Garrett Sammons & Quinton Myricks July 31, 2024 Litepanels
In this episode of Inspired By, we step into the meticulously crafted universe of David Fincher. Host Garrett Sammons welcomes director Quinton Myricks to lift the veil on Fincher’s signature chilling style.
Join us live as we uncover how he utilizes reverse key lighting, reflections, and harsh light to craft his hauntingly beautiful worlds.
03:15: Introducing Quinton Myricks 07:30: Scene breakdown 1 16:30: Scene breakdown 2 22:48: Scene breakdown 3
Let’s get into how Erik Messerschmidt does what he does, by unpacking his thoughts and philosophy on photography and looking at what gear he chooses in this episode of Cinematography Style.
00:00: Introduction 01:04: Background 02:06: Visual Language & References 03:44: Perspective & Camera Movement 05:40: Post Production 07:15: Lenses 09:05: Cameras 10:51: Grips 11:33: Lighting 12:28: MUBI
Music: Ottom – ‘Hold On’ Stephen Keech – ‘Grand Design’ Nuer Self – ‘Dawn’ Liquid Memoirs – ‘Distant Dream’ Joley – ‘Night Stroll’ I Am Alex – ‘Bonfire’ The Soundkeeper – ‘The View From The Attic Window’ Sero – ‘Mid August’ Chill Winston – ‘The Truth’
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With The Killer, David Fincher created a masterpiece of cinematic storytelling.
In the first act – the Paris hit – Fincher and his team combined three sets in post. They also added typical artifacts like horizontal flares and distortions to give The Killer an anamorphic vibe.
To learn and explore, we set out to recreate the climax of the first act of The Killer, BUT to do it for real: One real location and real anamorphic lenses. We even developed a way to do film through a real rifle scope – anamorphic of course.
This was possible as DZO just introduced three new focal lengths to their awesome PAVO lineup of 2x anamorphic lenses, a 135mm, a 180mm, and a 65mm Macro. This new focal length and the general short minimum focus distance of the PAVO made them the ideal companions to shoot our short.
We take you behind the scenes, share our experiences with you, and, of course, show you the result: “The Killers” gives the original a slightly different spin…
Disclaimer: We collaborated with DZOfilm and got the full PAVO set of 9 lenses to shoot our short. As always, we strive to give you our honest opinion based on our experience and tests.
00:00: Intro & Contents 02:48: The Killer / A Cinematic Masterpiece 03:44: Subjective Camera Movement 05:00: Subjective Sound Design 05:41: Subjective Edit 06:25: Paris: A Real Fake Location 10:08: Faking the Anamorphic Look| 12:14: Reimagining The Killer 15:49: Gear: The Lenses 23:18: The Rifle Scope 25:01: Gear: The Cameras 27:45: Feature: The Killers 31:08: A Second Killer & Verdict 33:16: Thank You 34:02: Member Shout Out
Paramounthas just made David Fincher’s Zodiac (2007) available in 4K Digital on Apple TV, Vudu, Kaleidescape, and more. Given the amount of effort Fincher puts into his remasters, we believe it’s safe to assume that Zodiac will be coming to physical 4K Ultra HD from Paramount sooner than later as well.
Zodiac, it should be remembered, was shot mostly in 10-bit RAW in 1080p HD (4:4:4) using the Thomson Viper FilmStream camera, along with some footage in 35 mm photochemical film (Super 35 format). But anyone who doubts that it could look great upscaled and remastered in 4K would do well to take a look at HBO’s Game of Thrones: The Complete First Season in 4K UHD. The advantages of high data rate and low compression, combined with an HDR grade, really make a difference. Zodiac in particular was very well lit and photographed.
And it looks good! The color grade in particular is excellent. HDR is subtle, but it makes a difference. There’s obviously not as much detail as you’d see in native 4K, but the image is very dimensional. Color is really lovely. Should make a good UHD disc. Definitely an improvement over the Blu-ray. The best this film has ever looked.
On this episode of Prop Talk, we sit down with PMG member and Local 44Property MasterJames Eddy and his daughter, Local 44 member Assistant Property Master Kelsi Eddy, to discuss their relationship and experiences working for Directors like David Fincher in Mindhunter and The Killer.
Hosts: Chris Call, PMG Founding Member & Local 44 Property Master with Michael Trudel, PMG Secretary & Local 44 Property Master.
In David Fincher’s Netflix darkly comic thriller The Killer, Michael Fassbender is the nameless assassin who goes on an international hunt for revenge while insisting to himself that it isn’t personal.
The film marks the second Fincher-directed feature shot by Erik Messerschmidt ASC, following the Citizen Kane drama Mank, for which he won the 2020 Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
It is also the latest in a long line of Fincher movies since The Social Network to be shot on RED.
