i n f l u e n c e
"I don't want to tell you how to do your job, but somebody has to." - David Fincher
D A V I D F I N C H E R is not only the inspiration for many young directors, but he was the inspiration for the new student film, Exhale. With his dark, edgy style and specific techniques to create incredible drama, he was the perfect director to mirror.
Fincher has his own trademarks when it comes to film, and you can find them in almost of his work. Below are his traits that set his films apart from others...
D A V I D F I N C H E R is not only the inspiration for many young directors, but he was the inspiration for the new student film, Exhale. With his dark, edgy style and specific techniques to create incredible drama, he was the perfect director to mirror.
Fincher has his own trademarks when it comes to film, and you can find them in almost of his work. Below are his traits that set his films apart from others...
Fluid tracking camera shots
Silhouettes. He frequently has characters in the shadows where we can't make out their face (e.g. Kevin Spacey in Se7en and Brad Pitt in Fight Club)
Low-key lighting with green or blue tinted colour temperature
Wide shots
Downbeat endings
The end credits are often displayed as slide shows (e.g. Fight Club, Zodiac, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) or scrolling downward (Se7en) rather than the traditional upward scroll
Low angles
Backstories filled with flashbacks
References to the band 311 (e.g.) poster in Fight Club, police car radio call in Zodiac)
A static shot and an unfocused background with a character walking into focus
His films often centre on people with poor social skills and few friends (e.g. the Narrator in Fight Club, Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Amy Dunne in Gone Girl)
He frequently starts his films with creative title sequences that express the theme of the film
A shot looking inside a character's fridge
Almost all of his camera movements are static or highly controlled. He rarely uses a handheld camera. His films often include a single handheld scene, or in The Social Network and Gone Girl, exactly one handheld shot
Production design is usually either stark and modern, or dark and heavily decaying
Exhale includes all of the above trademarks. While it's certainly difficult to create a film that appears to have the same recognisable style as David Fincher's work, Exhale has all of the traits to manage this.
Below is a short documentary on Fincher's techniques and what he steers clear of. Summing up just what makes him such a unique and successful director.
Below is a short documentary on Fincher's techniques and what he steers clear of. Summing up just what makes him such a unique and successful director.