Forensic discussion of the Mindhunter workflow

DoP Erik Messerschmidt and colorist Eric Weidt gave IBC attendees a behind the scenes look at the production of Netflix’s crime thriller Mindhunter during Sunday’s Big Screen programme.

The latest season was lensed in 8K using a Red camera with the Helium sensor and proceeded to a 6K workflow and Dolby Vision finishing.

“Eric and I worked closely on the look, from preproduction to workflow development and colour through post with [exec producer] David Fincher,” Messerschmidt explains. ‘It was pretty close to a film workflow on set.”

This incorporated the Academy Colour Encoding Specification (ACES) and HDR monitoring, after roughly 15 weeks of tests. Messerschmidt commented that HDR monitoring was “essential. I’ll never go back.

• Read more: How colourists are meeting the challenge of HDR

“ACES worked really well for us,” he added. “It also worked really well with Red and [FilmLight] Baselight.”

He said the aim was to create a vintage ‘70s look for the series that would “feel authentic. Colour is a huge part of that. We played with grain, gate weave, distortion.”

The look took cues from The Parallax View and All the President’s Men.

Weidt related that he works in-house for exec Fincher, and does editorial and some VFX. Dolby’s Tom Graham moderated the conversation.