David Fincher - (one of THE greatest directors of all time)
About David Fincher -
David Fincher was born on the 28th August 1962 in Denver, Colorado, United States.
When he was 18 years old he went to work for John Korty at Korty Films in Mill Valley. He then went on to work at Industrial Light and Magic in1981. Fincher left ILM in 1983 to direct TV commercials and music videos after signing with N. Lee Lacy in Hollywood.
With this, he went on to found Propaganda in 1987 with other directors: Dominic Sena, Greg Gold, Nigel Dick.
Fincher has directed TV commercials for big money companies including: Nike, Coca-Cola and Budweiser
He has been director of some music videos for the likes of Madonna, The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Aerosmith and George Michael.
Fincher’s debut film was Alien 3, and despite getting low review marks (42% from rotten tomatoes, 6.4/10 from IMDb) it is still one of his most recognised films.
Awards -
Due to his outstanding work and commitment to film, Fincher’s success story is one of a large quantity.
Fincher's Awards include:
Golden Globe Award for Best Director - Motion Picture 2011 · The Social Network
Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Director 2011 · The Social Network
BAFTA Award for Best Direction 2011 · The Social Network
César Award for Best Foreign Film 2011 · The Social Network
Grammy Award for Best Music Video 2014, 1995 · Suit & Tie, Love Is Strong
Prime-time Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series 2013 · House of Cards
Satellite Award for Best Director 2010 · The Social Network
MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction 2013 · Suit & Tie
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director 2011 · The Social Network
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director 2010 · The Social Network
National Board of Review Award for Best Film 2010 · The Social Network
National Board of Review Award for Best Director 2010, 2008 · The Social Network
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
London Film Critics' Circle Award for Director of the Year 2008 - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director, 2008 · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Commercials 2004
Peabody Award 2014 · House of Cards
Particular things that Fincher tends to feature in videos and film -
His films often have low-key lighting with green or blue tinted colour temperature.
Fincher’s production usually consist of many wide shots with low angles and stationary shots with an unfocused background; character walking into focus.
Strangely, there is often a shot in most films of the inside of a characters refrigerator.
David is known to have perfectionist tendencies, meaning he often shoots scenes dozens or even hundreds of times to get it to be exactly what he wants.
In Fincher's older music videos there was a trend of black and white videos that focus mainly on the artist using mostly middle and close up shots.
Music videos by David Fincher
During Fincher's time at Propaganda Films Studio, he made multiple music videos alongside one of the greatest pop artists of all time, Madonna. His most famous music video with her is Vogue, with 108 million views on YouTube. David has also made videos for other influential artists like Michael Jackson (Who is it) and Aerosmith (Janie's got a gun).
The music video Vogue is shot entirely in black and white. This connotes that it is very easy to understand, and perhaps conveying that it is easy for anyone to be vogue. Furthermore, in could be a way of referring to the idea that is is easy to stand out in a black and white environment even if you are doing the same thing. This may have been Madonna portraying her prestigious image as a pop artist in the sense that you notice her in a crowd of people of which are dressed very similarly and being seen through the same lens. As a key figure she is noticed more than the other men or women. The video is very sexualising, for both men and women. It certainly picks up on the idea that everyone has to look good for the cameras. Voguing is a style of dance that was founded in the 1980's in Harlem, New York. It is a gender fluid term often used to describe individuals with a dynamic mix of boy and girl. Madonna made this dancing style mainstream in one video, with other music artists like Beyonce, Rihanna, Ariana Grande adopting this style of dance within their own content. Vogueing has become a large part of a LGBT community and in some ways is now a symbol to them.
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