Erik Messerschmidt, ASC: Mank, Mindhunter, Legion, Raised By Wolves, working with David Fincher

Erik Messerschmidt, ASC believes that cinematographers get too much
credit for how a movie looks and not enough for how the story is
told. When you break a scene apart and assemble a sequence, the
cinematographer has a huge part to play in the process of deciding
when to move the camera, what lenses are used, how it flows and
when it moves. Erik thinks when you look at it that way,
cinematography has a lot more in common with editing rather than
photography. Erik's most recent project, Mank- which is currently
streaming on Netflix- was shot entirely in black and white. The
look was the result of lots of conversations with director David
Fincher. They both had a clear idea of what they wanted it to look
like and also exactly what they did not want- too much heavy
handed, contrast-heavy black and white cinematography in a
film-noir style would take the viewers out of the experience, so it
needed a lighter touch. Erik used fine art photography from the
'30's to the mid '40's as a reference, and he and David Fincher
wanted an homage to Citizen Kane without it actually looking like
the film. Fincher was clear that he wished to transport the
audience so they would lose their awareness of watching a black and
white movie, and feel as though they are in the world of Herman J.
Mankiewicz as he writes the script for Citizen Kane in the 1940's.
Erik has worked with director David Fincher on several projects,
first working as a gaffer on Gone Girl, then moving into the camera
department on the series Mindhunter. Erik and David have become
very close collaborators, and he enjoys working with him. Fincher
likes a sense of hyper reality to his movies, and Erik sees it as
his job as the cinematographer to learn what the director responds
to, figure out how best to support their process and bring
something to the party. Before moving into the camera department,
Erik worked for several years as a gaffer. After working with David
Fincher on two seasons of Mindhunter, Erik needed more work since
he was a newly minted director of photography. He got the
opportunity to shoot second unit on Sicario: Day of the Soledado
with cinematographer Dariusz Wolski as the lead DP. He then worked
on a few episodes of the TV series Legion with producer/director
Noah Hawley and DP-turned-director Dana Gonzales, which was
visually fun to work on. Legion's look was whimsical yet dark, as
it explored the main character's mental illness and possible
superpowers. He had the opportunity to work with Dana again on the
finale of season four of Fargo. Erik also shot several episodes of
the Ridley Scott series, Raised By Wolves, splitting the series
with DP Ross Emery. Mank is available to watch right now on
Netflix. Find Erik Messerschmidt: Instagram @emesserschmidt IT'S A
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Find out even more about this episode, with extensive show notes
and links: http://camnoir.com/ep107/ Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras:
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