I'm a sucker for a good club scene in a film. Who isn't? It gives you the glitz and the glamour and the drama without actually being surrounded by a bunch of sweaty and intoxicated people. When I was a teenager I loved them because I always wanted to go clubbing but never had any way to. So of course I lived vicariously. Now, after having been to a good amount of different types of clubs and lounges and dives, analyzing a supreme club scene in a film is much easier. And a little more fun with some experience behind me. A club scene not only works as a superficial anecdote within the film's story line but can supply some of the most important moments in a film. For example, in The Social Network, Sean Parker gives Mark Zuckerberg the inspirational kick he needs ("I'm CEO, bitch!"). Or in Bend it Like Beckham, Jess walks away from a dance between Jules and Joe that prompts Joe to run after her, furthering their relationship within the film. Or a club scene can just be for pure vanity a la American Hustle and Black Swan.
So what makes a good club scene? A convincing and realistic sound is first. Clubs are loud and overstimulating. I want to be overstimulated while watching. I want to be fully immersed! I'm looking specifically for diegetic sound within a club scene; sound within the scene that the characters can hear and react to. Even better if the scene has that "in club echo" that puts your ears right in the moment. A great atmosphere/environment/setting also takes paramount. Lights! Glitter! A club set in a cave? Set in the middle of Paris? A dive somewhere in Scotland? Make it memorable. Also - heavy, heavy dancing. Get the energy moving. And, of course, a kick ass song or two.
So what makes a good club scene? A convincing and realistic sound is first. Clubs are loud and overstimulating. I want to be overstimulated while watching. I want to be fully immersed! I'm looking specifically for diegetic sound within a club scene; sound within the scene that the characters can hear and react to. Even better if the scene has that "in club echo" that puts your ears right in the moment. A great atmosphere/environment/setting also takes paramount. Lights! Glitter! A club set in a cave? Set in the middle of Paris? A dive somewhere in Scotland? Make it memorable. Also - heavy, heavy dancing. Get the energy moving. And, of course, a kick ass song or two.
Sound designer: Ren Klyce
Soundtrack: "Sound of Violence" by Dennis de Laat
One of the best clubs scenes (possibly ever?) is from The Social Network. What makes the scene memorable is the use of sound. Watch any other club scene with heavy dialogue and it sounds as if the music has been turned down and the characters are talking in a quiet room. Not here. Director David Fincher scrapped sound designer Ren Klyce's original take on the scene for a more authentic club sound. After watching Klyce's first edit with the music turned down Fincher responded with "...it doesn't feel realistic to me, it doesn't feel like I'm in a club; I just feel like I'm watching a movie". So instead of turning the music down as the actors start speaking, the volume stays the same and your brain is left to focus harder on the dialogue as it automatically lowers the music in the background. Through some sound distortion of Dennis de Laat's "Sound of Violence" and audio from the scene, the scene explodes with energy. The actors have to speak as if they're competing with nonexistent sound in the takes but it's well worth it in the end: a realistic and iconic club scene.
2. Black Swan, 2011, Darren Aronofsky
Sound designer: Brian Emrich
Soundtrack: "Don't Think" by The Chemical Brothers
In Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, the club scene serves as a physical manifestation of Nina (Natalie Portman) giving up control over herself and her life's work. Like The Social Network, the club scene furthers the story line and acts sort of like a jumping off point for Nina's hedonistic and uninhibited new look on life. It's also a bad ass use of strobe lighting and one of The Chemical Brothers' best songs. Using a club scene as a metaphor for the protagonist's inner demons is unconventional but I love it. Typically dance floors, clubs, electronic music, and drugs all bring to mind ideas of selfishness, ferality, loss of control and morals, and other synonyms of chaos. As Nina descends further into her role as the swan queen, she descends further into the darker side of herself, as depicted in the images that flash before our eyes. The use of a serpent-like green and a blood red also enhances Nina's darker side.
3. American Hustle, 2013, David O. Russell
Sound designer: John Ross
Soundtrack: "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer
One of the best clubs scenes (possibly ever?) is from The Social Network. What makes the scene memorable is the use of sound. Watch any other club scene with heavy dialogue and it sounds as if the music has been turned down and the characters are talking in a quiet room. Not here. Director David Fincher scrapped sound designer Ren Klyce's original take on the scene for a more authentic club sound. After watching Klyce's first edit with the music turned down Fincher responded with "...it doesn't feel realistic to me, it doesn't feel like I'm in a club; I just feel like I'm watching a movie". So instead of turning the music down as the actors start speaking, the volume stays the same and your brain is left to focus harder on the dialogue as it automatically lowers the music in the background. Through some sound distortion of Dennis de Laat's "Sound of Violence" and audio from the scene, the scene explodes with energy. The actors have to speak as if they're competing with nonexistent sound in the takes but it's well worth it in the end: a realistic and iconic club scene.
2. Black Swan, 2011, Darren Aronofsky
Sound designer: Brian Emrich
Soundtrack: "Don't Think" by The Chemical Brothers
3. American Hustle, 2013, David O. Russell
Sound designer: John Ross
Soundtrack: "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer
What! A! Hot! Scene! This is what my 70s disco dream are made of: a slinky dress, big hair, lots of makeup, magenta lights hitting a disco ball, and a gorgeous dance partner (what can't Bradley Cooper do?!) This is what I have categorized as the vanity club scene. It's just for glitz and fun: "okay, baby, let's go dancing". I've always wanted a disco-themed birthday party and I just might have to use the energy from this scene as inspiration when the time comes.
4. Bend it Like Beckham, 2002, Gurinder Chadha
Sound designer: Bryan Bowen
Soundtrack: "I Turn to You" by Melanie C
This is pure early millennium energy. We're talking Sporty Spice's best solo venture, a lamé scarf as a shirt on Keira Knightley, a 25 year old Jonathan Rhys-Meyers grooving on the dance floor. They're on a football-free venture in a foreign country and there's sexual tension between girl and boy and girl. Compared to The Social Network's club scene sound design, this one is at the opposite end of the spectrum. But I don't need fancy editing to enjoy three friends dancing along to Melanie C's "I Turn to You" to be impressed. I love the overview of the dance floor and watching Jules, Joe, and Jess be a part of the actual crowd. Part of a good club scene is how immersed the audience can get and this one lets all us live vicariously.
5. John Wick, 2014, Chad Stahelski
Sound designer: Alan Rankin
Soundtrack: "Think" by Kaleida, "The Red Circle" by Le Castle Vania
I hesitated keeping this scene from John Wick on my list of best club scenes (so far). Only because half of it takes place in an underground pool lounge and half on an actual dance floor. But the energy is just too good (and I suppose the underground lounge is a VIP club). The scene is one of many in the film that showcase John Wick's (literal) ass-kicking talent, but enhanced with lights and electronic music. I like when films feature a moment in a club that doesn't necessarily belong in a club. Exhibit A: an assassin mowing down tens of Russian bodyguards and chasing the son of his most precious target. The out of place nature makes is sexier, you've got to agree.
