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Zodiac: The Hunt For The Nation's Most Elusive Serial Killer

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“This is the true story of a pursuit that spans almost two decades and still goes on” (Graysmith x). In 1969, three newspapers received letters from a killer called Zodiac with ciphers attached to reveal his identity. One of these papers was The San Francisco Chronicle where cartoonist Robert Graysmith worked. The Zodiac continued to send letters to the Chronicle describing his murders and leaving clues to be published in the newspaper. Graysmith wrote two books, Zodiac: The Shocking True Story of the Hunt for the Nation's Most Elusive Serial Killer and Zodiac Unmasked: The Identity of America's Most Elusive Serial Killer Revealed, which the 2007 film Zodiac is based upon. The film captures the essence of these books through a contrast of blue …show more content…

For David Fincher, in an interview with The New York Times, “that’s what Zodiac was for a 7-year-old growing up in San Anselmo. He was the ultimate bogeyman” (Halbfinger). The Zodiac film illustrates the fear surrounding the case covered in Graysmith’s books by using strong yellows that are reminiscent to the book’s original front cover. Yellow can be interpreted in a multitude of ways but “yellow’s negative connotations include caution (traffic light), sickness (jaundice), betrayal, treason, age, and cowardice (“yellow streak,” “yellow bellied”)” (Feisner 187). In regards to film, “warm colors (red, yellow, orange) suggest aggressiveness, violence, and stimulation” (Giannetti 23). The common element of these connotations of yellow shows that it is a warning color and in the case of Zodiac it is a warning color associated to the killer. The word “yellow” appears within Graysmith’s first Zodiac book 24 times to describe clothing, vehicles, and settings. The significance of these descriptions is their relevance to the mise-en-scéne of Zodiac. “Colour is an important expressive element for film-makers, and is often mobilised by means of costume, which has the advantage of a direct association with a particular character. It might equally, however, be a feature of the lighting, the set decoration, or particular props” (Gibbs 1). For the Zodiac film, yellow become analogous with the …show more content…

This change of color indicates the passing fear of the Zodiac during the years covered by the time lapse sequence where a skyscraper is shown being built from the ground up. While the main pillars and walls of the Chronicle offices are changed to blue, there are still many hues of yellow present through props such as notepads, books, and files. They are just less noticeable compared to the overwhelming amount of blue in the shots which provide a false sense of security. The underlying yellows in the Chronicle during the second half of the film are indicative of the still present danger of the Zodiac. The growing use of blue, however, is indicative of the progression towards truth by Graysmith who has not forgotten about the

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