Tag: Erik Messerschmidt

Life in the Credits: Mank with Gaffer Danny González

Susan Swarner and Ben Blohm
April 6, 2023
Life in the Credits

Life in the Credits is an educational podcast where hosts Susan Swarner and Ben Blohm learn about the entertainment industry from the people who work in it. They discuss the guest’s career, a feature film, and play a game. For anyone who dreams of working on movies, wants to learn about film-making, or loves watching shows.

Danny González, Gaffer, joins Susan and Ben to discuss Mank, a 2020 biographical drama. Danny shares what it’s like having a career in the lighting department for movies, TV, and commercials. He discusses the process of building a lighting design for a show, the difference between lighting on a sound stage versus on location, executing a particularly difficult scene on the set of Devotion, and filming on Hawaii on the deck of Queen Anne’s Revenge from Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides during a huge storm. We also get a behind-the-scenes look into Danny’s work on the Oscar-winning film Mank. Danny plays our “Fincher’s Familiar Films” game.

Listen to the podcast:

Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify

Follow Danny on Instagram or IMDb.

Find out about our guests and upcoming events by following us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, contribute to our Patreon, or shop at our webpage.

Life in Our Credits:

Executive Producer: Michelle Levin
Logo Art: Melissa Durkin
Music Composer and Performer: Steve Trowbridge

Microsalón AEC: Erik Messerschmidt, ASC

Fotografía de Suwon Lee. Gentileza de AEC.

José Val Bal, AEC
26 noviembre, 2022
Microsalón AEC

El director de fotografía Erik Messerschmidt, ASC, habla sobre su trabajo en Devotion (J. D. Dillard, 2022), Mank (2020), y la serie de TV Mindhunter (2017, 2019).

Entrevista en inglés con interpretación simultanea al español.

Director of Photography Erik Messerschmidt, ASC, talks about his work on Devotion (J. D. Dillard, 2022), Mank (2020), and the TV series Mindhunter (2017, 2019).

Interview in English with simultaneous interpretation to Spanish.

Entrevista a Erik Messerschmidt ASC

Julio Gómez
Diciembre 30, 2022
Camera & Light

Durante el MicroSalón Madrid 2022 tuvimos la oportunidad de charlar con el invitado especial de la AEC, el director de fotografía Erik Messerschmidt ASC.

Os ofrecemos la conversación que mantuvo con Julio Gómez (al que hemos cortado porque no le pusimos micro) sobre sus trabajos con David Fincher (“Mank“, “Mindhunter“) y también trabajaos recientes en colaboración con Dana Gonzáles, como “Fargo” o “Legión“.

Entrevista filmada y montada por Juan Esparza Cevallos para Camera & Light.

Frame & Reference Podcast: “Devotion” DP Erik Messerschmidt, ASC

Kenny McMillan (Twitter, Instagram)
December 8, 2022
ProVideo Coalition, Frame & Reference (Twitter, Instagram)

Frame & Reference is a conversation between Cinematographers hosted by Kenny McMillan of OWL BOT. 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, Kenny talks with cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt, ASC, about the new film “Devotion.” Erik has had a very interesting career including work on series such as “Mindhunter”, “Legion”, “Fargo” and as the DP of “Mank” for which he won an Oscar.

Frame & Reference is supported by:

  • Filmtools, the West Coast’s leading supplier of film equipment. From cameras and lights to grip and expendables, Filmtools has you covered for all your film gear needs.
  • ProVideo Coalition, a top news and reviews site focusing on all things production and post coming out of the industry.

Listen to the podcast:

Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify
YouTube

First behind-the-scenes look at David Fincher’s “The Killer” with Michael Fassbender

Michael Fassbender: Road to Le Mans. Season 4, Episode 1

November2, 2022
Porsche (YouTube)

Follow the fourth season of Michael Fassbender’s journey to compete at the world’s ultimate motorsport event in this weekly YouTube series.

Starting at minute 2:14, there is a three-minute clip of Fassbender shooting car process scenes for The Killer with Fincher and his team on Sound Stage 2 at Triscenic Production Services. Andrew Kevin Walker, the screenwriter of the film, is also visiting.

The actor discusses working on the film during the off-season of his other passion, car racing:

I had the great privilege and honor of working with David Fincher on The Killer. I have the lead role in his film. To have a small window of opportunity to go to work and then to be able to work with one of the best filmmakers out there was just a dream come true.

It felt really good to go back to work. The film that I’ve done before was just before lockdown. But that was 2019, so I was definitely ready to go back to work.

With somebody of David’s caliber, it was a very special opportunity for me: quite a few locations over a five-month period.

What was interesting for me was taking the experience from what we’re doing on track and bringing it on set, especially with somebody like David who films very precisely and everything is dealing in fractions in terms of how you deliver things and movement and exactly how the frame is occupied.

You have to step on and deliver in a period of time. And David is looking for perfection and to do that within a take, however long that take is. It might be 40 seconds. It might be six minutes long, but within that time frame, you’re looking to do everything exactly as it should be.

You’ve taken on board all the notes and there’s plenty of them to digest, but in the moment when you’re trying to deliver those notes, you’re not thinking at all.

It was a real honor. I felt like I learned a lot from him. It was a full-on shoot, very long hours sometimes six-day weeks. So there was literally not enough time for me to get into car and do any training whatsoever.

So we wrapped up the film in L.A., end of March, and I got directly on a flight the next day and then came straight to the track.

Erik Messerschmidt: “El principal enemigo de un director de fotografía es el tiempo”

Fotografía de Suwon Lee. Gentileza de AEC.

Arnau Martín Camarasa
30 noviembre, 2022
Industrias del Cine

Entrevistamos a Erik Messerschmidt, director de fotografía estadounidense, en el marco del evento MicroSalón AEC, con sede en Madrid. Messerschmidt es habitual colaborador del cineasta David Fincher y obtuvo un premio Óscar a la mejor fotografía por Mank.

