Asif Kapadia, director of episodes 3 and 4, with Erik Messerschmidt on the Mindhunter set.
Director David Fincher drove an era-defining aesthetic using the highest-end equipment. Definition spoke to cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt to find out how it influenced the huge Netflix hit, Mindhunter.
Julian Mitchell, Editor
January 2018
Definition (Bright Publishing)
SAG-AFTRA Foundation (YouTube)
December 4, 2017
Q&A with Jonathan Groff of MINDHUNTER.
How do we get ahead of crazy if we don’t know how crazy thinks? In MINDHUNTER, FBI agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) study the damaged psyches of serial killers in an attempt to understand and catch them, and in the process pioneer the development of modern serial killer profiling. The series launched globally October 13 on Netflix.
Premiere Pro Screenshot of Mindhunter Episode 1
Steve Hullfish
December 21, 2017
ProVideo Coalition
Mindhunter is one of those binge-able shows that has people talking. I spent a few days last summer at the Fincher production facility in LA where the show is cut and met one of the show’s editors, Tyler Nelson. One of the other editors on the series is Oscar-winner, Kirk Baxter, ACE, whom I interviewed previously for his work on Gone Girl. Both Gone Girl and Mindhunter were edited in Premiere Pro. (I was not able to talk to the third editor on the series, Byron Smith, who also cut the Netflix series, Altered Carbon.)
Kirk’s filmography includes numerous collaborations with director David Fincher. He was the additional editor on Zodiac. He also edited Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Gone Girl. He won back to back Oscars for Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. He also cut episodes of Fincher’s House of Cards.
Tyler Nelson recently cut the feature Rememory, and was the assistant editor on Gone Girl, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Social Network and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. He was also an assistant editor on House of Cards and The Good Wife.
This installment of Art of the Cut is a little different. I spoke to Kirk and Tyler separately about specific episodes of Mindhunter. Kirk spoke only about his work on Episode 10, the season finale. Tyler talked about several episodes that he cut from earlier in the season, so we’ll start with Tyler’s interview and then move to Kirk’s.
The series is available on Netflix and it may be useful to check out Episode 2, 3 and 10 prior to the interview… or cue them up as you’re reading! The series has been renewed for season 2.
The Netflix original series Mindhunter, from director David Fincher, has been delivered in 4K and high dynamic range (HDR).
Co-produced by Peter Mavromates and graded by colorist Eric Weidt, it is set in the late 1970s, and sees two FBI agents expand criminal science by delving into the psychology of murder. Grading took place on the Baselight X color grading system from FilmLight, alongside editorial and VFX, in Fincher’s Hollywood finishing facility.
In this exclusive interview, Peter Mavromates and Eric Weidt tell us more about how they created the desired look for the series, their collaboration with the director, editorial and VFX, and much more…
Category I: One Hour Period or Fantasy Single-Camera Series
S1:E1 Episode 1
S1:E4 Episode 4
S1:E9 Episode 9
Steve Arnold
Production Designer
steve-arnold.com
Overanalyze
Published on 15 Nov 2017
YouTube
A video essay analysing what makes Mindhunter so creepy.
Mindhunter is a Netflix original crime drama series executive produced by David Fincher set in the late 1970s in which two FBI agents expand criminal science by delving into the psychology of murder and getting uneasily close to all-too-real monsters.
Features portrayals of real-life serial killers such as Ed Kemper, Richard Speck, Monte Ralph Rissel and Jerry Brudos.
Jason Hill
Instagram
: Mindhunter (A Netflix Original Series Soundtrack)
And at the top digital music platforms.
Kyle Kohner
November 9, 2017
RIFF Magazine
Kyle Kohner
November 15, 2017
RIFF Magazine
Alexxa Gotthardt
November 23, 2017
Artsy
In the first scene of the Netflix crime show Mindhunter, the camera trails a car through the run-down streets of small-town Braddock, Pennsylvania. We don’t know that it’s 1977, or that someone will be offed in the next five minutes—but the setting provides clues. It’s a rainy night lit only by moody street lamps and the beams of an AMC Matador police car. The nearby buildings ooze seediness.
The scene is lonely, unglamorous, and wildly intriguing. It’s also resolutely American—and whisks viewers swiftly back to the 1970s.
It’s perhaps unsurprising, then, that the show’s creators were inspired by the pioneering U.S. photographers of that decade—namely, the great Stephen Shore, whose career spent capturing backroads, motel rooms, and lunch counters across America is currently being celebrated in a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. “Since Mindhunter is a period piece, photography from the era was hugely helpful to all of us,” the show’s cinematographer, Erik Messerschmidt, tells me from Los Angeles.
The Discarded Image (Julian Palmer)
Published on 14 Nov 2017
YouTube
In this video essay I breakdown how David Fincher uses popular music in films like Fight Club, The Social Network and the new Netflix series Mindhunter.
The Fincher Analyst 