A report on the zodiac PDF

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A Report on the Zodiac

Student’s Name Institution Affiliation Course Studied Date

Zodiac is one of the bestselling books in America and its neighboring countries. It was written by Robert Graysmith-an American true crime author and known for his captivating cartoon films.

2 He was born on September 17, 1942 in a small town known as Pensacola in Florida United States. His original name was Robert Gray Smith but later on in 1976 he changed his name to Robert Graysmith. He is most famously known for the best work he did on the book. In 1969, he was employed apolitical cartoonist the San Francisco Chronicle. It is at this time when he made the book Zodiac killer case become so prominent in America. He was obsessed by this case for the next 13 years when he tried to decode letters which were written by the killer. Zodiac is one of the two books Graysmith wrote in 1986 about the case. The book formed the basis of the film he produced in 2007 that had the same name. He wrote 5 more books after resigning as a cartoonist one of which became the basis for a film he produced known as Auto Focus in 2000.Graysmith got married to a woman known as Margaret Ann Womack but later on married Melanie Krakower after the demise of Margaret. They later on divorced in 1980. He attributes that Zodiac case greatly contributed to his failed marriage. Graysmith became involved in the case of the Zodiac killer when he was a cartoonist at San Francisco Chronicle before writing the book. This book has captured the history of the person who killed Zodiac. The investigations that Graysmith carried out shows that Zodiac killer was living in California between 19960s and 70s. The novel has also chronicles the investigation work that was done on the case by other law enforcement bodies such as the FBI and the CIA. It has also describes other murders the killer had committed such as the murder of Cheri Jo Bates in 1966 by stubbing. Other chapters have chronicle many theories on the Zodiac case and eventually cites two prime suspects Bob Starr and Donald Andrews. He has deeply provided circumstantial evidence against the two suspects. The police department that was handling the case greatly provided assistance to Greysmith. He cites Inspector Dave Toschi who came from San Francisco police department as one of the personnel who greatly helped him in the investigation of the case. Despite the solid evidence that

3 was held by the prime suspects of this case, the case was never solved even after the murders had stopped. This paper provides a report on the book Zodiac.

The book begins with the, murder of two teenagers David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen On December 20, 1986 when they were shot dead inside their car which was parked along Lake Herman Road Vallejo. The following year on July 4, Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau were shot dead and badly injured respectively in Vallejo by a amn who approached their car which was parked and begun shooting at them. The murder later called the police after a half an hour to report the double murder. The man was now known as the Zodiac killer later that month begun sending communication cards, letters and phone calls to San Francisco Chronicle, and Francisco Examiner and the Vallejo Times Herald to their staffs and to the police. Others such as the celebrity attorney Melvin Belli and many more also received the series of communications. Despite the fact the professionals and several government agencies were struggling with homemade cypher that a school teacher and his wife crushed, Zodiac killer included it in his series of communications. On Sept. 27, 1969, a man who was dressed in black hood approached two college students Cecilia Shepard and Bryan Hartwell, who were from a picnic lunch at Lake Berryessa, in Napa County and pointed a gun at them. And forced the lady to tie up the boy and then hold her very tightly around his arms. The lady died by being severally stubbed but the boy survived. Paul Lee Stine was later shot and killed on October 11, the same year by a passenger at Cherry and Washington streets in Presidio Heights. These are the only five certain deaths attributed to Zodiac killer despite sending several communications years later. The number of casualties that he claimed were 37 and several other attacks. His last letter which was disputed was sent on

4 April 24, 1978. No one was able to prove his identity. The innumerable elements in this case make it easy to see why it would haunt anyone involved not to mention the unbelievable mystery of how he escaped these killings, the taunting letters, the distance between the crime and water, geographically and holidays when people were not busy working, and other elements. Robert Graysmith was present at the editorial board meeting in SF Chronicle when the first letter of Zodiac killer. His attention was particularly caught by the cipher. It is this cypher that obsessed him forty-year letter and made him write his two books. Nevertheless, the cipher made him divorce his wife. Paul Avery, the chronicles police reporter, who letter became the journalist associated with the story was also present at the meeting. He began receiving threatening correspondence from the killer after tracking down murders that he attributed to Zodiac killer. David Toschi, and William Armstrong were the main homicide investigators. The latter left homicide and joined bunko squad whereas the first one became much involved in the political battle within his department and later on was later caught mocking the Chronicle alumnus Armistead Maupin through his fun letters.in 1978, he forged a letter to revive interest in the case. He got accused but was defended by the head of California documents department in Sacramento. Roberts Graysmith made up his mind to work on the case in the mid-70s when it begun dying off. He left chronicles in 1983and continued collecting evidence. The book that he produced in 1986 called zodiac was sold the most sold though he did not use the real name of the suspect. He later went into pursuing the case in detail after Zodiac had revealed his identity. Zodiac is a book that ia strangely structured even though reviews argues that the stronger detail only obscures the story drive and relative resembles of the original. Even though Graysmith is reasonably present at various scenes, he keeps himself in the background as an invisible being. People begun to precipitously introduce stories in the first book to present a controllable amount

