David Fincher
David Fincher is an Academy Award nominated director who specialises in the thriller genre. He has directed some well very well known films such as Alien 3, Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac, Panic Room and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Early in his career Fincher joined Propaganda Films and started off directing music videos and commercials. He directed music videos for well known artists such as Madonna, Aerosmith, Michael Jackson and The Rolling Stones.
He then went on to direct Alien 3, which at the time was the most expensive picture ever made by a first time film director. This film got an Oscar nomination for special effects but did not go down very well with critics.
Notable thrillers he has directed:
Seven - The next film Fincher directed was Seven, featuring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. It told the story of 2 detective trying to take down a serial killer who chooses his victims based on the Seven Deadly Sins. The film was well recieved by audiences and critics and grossed more than $100 million in the USA and over $300 million internationally.
Fight Club - Fight Club was the screen adaptation of a book by Charlie Palahniuk of the same name, about an insomniac office worker who opens up a fight club for men. It featured actors Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter and Seven's Brad Pitt. The film was one of the most publicised of the year but received mixed reviews and had early disappointment at the box office. As it was badly critiqued by several critics it alienated audiences, leading to it's box office failure in the U.S. However, as time went by audiences seemed to warm to the film and it got the #4 spot on the British magazine Total Film's 100 Greatest Movies of All Time, beaten by Jaws, Goodfellas and Vertigo.
Panic Room - Panic Room follows a single mother and her daughter as they hide away in a panic room in their new house from criminals who are trying to find a missing fortune. It featured actors Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whittaker and Fight Club's Jared Leto. Although the film grossed over $92 million at the U.S. box office, just like Seven and Fight Club it was not well received by critics. Fincher himself even stated that the film was more of a mainstream thriller, describing the film as "basically a date movie".
Fincher is currently directing the film The Social Network, based on the lives of the founders of Facebook.
David Fincher is an Academy Award nominated director who specialises in the thriller genre. He has directed some well very well known films such as Alien 3, Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac, Panic Room and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Early in his career Fincher joined Propaganda Films and started off directing music videos and commercials. He directed music videos for well known artists such as Madonna, Aerosmith, Michael Jackson and The Rolling Stones.
He then went on to direct Alien 3, which at the time was the most expensive picture ever made by a first time film director. This film got an Oscar nomination for special effects but did not go down very well with critics.
Notable thrillers he has directed:
Seven - The next film Fincher directed was Seven, featuring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. It told the story of 2 detective trying to take down a serial killer who chooses his victims based on the Seven Deadly Sins. The film was well recieved by audiences and critics and grossed more than $100 million in the USA and over $300 million internationally.
Fight Club - Fight Club was the screen adaptation of a book by Charlie Palahniuk of the same name, about an insomniac office worker who opens up a fight club for men. It featured actors Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter and Seven's Brad Pitt. The film was one of the most publicised of the year but received mixed reviews and had early disappointment at the box office. As it was badly critiqued by several critics it alienated audiences, leading to it's box office failure in the U.S. However, as time went by audiences seemed to warm to the film and it got the #4 spot on the British magazine Total Film's 100 Greatest Movies of All Time, beaten by Jaws, Goodfellas and Vertigo.
Panic Room - Panic Room follows a single mother and her daughter as they hide away in a panic room in their new house from criminals who are trying to find a missing fortune. It featured actors Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whittaker and Fight Club's Jared Leto. Although the film grossed over $92 million at the U.S. box office, just like Seven and Fight Club it was not well received by critics. Fincher himself even stated that the film was more of a mainstream thriller, describing the film as "basically a date movie".
Fincher is currently directing the film The Social Network, based on the lives of the founders of Facebook.
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Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Hitchcock was a British film maker and producer who developed many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. He moved to Hollywood after having a successful career in the United Kingdom in silent films. He directed over 50 feature films in his 6 decade long career. He is celebrated for his work in the thriller genre and remains one of the most popular and most recognised film makers today.
Notable thrillers he has directed:
Vertigo - Vertigo is a psychological thriller made in 1958. It follows a retired police detective who has acrophobia. He is hired as a private investigator to follow the wife of an acquaintance and uncover the mystery of her unusual behavior. It featured actors James Stewart, Kim Novak and Barbara Bel Geddes. The film received mixed reviews at the time of release but has since been celebrated and ranked as one of the greatest films ever made.
Psycho - Psycho is a suspense/horror/thriller film made in 1960. The film follows an encounter between a secretary, Marion Crane, who is in hiding at a motel after stealing money from her employer, and the motel's owner, Norman Bates, and what happened after their encounter. It featured actors Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. Initially the film received mixed reviews, but after incredible box office returns and a re-review that was extremely positive it led to 4 Academy Award nominations. It is now celebrated as one of Hitchcock's greatest films and is highly praised as a work of cinematic art by international critics.
The Birds - The Birds is a suspense film made in 1963. It is based on the 1952 novella The Birds by Daphne du Maurier. The film is set in a small town in the San Francisco Bay area which is suddenly the home of widespread and violent bird attacks over the course of a few days for unknown reasons. It featured actors Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor. It was nominated for an Academy Award in the area of Special Effects and Tippi Hedren received the Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - Actress, in 1964. The film ranked number one in the Top Ten Foreign Films selected by The Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards and The Association also awarded Hitchcock the Best Director Award for the film.
Near the end of his life, Hitchcock worked on a script for a spy thriller called The Short Night. However, despite some preliminary work, this was never filmed. This was mostly due to Hitchcock's failing health and his concerns over the health of his wife, Alma, who had suffered a stroke. The script was eventually put into a book written about his last years. He eventually died of kidney failure in California at the age 80. His wife and daughter both survived him.
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I would like to take some inspiration from the films David Fincher has made. I am interested in using elements of his thriller Seven in my own thriller. I would like to include the black-screened titles he uses in the opening sequence of Seven, but I would also like to set my film to a similar plot, dectectives going after a serial killer. I think this sort of plot would enable me to put many conventions in my opening sequence and an ongoing murder case would keep the suspense up and make my audience want to watch more.
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