Zodiac - Behind the Scenes Featurette CGI

[Kevtb87]

very cool. just watched the movie and the only bit where I noticed something off was at 1:11. but it still looks cool. looks like an old movie with a backdrop or something. I thought it was an artistic choice. I had no idea it was a blue screen right in front of him.

[mcul2112]

I don't believe it. I'm not sure what's more amazing, what they do with CG or how these guys can act like that....so incredibly realistic in a frigging blue room. Like acting isn't tough enough...take enough talent as it is....

My respect for actors just went up 10x's. Even "lousy" ones. I couldn't do that...

[THEMUSICR]

CGI saves money. I don't blame them. I'll do it to

[sprialstaircase]

How I love this movie.

[ClocksTelevision]

I made a mini movie about the zodiac killer

Check out my channel to entertain yourself!

[zate1982]

How ironic is all this sfx stuff. It is well done, when you can't tell. If i didn't saw this, i'd never knew it was cgi. Bravo ^_^

[TheKenfig]

@zate1982 Yes, THIS CGI is brilliant and realistic, but my point is, is that MOST of what movies are about now , with CGI being used just as a substitute for locations like ordinary street backgrounds etc ?. Lot of work when you can film in a STREET. Big Special Effects maybe, but just mundane backgrounds ?. Anyway, I dont even like most of the big stuff, like in Die Hard 4 ; looks ridiculously unreal nowadays, like no more than a computer game

[cscdigitalgraphics]

Awesome CGI work. It is way believable. 

[bartov]

Someone needs to show this to Robert Zemeckis and George Lucas on how to use CGI wisely.

[coscientology]

@bartov the whole time i just keep comparing this to george lucas.

[2505994]

david fincher can make drinking coffee epic

[Cartmanfor2012]

it think they did the bluescreen, because the people in the neighborhood didn't want them to recreate the killing on their street.

[godmode9]

wow this is practically avatar lol

[SuperWhofan1]

Love when CGI is just scenary and not in your face like typical hollywood movies. Fincher had made fooled on every CGI sequence.

Very nicely done.

[thejeff007]

@3:15

was that Minkus from Boy Meets World?

[Malocosa]

Nice clip. Is there one featuring the Trans America building sequence?

[rob92376]

I think they should have made it 3D. The next movie.

[leisurelydinner]

@rob92376 3D lol

[Joaquin602001]

I have to say that, while I knew that they used a lot of greenscreen for the Washington and Cherry scenes... I had no idea they used it that much, or that well. That's even better than I thought.

[BadLactose]

astonishingly good cg. Saw it on the big screen and never suspected.

[c0kar7]

imagine if fincher was a porn director. he can take porn to a whole new level.

[AndyJmovies]

fincher is the true master making waves in new technology in cinema, people just don't seem to realise it

[christopherraven]

Amazing. This technique really gave the film an incredible atmosphere and mood. I had no idea when I saw the film there was so much CGI, which generally, I hate. Used in this way, CGI added to the film, rather than the reverse. I thought this was a fantastic and totally overlooked film.

[BROKENHOUSEFILMS]

fincher is one of my favorite directors

this movie has soon of my favorite cinematography, color correction, and the over look is just beautiful in every shot.

[rob92376]

why do they have to use cgi? Wouldn't the film be better without it?

[hogaburger]

@rob92376 Using CGI in this fashion allows him to add in period details and have control over the lighting (a big big part of Fincher's style) in a way that he never could with sets and replicas. Most people would agree that CGI itself is not a bad thing in movies. It's mostly just an issue when it is distracting. Here, it is used with perfect subtlety, and you would never know it was there unless someone told you.

[BROKENHOUSEFILMS]

it is good CGI, because when i watched the film...i never noticed

but where they use it, seems a little pointless

[negrozn2]

who was that zodiac?

[babyjebus2]

idk alot about special effects

so whats the diffrence between a blue screen and a green screen

[St4rdog]

There's no major difference. If you have a character with a green shirt then you won't want to use a green screen because the shirt will go invisible. Night time scenes often have blue in them so you'll want to use a green screen.

[MozTS]

use blue when there is a lot of grey in your shot, use green when there is a lot of blue in your shot.

there

[swanstep]

Wow, that is amazingly, seamless CGI work (I certainly never picked it in the film itself). Importantly, movies are just going back to where they were before 1965. *Then* location shooting was very rare, and almost everything was shot on soundstages and backlot sets, and painted backdrops and back projections were the norm. Now, after 40 years of more and more location work, we're back to every-increasing soundstage and backlot work, only now the backdrop painting and projections are all CGI.

[novaexpss]

you don't seem CGi because they sampled (like in the PoPmusic) every single element by very expansive laser to interface with their software, and to sell whole like an ability but they copied everything.

[TigerMeadows]

kinda spoils the 'magic' of the film

[BeatlesFan451]

"spoils the magic"

Not for me. I kinda like that there is this much work that went into it, and so much attention to detail that I didn't even notice what they did. In my opinion what was achieved with a computer is more magical than if it was all real.

[ICanHazBrainDamage]

It's kind of ridiculous just how happy this made me.

[huntermccartyney]

I would have never guessed some of these shots were filled with effects. Good work.

[DerHalbeEuro]

i though it was real...

good work, guys!

[Przemusiek]

Holy shit! Realistic as hell!

