1930s Hollywood is re-evaluated through the eyes of scathing social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane for Orson Welles.
Click to enjoy the images in glorious 5K, full quality, and full screen view:
𝙼𝙰𝚈𝙴𝚁
𝚆𝚑𝚘 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗?
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𝚃𝙷𝙰𝙻𝙱𝙴𝚁𝙶
𝙹𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚊 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚛.
𝙼𝙰𝚁𝙸𝙾𝙽
𝙸 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚊𝚠 𝟺𝟸𝚗𝚍 𝚂𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚝.
(𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚕𝚢𝚗-𝚎𝚜𝚎) 𝙸𝚝 𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚠 𝚖𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚐.
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𝙼𝙰𝙽𝙺
𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏
𝙱𝚎𝚍𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚢…
𝙹𝙾𝙴 (𝚅.𝙾.)
𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚘’𝚜
𝙶𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝙱𝚘𝚢 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚘 𝚝𝚘𝚎-𝚝𝚘-𝚝𝚘𝚎
𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚎 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜𝚝, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞’𝚛𝚎
𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚔𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚗.
𝙼𝙰𝚈𝙴𝚁
𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚋𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚞𝚢𝚎𝚛
𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚢 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚊
𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚢. 𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕
𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚜𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚒𝚝.
𝚁𝙸𝚃𝙰
(𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚐𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚜)
𝙴𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗
𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜, 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚒𝚎𝚠𝚒𝚌𝚣, 𝚘𝚛 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕
𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚞𝚙 𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚍.
𝚆𝙴𝙻𝙻𝙴𝚂 (𝚅.𝙾.)
𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘
𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙶𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚆𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚕𝚎?
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𝙼𝙰𝙽𝙺
𝙲𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚎 𝙰𝚑𝚊𝚋.
𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚘𝚘𝚗
The Fincher Analyst 
As I said, I love each and every frame 🙂 Picture-wise, to me it looks very similar to Mara-Downtown commercial.
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I was thinking exactly the same. It’s a black halation festival. And it shows how sneakily Fincher has been using his commercial work from the last years to experiment and prepare for Mank.
Ian Vertovec’s notes on Downtown are crystal clear:
2013. Calvin Klein – Downtown: https://thefincheranalyst.com/commercials/2013-calvin-klein-downtown/
2014. Gap – Dress Normal (series): https://thefincheranalyst.com/commercials/2014-gap-dress-normal-series/
2013. Justin Timberlake – Suit & Tie (ft. JAY Z): https://thefincheranalyst.com/music-videos/2013-justin-timberlake-suit-tie-ft-jay-z/
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Yes, I guess he is playing a long game, but then again, he has tried in the past to make Mank.
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So what exactly is going on with this black halation look? Any idea of what they are doing in front of the camera and in post?
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In front of the camera, they are obviously using fog to add diffusion and “atmosphere” (the William Randolph Hearts still). They might be using some filters too. But with the monochrome cameras, you get clean, super crisp, high contrast, and high latitude images that must be digitally “degraded” to get different vintage effects like the types of halos they are explicitly aiming for: from a subtle old east german film stock look to a maybe more pronounced old kinescope halation effect (Vertovec’s notes).
The effect is applied using luma keys, as Eric Weidt did for the “Glo” (or humid atmosphere, basically a softer halo around the highlights) effect in Mindhunter S02: https://thefincheranalyst.com/2019/11/21/filmlight-colour-on-stage-eric-weidt/
The same goes for other film and lens artifacts (check the spherical lens flares in the first still with Seyfried and Oldman). I guess Fincher likes his artifacts where necessary, but 100% digitally created for full control and adjustability. He did transfer to film and re-scan “Calvin Klein – Downtown” for a “natural film grain” look, but went fully digital with the “multi-layered” film grain effects for Mindhunter.
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On Fincher’s fascination with film halos and the “little photochemical battle that goes” inside them: https://www.instagram.com/p/B2RFHnfidNL/
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