Prince’s article focuses on the era of filmmaking that that we live in now, an era that focuses on the use of digital visual effects and environment creation.
In Zodiac, Fincher depicts an impressive and cinematic version of San Francisco in the late 60’s- 70’s. To accomplish this, he utilized the new, digital technology that is used heavily in most mainstream film today. The film for the most part uses CGI to create the city, a lot of the time in wide establishing shots, instead of shooting them practically in exterior locations. The reason that this could be argued as necessary is because the film is a period piece and it would be extremely difficult to recreate San Francisco during this time period when the filmmakers could just create it digitally. Visual effects supervisor Michael Owens for the film Changeling, a film that was in a similar predicament, justifies this type of decision in the Prince article: : “We wanted the most dramatic impact we could get, but without the effects being too much in the forefront… The look of the city, setting that time period, just gave the story a little more credence and helped involve the audience more. That was the intention”.
Brandon Autry
American Cinema 