ZODIAC (2007) - a film by David Fincher

[noodles_leone]

We love Zodiac. Zodiac had no thread here. The people wanted a Zodiac thread. There is now a Zodiac thread.
Let's discuss Zodiac.

[dave jenkins]

Oh, wow, what a co-inkydink: https://www.foxnews.com/us/cold-case-zodiac-killer-identified-murder

[cigar joe]

We love Zodiac. Zodiac had no thread here. The people wanted a Zodiac thread. There is now a Zodiac thread.
Let's discuss Zodiac.

Here is a Zodiac thread I usually post it on here must have forgot for it. (on this site it's hard to copy and paste and time consuming)

https://noirsville.blogspot.com/2019/10/zodiac-2007-serial-killer-neo-noir.html

There's a lot of others on my Noirsville blog BTW

[drinkanddestroy]

We love Zodiac. Zodiac had no thread here. The people wanted a Zodiac thread. There is now a Zodiac thread.
Let's discuss Zodiac.

Are you gonna link to old discussions of this movie? 

[drinkanddestroy]

Let's discuss Zodiac.

Mark Ruffalo is a mediocre actor who jets around the world to protest global warming. There is the discussion 

[cigar joe]

It's more like an ensemble film. All the actors do a great job though none of them really stands out performance wise, though of course most time is spent with Gyllenhaal, Downey Jr., Ruffalo, Edwards and Sevigny. They all could have been replaced by other actors with no real change in the overall quality of the film.

[dave jenkins]

They all could have been replaced by other actors with no real change in the overall quality of the film.

This is true. Fincher could also have been replaced.

[noodles_leone]

Are you gonna link to old discussions of this movie? 

I may. I'm also trying to find old in depth articles and other online content about that movie (there was an astonishing article about the editing process, couldn't find it yesterday. The making of is also on youtube).

It's more like an ensemble film. All the actors do a great job though none of them really stands out performance wise, though of course most time is spent with Gyllenhaal, Downey Jr., Ruffalo, Edwards and Sevigny. They all could have been replaced by other actors with no real change in the overall quality of the film.

Good point.

This is true. Fincher could also have been replaced.

NOT IN MY THREAD

Of course he couldn't, this is seriously one of the best shot and edited movie that I've ever seen. I still think about particular editing points from Zodiac for almost every video I direct or produce (I make dozens of them every year - sometimes hundreds). The fact that the style isn't "in your face" doesn't mean it isn't well done. That style could be criticized though, but let's do it for the good reasons.

[dave jenkins]

this is seriously one of the best shot and edited movie that I've ever seen.

Of course. I guess your argument is that Fincher is the only director in Hollywood capable of good craftsmanship?

[noodles_leone]

No I mean he's one of the best craftmen there ever was in the industry, up there with Scorsese and Spielberg from their prime.
I'm not saying he's one of the best FILMMAKERS ever. I'm just talking about the TECHNICAL side of things, in the broadest possible meaning, but still only that one side.
Also I'm not alone saying that, the whole industry knows it.

 He's also a technical innovator who transformed the way movies, music videos, commercials, down to stupid youtube videos are made (worklows, way to use some technologies...) with Zodiac and The Social Network (which, technically speaking, isn't much more than Zodiac refined, radicalised and using newer, more mature technologies). Once again that doesn't make him a god. But that makes him somebody who cannot be replaced at the helm of a project without huge consequences on the end result.

I can back all of this with dozens of concrete examples but that would require a lot of time, and I'm not sure you're gonna read half of it. Without any sarcasm: if you're genuinely interested, I can go into all of this. It's easy for me, I've witnessed all of this because I've started working at the begining of the decade that he influenced the most, so I use what he invented (or sometimes just popularized, you know, the old inventor vs innovator debate) every day, as do many people around me.

[noodles_leone]

Zodiac Making of featurette (27'): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIRj7g9DUNY
Behind The Big Screen : Zodiac Special Effects (6'58): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW2xhBSfFps
VFX Breakdowns - Digital Domain - Zodiac (3'54): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sZS8OVyVr4
Zodiac's audio commentary by David Fincher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hn5y9s6te8