Month: February 2016
Reality vs. Illusion
Artefact Final Piece
Including Megan’s teeth and a contradicting graphic piece done by her. This piece contradicted some of our research and some previous concepts however a coffee cup is something personal and therefore unique, floating teeth in it would represent that whoever owns the cup is a member, but of what I cannot say, it’s against the rules…
This black and white piece is like it were a scan. It is a symbol of fightclub members, in a way an oxymoron: a subliminal advert spreading like a tumor. 
Here are some pictures of our final piece.
Artefact Concept Development 4
Megan took pictures of me and Jack to imitate the style of photography in the graphic art pieces and movie posters of fightclub. This was done with an attempt of having a white background to help with editing on photoshop, however i’m actually quite pleased with the pictures themselves, however I found them too hard to work with on photoshop.
some more graphic work from the team (the two small ones I did, and Jack did the awesome one with the text)
Artefact Concept Development 3
After having read the novel as well as the movie I noticed the differences as well as the contrasts, however despite this I noticed in particular the constant repetition. The building with the smiley face, the computer’s exploding, the buildings at the end blowing up. A constant repetition and spread of destruction like “Marla”, the name of the Narrator/jack’s tumor if he had one.
“everything is a copy of a copy of a copy”
I looked up the definition of tumor/cancer and in various websites and dictionaries it varried slightly. From my understanding I see it as a spread of destructiveness, which is what Project Mayhem is. It was hard for the Narrator once he realised that Tyler took it to a whole other level, that it was getting out of hand.
For the project: Artefact we looked very much at symbolism as well as themes. It was important to understanding the message that the Author and the Director were trying to portray.
Artifact Concept Development 2
When Chliodna came back she did some awesome sketches which I incoorporated with the logo “my name is Bob” (the image on the far right). I tried to include the university building as it’s being destroyed I found it useful in photographing her work on the cup. The idea behind this was to make it seem as if it was floating giving an unrealistic feel to it despite the reality of the architectural destruction in the background.
Artifact Concept Development
I found particularly interesting the constant repetition of the Starbucks coffee cup which I couldn’t find not much research on. Here are some pictures with all the scenes I could find which involved the cup.
Later we got our own Starbucks cups and I took various pictures with a white background to later play around with them on photoshop as I had a glimpse of the some graphic art on fightclub.
I later edited this image adding three rules on to the club. I remember seeing: free wifi, no smoking on the starbucks in town and had the idea of implementing it on the cup and adding a soap symbol for “fightclub”. It was challenging using photoshop, but i’m not too dissapointed with the final result.
This led to further research into logo’s and symbolism. I looked at the various history and change in the Starbucks logo. I noticed a close resemblance to a frame in the movie with Marla Singer blowing out smoke. I tried to incorporate a subliminal message into the cup just like the ones of Tyler Durden in the movie until we are introduced to him. Later Jack took it and made it much better. The final outcome is the image below.
Fightclub Research
“Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. It is often associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence. A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy.”
the main use of nihilism is mainly used by David Fincher in order to display an exaggerated hate for capitalism;,the people brainwashed by the system’s ideology and the companies that have extreme power. In fight club it is used as a motivator for the audience. Fincher displays how we are free of boundaries and morality we can choose to do whatever we like. Men in Fightclub feel emasculated as a result of late capitalism.
good example: chemical burn scene
Schematic
https://prezi.com/csxmry9nijsx/fight-club-movie-schematic/
Here are some pictures of Jack’s rough Schematic.
Explicit meaning/implicit meaning
“Explicit meaning is right there on the surface of things—it is the result of what we have been explicitly shown and told onscreen. When we recount a movie’s explicit meanings to someone else, the result can sometimes sound like plot summary.” (1)
“Implicit meaning, by contrast, is more like our traditional notion of meaning; when we attempt to state a movie’s implicit meanings, we are attempting to convey something less obvious, something arguable about it that conveys a ‘message’ ‘point.’ ” (1)
Explicit Meaning:
- Tyler and the narrator create a Fight Club to overcome the frustrations of their personal and professional lives.
- They then realise that Capitalism is the cause of their problems and decide to take a stand against this.
Implicit Meaning:
- There are many implicit meanings and themes within this film.
- Nihilism and the rejection of consumerism.
- Fight Club and Project Mayhem exist to reject the life we have been taught to believe is ideal.
(1)-http://www.wwnorton.com/college/film/movies4/ch/01/overview.aspx
Gianni Francesco De Giuseppe 