“There was not a conversation about using another camera system – there never is with David,” Messerschmidt says. “RED as a partner have been enormously collaborative with us in terms of helping us develop new ideas and solve problems. RED is absolutely creative partners to David’s process and certainly to me.”
The singularity of cinema lies in its unprecedented capacity to transform the energies of the other arts into an integrated audiovisual experience. This synthesis makes cinema particularly engaging, immersive, and resonant, although, precisely because the constituent elements are organically fused together, it can easily be taken for granted. Film Secession creates new ways of exploring the ideas and artistic currents that have shaped different filmmakers, periods, and art forms. Subscribers will discover nonlinear pathways through the histories of the arts, be able to watch rare films provided by the world’s preeminent studios, production companies, and archives, and have special access to events held worldwide.
The Vienna Secession is a key inspiration. Created at the very moment of cinema’s emergence (1897-1905), its motto was, “To every age its art, to every art its freedom.” By fostering deeper understanding of our cinematic heritage and revitalizing our shared creative legacies, Film Secession will similarly provide opportunities to reimagine the future.
Darius Khondji is one of the most acclaimed and influential cinematographers working today. This exhibition explores Khondji’s work – especially his approach to light, color, space, and framing – and the larger question of the role of the cinematographer as a shaping agent in the overall style of a film.
Meet Beverly Wood, an innovator in color technologies for major motion pictures. She began working as an analytical chemist in the early 1980s before moving from the east coast of the U.S. to the west coast—a move which greatly influenced the trajectory her work. Her specialized knowledge of chemistry, engineering, and filmmaking led to her award-winning contributions to the creation and development of Color Contrast Enhancement (CCE) and Adjustable Contrast Enhancement (ACE) motion picture processes.
During this live online interview, you will be inspired by the story of Wood’s career, helping cinematographers, like Darius Khondji and Roger Deakins, to achieve their visual goals, and guiding them through the transition from chemical to digital technology, which changed how we see films today.
Master of creating imagery that illustrates beyond the narrative, Erik Messerschmidt is an Academy-Award-winning cinematographer and long-time David Fincher collaborator equipped with a captivating photographic eye and razor-sharp instinct. Messerschmidt’s expertise lies in the visceral experience, the intricacy of his lens causing hairs on the backs of necks to stand to attention while Fincher’s protagonists face a run-in with death, and chests to pound amid the thrill of a car chase – all thanks to the cinematographer’s ability to deliver a sucker-punch to the senses.
After starting out as gaffer on Fincher’s 2014 thriller Gone Girl, Messerschmidt was the guiding visual eye behind the auteur’s chilling Netflix series Mindhunter, his monochromatic ode to 1940s cinema, Mank (for which Messerschmidt won the Oscar for Best Cinematography), and most recently The Killer, stalking the dark psyche of a trained assassin. Having developed an instinctive shorthand with Fincher, Messerschmidt’s ongoing intention is to ensure the viewer is immersed in a world that is palpable in our own. Messerschmidt switched lanes for his most recent project, as Michael Mann’s cinematographer for his acclaimed high-speed epic, Ferrari, bringing to life the tumultuous rise of Enzo Ferrari’s automotive empire in Northern Italy.
Frame & Reference is a conversation between Cinematographers hosted by Kenny McMillan. Each episode dives into the respective DP’s current and past work, as well as what influences and inspires them. These discussions are an entertaining and informative look into the world of making films through the lens of the people who shoot them.
In this episode, we’re joined by my friend Michael Cioni to talk about his new company Strada (YouTube).
Michael is a serial entrepreneur whose career includes numerous awards for his creative work and technical achievements. He is an accomplished director, cinematographer, musician, four-time Emmy winner, member of the Motion Picture Academy, and Associate Member of the American Society of Cinematographers.
A U.S. patent holder of digital cinema technology, Michael was the founder and CEO of the post house Light Iron where he pioneered tools and techniques that emerged as global workflow industry standards. After Light Iron was acquired by Panavision, Michael served as product director for Panavision’s Millennium DXL 8K camera ecosystem.
He then joined the cloud startup company Frame.io where he served as Senior Vice President of Global Innovation. After Frame.io was acquired by Adobe, Michael led numerous workflow innovations including the breakthrough Camera to Cloud technology program as Senior Director of Global Innovation.
He continues to be motivated by the desire to democratize professional workflows and focuses his efforts on inventing new ways for filmmakers to create through his technology. Michael is a well-known and gifted speaker, advocate for the community, and serves as a mentor and educator throughout the global media industry.
The Fincher Analyst 