Me gustaría preguntarte si consideras que el cine proviene de la fotografía, si te parece que el cine proporciona movimiento a las fotografías o si proviene de una transformación técnica más compleja.

Es una gran pregunta. Creo que el cine es storytelling extendido en el tiempo. Es esculpir en el tiempo, como decía Tarkovski. La fotografía tiene que ver con la historia de un momento singular. El cine manipula y hace progresar el tiempo. Tiene más en común con la literatura y los sueños que con la fotografía.

Lee la entrevista completa / Read the full interview in Spanish

Indie Film Hustle: Erik Messerschmidt, ASC

Lighting for David Fincher & Michael Mann

Alex Ferrari
November 29, 2022
Indie Film Hustle

Award-winning director of photography Erik Messerschmidt, ASC has a natural eye for arresting and spellbinding images, thriving in a role that allows him to combine his love of art, craft and science. Recently, he lensed Devotion for director J.D. Dillard, based on the real-life story of a Black naval officer who befriends a white naval officer during the Korean War, with both becoming heroes for their selfless acts of bravery.

He also finished shooting Michael Mann’s biographical film Ferrari, starring Adam Driver, Shailene Woodley, and Penélope Cruz, and David Fincher’s The Killer, starring Michael Fassbender and Tilda Swinton.

Previously, Messerschmidt shot Fincher’s passion project Mank, chronicling the screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz’s turbulent journey to write Citizen Kane alongside Orson Welles. Messerschmidt’s meticulous and striking black and white recreation of the period’s aesthetic earned him the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, an ASC Award for Outstanding Cinematography in a Feature Film, a BSC Award for Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature Release, a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Cinematography, as well as Best Cinematography award nominations from the San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle, the Broadcast Film Critics Association Critics Choice, and the Alliance of Women Film Journalists.

In addition, Messerschmidt co-lensed several episodes of the HBO Max original series Raised by Wolves from producer Ridley Scott. He also shot the first and second seasons of Fincher’s hit thriller series Mindhunter for Netflix, earning a 2020 Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (one-hour) for episode 206.

With a background in the fine arts world, Messerschmidt honed his skills while working with such renowned cinematographers such as Dariusz Wolski, ASC, Jeff Cronenweth, ASC, Phedon Papamichael, ASC, Claudio Miranda, ASC, and Greig Fraser, ASC. Messerschmidt now lives in Los Angeles and is a member of IATSE Local 600. He is represented by DDA.

Listen to the podcast and read the transcript

How Technology Made David Fincher a Better Director

Has there ever been a movie director who has taken more advantage of new technology than David Fincher? We look back on how digital production benefitted his movies so much.

Julian Mitchell
November 28, 2022
The Beat (Premium Beat)

When digital cinematography was in its infancy, around 2005, it was like the Wild West; new cameras were appearing seemingly every week, whether from University’ concept’ programs or start-ups with a movie making a revolution on their minds.

In this white heat of technology, director David Fincher started to craft his movie-making skills. He was a risk taker with new technology but driven by the promise it gave him. As much as Fincher and his crew were proud of the films they made, they were also proud of how they made them.

Zodiac’s Digital Gamble

Fincher had already used digital cinematography for his commercials and decided to commit early to this technology for his movies. But his long-time producer Ceán Chaffin brought some hard business sense to brace against his pioneering creative decisions.

Ceán had been involved more in costing this digital workflow out and had looked at introducing digital for a feature before Zodiac but found that it wasn’t cost-efficient at that time; Zodiac was different. “At the moment of Zodiac, storage was so cheap that we could push it; it was also about the savings at that point. The sticking point was really about storage for us up to Zodiac.”

Read the full article

Cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt on Shooting David Fincher’s The Killer and Michael Mann’s Ferrari

Nick Newman
November 17, 2022
The Film Stage

Has any cinematographer had so fast an ascendancy as Erik Messerschmidt? While no newcomer—his IMDb dates back to 2001, his first cinematography credit from 2003—work on Gone Girl earned the attention of David Fincher, by whom Messerschmidt was then enlisted to shoot his Netflix series Mindhunter. (Impressive then, all the more sterling since as an example of streaming television that doesn’t look or move like streaming television.) Which led into Mank which led into The Killer, Fincher’s much-anticipated thriller arriving next year.

Somewhere along the way Michael Mann called. I talked to Messerschmidt at ENERGACamerimage, where he was promoting the new feature Devotion and mere weeks from wrapping Ferrari, Mann’s first feature in longer than you’d believe and a passion project of equal gestation—nothing you leave in the hands of an amateur. Certainly not if you’re as obsessive, fastidious, demanding as Michael Mann. Meeting in Toruń’s CKK Jordanki, we were quick to start.

Read the full interview

Masters of Color: Eric Weidt

Cullen Kelly
December 2, 2021
Lowepost & Ravengrade

In this episode, we talk with director David Fincher’s favorite colorist Eric Weidt about the art and craft of color grading.

Eric has an incredible list of credits that includes Mank and Mindhunter. His works on these projects extend far beyond traditional tasks of color grading, incorporating complex look modeling and incredibly detailed adjustments on virtually every frame.

The techniques and insights he shares in this episode are unique and includes topics such as how to sculpt the viewers experience with textural and spatial tools, the lens treatment techniques used on Mindhunter, the process and swan curve treatment behind the day-for-night shots on Mank, advanced grain work and so much more.

This episode is sponsored by Pixelview, an industry standard and affordable streaming solution for editors and colorists.

Listen to the podcast:

Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Amazon Music
Google Podcasts
Lowepost (Premium membership videos)