of change Norton is going through psychologically.

Alien 3 -POV Dolly shots from the alien’s perspective make the alien seem much more menacing. None of the characters in the film are shot with a dolly cam, if anything, they’re shot only with the shaky cam effect during the “battle scenes”. This creates a sharp contrast between the methodical and exacting alien, with the chaotic and desperate nature of the humans. We can get a feel that the Alien will get its prey, and that the prey will face death.

-The tendency to use overhead lighting creates a harsh lighting effect on the film fitting for a prison world. There are often deep shadows on a character’s face in the eye sockets or on one side of the face. Unlike the pleasant world of Avatar, this Mars-like planet is harsh, it should only make sense that the lighting make the film’s characters look battle hardened as well.

Panic Room Slow Motion and Minimalist Sound Design The Mad Dash to the Phone: In this scene, Meg Altman takes advantage of a brief window of opportunity to grab her phone. **During this scene, everything occurs in iconic slow motion while a minimalist but tense background music plays.** (Fincher has variants of these tense and quiet scenes often in his movies) This scene is iconic as this intense scene mimics the intensity of a situation in real life. In a dangerous situation, one would be incredibly aware of any sound they make as they try to avoid danger. There is a very distinct calm in the sound. The music in this scene seems to enhance that calm uneasiness by playing a long continuous series of notes that passively blend in with each other. When the enemies notice what she is doing in this scene and she tries to escape, but she can only “run” in slow motion. This creates huge tension as we want her to run away as fast as possibly, but she can’t.

Parallel symbolism -At the start of the film Meg Altman looks at her reflection in a mirror. At about the midpoint of the film, an angry robber starts bashing the mirror in frustration. When he looks at the damage, the shot (angle) of him looking at his now fractured reflection is exactly the same as Meg Altman’s earlier one. This sneaky tidbit adds much more depth as to the nature of these two people. The viewer is able to discern the stark contrast of Meg Altman and the robber’s personality, or how emotionally damaged they are. Although Meg looks at herself with a stern but cautious look, the robber looks at his angry reflection that is concurrently split on many shards of glass. This seems to be a visual metaphor, as the shot is saying that the robber is deeply emotionally shattered on the inside.

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