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Director David Fincher and cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth, ASC, unmask Facebook with the help of RED’s Mysterium-X sensor

By Simon Wakelin

Labels: Feature Films, RED, RED ONE

This Article Features Photo Zoom

Andrew Garfield plays Eduardo Saverin, who was one of the founders of Facebook.

Cronenweth was impressed with writer Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay and began discussions with Fincher on the look of the film. “David and I talked about what the film could be and what it wanted to be visually,” says Cronenweth. “It’s a very straightforward story and, in many ways, unusual for David because there are no chases, no killers, no depravity or any huge special effects.”

Thematically, the film bounces back and forth in time between university dorms and deposition rooms. Flashbacks show the audience what really happened or how a specific situation came to unfold. In essence, it’s a courtroom drama without courtrooms.

“It’s a masterful, magical word game,” adds Cronenweth. “A chess game of words between people and the energy that’s created through situation and language. We needed to figure out the best way to shoot the story.”

The Mysterium-XM
The production used the RED ONE system with its new Mysterium-X sensor. Cronenweth was familiar with the system, having shot spots and promos, but it also was the first film testing the new Mysterium-X sensor at 2:40 aspect ratio and 4K resolution.

Every decision we made visually and lighting-wise was based on the environment with logical motivation for light sources that allowed everything to be as rich and contrasty as possible.

—Jeff Cronenweth, ASC

“I’ve worked on commercials and one-day music videos using the RED system, but you don’t get to push the camera,” notes Cronenweth. “You lock in your goals to get it done. With David, we started using look-up tables for every environment to be sure we had what we needed and shot RAW throughout. We also didn’t have a DIT on set. The images that came off the sensor were beautiful.”

Justin Timberlake plays Napster co-founder Sean Parker, and Jesse Eisenberg plays Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Cronenweth rated the Mysterium-X at ASA 500, mostly because of the comfort level where he likes to expose images, but also notes that production could have pushed as far as ASA 800 if required. This echoes the company’s claim that its new Mysterium-X sensor possesses the same effective noise characteristics at ASA 800 as the older Mysterium does at ASA 250, even though the pixel size is exactly the same for both.

Six weeks of prep led to a 70-day shoot where Fincher and Cronenweth created a pragmatic approach to filming the story. “A combination of elements dictated the final look,” notes Cronenweth. “Shallow depth of field on [ARRI] Master Primes was a big storytelling element. We’d shoot everything as wide open as possible and favored Pancro IR ND filters on exteriors to keep exposure wide open and minimize depth of field. The IRs were a necessity because of the warmth inherent in ND filters and the sensitivity of the sensor. It was difficult for the camera assistants at times, but the film really shines. It looks good and doesn’t look HD at all.”

Cronenweth notes that the dorms felt like a modern-day computer lab that nicely juxtaposed the wooded surroundings of the university. “The university surroundings add a classical touch to the image,” he says. “Every decision we made visually and lighting-wise was based on the environment with logical motivation for light sources that allowed everything to be as rich and contrasty as possible.”

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