[AyaxTelemonio]

This is what F/x are made for.

[Chradnev]

Is it amazing? Hell yes, and so is their work for Benjamin Button. But what FX are made for? Hell no. A lot of these things could have been shot on location. Fincher could have achieved a similar look with post-production work.

[novaexpss]

Finally one realistic consideration!This kind of directors use electronic to come down frome their car-mobile. They Map all S. Francisco bay and later The Press declare that is one masterpiece of virtuosity in the cinematic technique...Bah They spent multimillionaire Budget, one great director gets consistency not from CGI but by ideas!

[IMARobot1323]

@Chradnev wrong, the night time lighting in this film could not have been done without what they did. no other film has achieved that accurate of night time look.

[KineticFrenetic]

This is not abusing CGI. This is creative control beyond belief. Hell, Fincher probably had a two hour discussion with Digital Domain on how the lamp in the window should look.

I'd hate to say it, but Fincher damn near makes Ridley Scott look pedestrian.

[filmanchor]

Agreed.

[GusHammond]

Seamless effects.

[mwdphantom]

can someone please put the movie up

[aytches]

it makes it look nice, clear, and consistent if they do it cg.

[siy01]

Seemed to me like a lot of it could have been done through the camera.

Why have a whole cg street and house, and film actors on blue screen, why not just film an actual house?

[halfordmovies]

well there are 2 reasons I heard about it. For some shots the houses of those years are no longer the same...so they had to rebuild them. For some others shots apparently they did not receive permission from the town hall to shoot...so they had to do them in studuio...

[siy01]

Thanks, valid reasons I guess for location authenticity. But amazing as Digital Domains compositing trickery is, still seems like much of this could have been done in real locations. I would think that about 99% of the people watching the film it wouldn't make a difference to what house or town hall was in the background.

aytches could they not of just used onset lighting specialist to get the shots consistent?

[blap316]

i can't speak for fincher, but he'd probably want a authentic and consistent look throughout the movie -

he's been pushing boundaries of digital practices in film making, very cool!

[ptalex1976]

it's amazing, you wouldn't have expected that this film had so much CGI in it. yet it really makes for an authentic 70's look. the shot at 1:12 is the only one that looked a bit unreal when i watched the movie.

[bunaltheater]

i thought fight club and panic room kind of abused CGI... but zodiac? i think finch is getting more subtle! but he uses these "wicked shots" here and there to give the movie it's visual impact. (e.g. the guy's head exploding, the time lapse building sequence)

for me zodiac is one of fincher's best.

[mailplanet16]

yeah, he toned down on the effects here, but just wait until you see Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. Talk about CGI abuse, that one's gonna take the cake.

Seven has to my favorite.

[RubyTuesday717]

Geez, is anyone willing to make films the old-fashioned way anymore? I know CGI's cool and all, but it's also taking away from what made films so rewarding to look at in the first place.

[wolfgar45]

well, what matters is what comes out of the theatre screen.

[Ryeran]

I've become a fan of Fincher over the past couple of days when I discovered that he directed both Se7en and Fight Club. In fact, that's what led me to Zodiac and made me watch it after stumbling upon this fact, and who this guy is. I can't wait to see his next movie.

(Inserts Fitcher into his favorite Directors book, which includes names like Spielberg and Zemeckis)

[NicoOsi]

what a movie! unbelievable

[Hugo1138]

Bloody hell son of a...

Too beautiful !

[farinurlaub666]

WTF thats amazing!

[stokmarknes]

correction:

FTW

[oscarstegland]

This is most likely the most realistic CGI ever created. The buildings look fantastic. Great movie.

[LazyCoder]

0:54-1:01, I don't get it. What changes?

[zekeburger]

The cop on the motorcycle is completely CGI.

[VisionnerzBN]

Um.. are you sure?

[larma7]

Ahhh. . . . . so what. The look of the film was amazing. I could careless if it was CGI.

[brianpeters]

eh...747..you're talking shit..over

[themage747]

I think the visual in this film were not that good, it felt low budget. Some of the landscape scenes looked pretty cg like. And shots have cg in it that should be done for real. The filter used on the film is also very poor looking to my eye. The dvd i watched showed a very very dark film as well. And well the movie is too long did this guy work with peter jackson or what? Films are like golfers they want to run around in a cart instead of walking the course like the pros.

[jlg395]

What?

[bpvalentine]

David Fincher is notorious for being one of the most meticulous and hard working directors in the industry. Are you seriously comparing him to an amateur golfer? haha.

Zodiac was shot digitally rather than with film. Is that what you mean by CG? Because talking about CG is a whole other thing than talking about filters and the look of the film.

[MrReznor]

wow i never would have guessed that most of the backdrops were CGI!

[Mestizo1971]

Finally,somebody put this feature back on YOUTUBE.

Thanks

[videoguyy]

so those awesome looking sequences at night in that awesome suburb neighborhood is all fake? goddamn, too good to be true....

[filmanchor]

Yeah the cgi is unbelievable. I couldn't believe it either. It's all studio and the actors had to act as if something was there. The bluescreen is the literal smoke and mirrors.

[SamSpade2010]

@videoguyy It fooled me when I saw it, and I live just a few blocks from there. It's not a suburb, it's the Presidio Heights neigbourhood (Cherry & Washington). The killer walked north on Cherry and went down those steps into the Presidio.