Fight Club opens with the camera drawing back at nearly breakneck speed through several layers of oddly textured materials that later on reveal the chaotic wild setting accompanied by Dust Brothers’ pulse-techno soundtrack. In the end, it turns out that the microscopic voyage had been occurring inside the main character’s brain, which places emphasiz on the movie’s main theme. The point-of-view image leaves his body through a pore on his face (sweat begins to drip from it as the camera pulls away from the skin), then pulls back over more varied terrains to finally expose a blurry human form. As the image sharpens, it becomes apparent that the person is helpless against the movie’s fictitious villain (who is armed with a gun). Then the voiceover begins: “People are always asking me if I know Tyler Durden.”
Ray tracing was used to generate a shallow depth of field and roaming focus, which helped to simulate an actual camera shooting inside the brain. Furthermore, the rack focus at the end represents what might be described as the movie’s own Big Bang, which represent Edward Norton’s character’s emergence into consciousness. Most significantly, this shot highlights the notion that everything that follows is from his character’s filtered perspective. The first statement at the end of the shot offers another crucial hint for understanding the rest of the movie.
This editing of the sequence is very repetitive. Some areas of the brain being shown change throughout the film but the overall cinematic concept remains the same. The camera would always be pulling back; and we treated the shot as though there were an actual physical camera moving through this tiny space. Numerous cuts are employed to maintain continuity, and every member of the cast, from those working behind the scenes to the others, enters the frame while holding the same blue flashlight and leaving the frame in the same way. The title appears with a flash of the text in a larger font that covers the screen. This adds to the dramatic side of the genre as the viewer is bombarded with the title. The text arrives on the screen differently to when the credits appear, which lets the audience know that this is the title of the film.
I personally really liked the sequence even if it might feel monotonous at times. It perfectly sets the overall tone and even gives hints to the final plot twists of the film. I also think the color choice as well as the music were chosen smartly because they play an essential role in creating the chaos around the protagonist.
