How to get the Fincher look for a Basement scene?

Started by InTylerWeTrust, September 09, 2012, 07:19:14 PM

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InTylerWeTrust

Basically, I'm prepping my short. I'm shooting a Basement scene and I want it to look as gritty and dark as the one in FIGHT CLUB.

I love that dirty, dark greenish look it has. I'm shooting this myself. I've been DP for other people before, but it's not really my forte and I've not shot anything like this before.








How could I accomplish that look? 



Obviously picking the right location and color correcting has a lot to do with it, but I really need some help on HOW TO light it properly.

Thanks in advance, guys.
Fuck this place..... I got a script to write.

MacGuffin

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight_Club#section_3

Cinematography

Fincher used the Super 35 format to film Fight Club since it gave him maximum flexibility in composing shots. He hired Jeff Cronenweth as cinematographer; Cronenweth's father Jordan Cronenweth was the cinematographer who worked for Fincher on the 1992 film Alien 3 but left midway through its production due to Parkinson's disease. Fincher explored visual styles in his previous films Seven and The Game, and he and Cronenweth drew elements from these styles for Fight Club.[36]

They applied a lurid style, choosing to make people "sort of shiny".[10] The appearance of the narrator's scenes without Tyler Durden were bland and realistic. The scenes with Tyler were described by Fincher as "more hyper-real in a torn-down, deconstructed senseā€”a visual metaphor of what [the narrator is] heading into". The filmmakers used heavily desaturated colors in the costuming, makeup, and art direction.[36] Helena Bonham Carter wore opalescent makeup to portray her romantic nihilistic character with a "smack-fiend patina". Fincher and Cronenweth drew influences from the 1973 film American Graffiti, which applied a mundane look to nighttime exteriors while simultaneously including a variety of colors.[10]

The crew took advantage of both natural and practical light at filming locations. The director sought various approaches to the lighting setups, for example choosing several urban locations for the city lights' effects on the shots' backgrounds. He and the crew also embraced fluorescent lighting at other practical locations to maintain an element of reality and to light the prostheses depicting the characters' injuries.[36] On the other hand, Fincher also ensured that scenes were not so strongly lit so the characters' eyes were less visible, citing cinematographer Gordon Willis's technique as the influence.[7]

Fight Club was filmed mostly at night and Fincher purposely filmed the daytime shots in shadowed locations. The crew equipped the bar's basement with inexpensive work lamps to create a background glow. Fincher avoided stylish camerawork when filming early fight scenes in the basement and instead placed the camera in a fixed position. In later fight scenes, Fincher moved the camera from the viewpoint of a distant observer to that of the fighter.[36]

The scenes with Tyler Durden were staged to conceal that the character was a mental projection of the nameless narrator. The character was not filmed in two shots with a group of people, nor was he shown in any over the shoulder shots in scenes where Tyler gives the narrator specific ideas to manipulate him. In scenes before the narrator meets Tyler, the filmmakers inserted Tyler's presence in single frames for subliminal effect.[10] Tyler appears in the background and out of focus, like a "little devil on the shoulder".[7] Fincher explained the subliminal frames: "Our hero is creating Tyler Durden in his own mind, so at this point he exists only on the periphery of the narrator's consciousness."[38]

While Cronenweth generally rated and exposed the Kodak film stock normally on Fight Club, several other techniques were applied to change its appearance. Flashing was implemented on much of the exterior night photography, the contrast was stretched to be purposely ugly, the print was adjusted to be underexposed, Technicolor's ENR silver retention was used on a select number of prints to increase the density of the film's blacks, and high-contrast print stocks were chosen to create a "stepped-on" look on the print with a dirty patina.[10]
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

InTylerWeTrust

+1.  Thanks, Mac.   

I'd still like some Digital/Low Budget tips on this though.

Maybe Pete can help me out?
Fuck this place..... I got a script to write.

diggler

I don't know how more low budget you can get than inexpensive work lamps.
I'm not racist, I'm just slutty

pete

"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton


InTylerWeTrust

Quote from: ddiggler on September 09, 2012, 08:47:15 PM
I don't know how more low budget you can get than inexpensive work lamps.


I'mma go out on a limb here and say you need more than some cheap lamps to create that atmosphere..... But I don't know, I'm no expert.


On another note, Mean streets was on TV earlier on today and now I'm thinking it would look great if the basement has some really harsh Red Lighting.

But I'm a fucking rookie and don't even know how to do that. Do I buy special lights? Red lightbulbs? Can you put some Red see through paper over a normal light bulb and achieve the look that way?  I have no idea.

Fuck this place..... I got a script to write.

pete

both shots you gave me were pretty evenly lit - soft fills with some nice and harsh sidelights/ backlights. I'm not a cinematographer, though I would suggest that if it's the palette you're looking for, then play with gelling your lights but more importantly, play with the dual tone look in post. Get familiar with a color correction program, and play with the color curves. The top still you gave me he's got yellowish highlight and greenish shadows, the bottom one he's got really clean, blue, blown out highlights outlining brad pitt, while the dark parts are blue greenish as well. practice side-lighting, back lighting, and top lighting people as well.
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

HeywoodRFloyd

If you like that look, be sure to check out:
The Chaser (2008)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190539/

and also

I Saw the Devil (2010)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1588170/

There are some great scenes with that gritty look. Most notably a bathroom scene in The Chaser.

But also what might help is if you have the Fight Club Blu-ray the 4th commentary track has DP Jeff Cronenweth along with others on it, he might provide some insight.

Also the Blu-ray for Se7en has a commentary track with DP Darius Khondji amongst other special features that might provide insight.

lorenscope

I also want to add the cold looking basement from his The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo movie. I'm taking notes of the palette as a reference.