The following is a blog post written for my Introduction to Cinema Studies class, re-published here so all my work is in one place.

Last week we learned that mise-en-scène refers to “what’s in the frame”. Cinematography, by contrast, is how the scene is captured by the camera. It is the act of photographing what’s in the frame.

There are several elements that cinematographers must consider when shooting, from light characteristics (contrast and exposure), speed of the camera, perspective (focal length and depth of field), framing (angle, distance, masking and camera position), movement (panning, tilting and tracking), and duration. Special effects are also a subset of cinematography, because effects control what ends up in the photographic frame.

David Fincher and cinematographer Harris Savides exercise precise control over the cinematography in Zodiac, showing as much meticulous attention to detail as the serial killer that is the object of Robert Graysmith’s obsession.

At surface level, Zodiac’s most obvious visual attribute is its strong yellow-green hue, achieved through costume and set design but also prominently through exposure and colour grading. This nostalgic colour pallet helps sell the film’s period setting (1960s and 1970s), but it also gives the entire film the feeling of decaying flesh, which links in with the film’s themes of death and unfulfilled obsession.

Power dynamics are also communicated through staging and mise-en-scène, as well as the cinematography techniques of focus and depth of field. In the scene where Arthur Leigh Allen is interviewed by the three detectives, the relative position of each character places him in a power relationship with the other characters in the scene. By focusing (or not focusing) on objects that have lead the detectives to suspect Allen of being the Zodiac, Fincher steers his audience to look for all the circumstantial evidence that points to the same conclusion.

Zodiac also uses framing in interesting ways. For example, in the scene set at Bob Vaughn’s house immediately after Graysmith discovers that one of the most important pieces of handwriting evidence actually belongs to Vaughn, the next shot shows Graysmith centred in frame using a medium shot that accentuates the hallway walls on either side of him, isolating him at the centre of the frame almost literally inside a tunnel as his realisation comes into focus. It’s the only shot in the film that so obviously isolates a character in this way, and it helps to set up the danger of the next thrilling scene where Graysmith follows Vaughn down into the basement, unsure of whether he might be the Zodiac or not.