5 of information. The telling in this story is so frustrating though through people’s reviews, its fascinating nature has been highly praised. David Fincher has drawn both books together and used fictional tools in his re-investigation of the case to come up with a comprehensive filmed story of the account of this case. He has employed characters whose lives were greatly changed by the case and preferred a conclusion which reasonably favors the Robert Graysmith compelling argument. The film has begun with a visual wonder. It takes the viewer back to 1960s and 70s when everything was so different from what we can see today. The production value is much higher than the movies produced during that time.it exactly looks like the period when there were less of what we have today. The film presents a cheesy 70s feel thatb leaves you wondering wheter it’s a movie or a reality. For instance it has presented the Laughing Policeman 1973 as exactly as he was in those days. The films casting is very superior. The character Gyllenhaal has been used to represent Robert Graysmith. Usage of drugs by Robert Downey J’r is seen to be excessively using and drugs and seriously become addicted to them. Ox who by coincident is the original Hnnibal Lecter on scene nicely turns out as belly. William Armstrong has been represented as Anthony Edwards. Toshi has been represented by Ruffalo who appear to act as the model of the two movie archetypes due to his magnetic trait he presents with Clint Eastwood’s Dirty hurry following. Zodiac case has been heavily based on the first of that series. Arthur Leigh who has been represented by John Carol Lynch is so unfamiliar and frightening hence making him just a candidate in the movie. Sgt. Jack Mulanax, who comes from Vallejo police, Elias Korteas and Dona Logue, famously known as Captain Ken Narlow, who comes from Napa county Sheriff’s Department, have been used to represent minor characters in the film. They have filled up the smaller parts of the film.

6 The movie begins with scary scenes that are so grueling. The re- enactments of the shootings which occurred in July 14, the stabbings at Lake Berryessa, the shootings which occurred at the taxi, and an incident where the zodiac abducted a woman together with her baby but managed to run away. The movie then settle downs into investigations with a few scary scenes. The tension in this movie majorly comes from the psychological and emotional trucking of the Zodiac. Less tension is felt at the beginning of the movies and other parts when he commits murders and other minor attacks. The rest of the movie has been greatly drained of almost all colors. Several colors have been used to create tension. For example, the color of safety and caution has been represented by yellow, and blue has been used to represent an alarming looking. The film continues into the second section where Graysmith is seen sited at the news room and the yellow pillars are now painted blue. His appearance is so bright attractive and bushy tailed. This appearance reminds of the first day he received and read the Zodiac letter which he. He is equipped with three kids and a wife. If it were not the Zodiac case, he would be happily enjoying life with his family at the comfort of their home. The demons which are lose from both inside and out make Graysmith to take on Zodiac alone. The fanatical pursuit of meaning and selfdiscovery to discovering what makes the most famous person in the world, can’t hold a candle to work. In addition, the domestic flights within Mr. Graysmith family has made the film contain some genres and jokes which may seem unimportant to some viewers. It has made the film to be seen as Mr. Finchers’ to date.

The drudgery of real-life investigations and mostly the tiresome task of writing can possibly make two things to be ill-suited to the medium of the movies. However both are turned into compelling drama by David Fincher. He is mainly praised by reviewers who are so curious in the

7 film, for the unique glimpse provided by the movie of both. However they criticize him for following the case into deep down the ends without life for the work that was done by reporters and cops. The various leads ends up not panning out that the viewer get some scene of the mystery exacted which is unsolved hence making the viewer fell so deflated. It is a risky story telling done in a brilliant way. As the film narrows to an end, Graysmiths behavior tips over into the frantic and he alienate friends and lose his family. It has made the obsession be rendered so comprehensively. He answers the mystery to his own satisfaction before he finally quit. The ending turn us to more participants in the movie than just mere observers. The main reason why the young Fincher was included in the Zodiac story was because he had lived in San Anselmo during his childhood when the initial murders were taking place. He actually thought that Boogieman was the ultimate killer. The ending of the Vanderbits screenplay which was uresolved drew the director since it seemed to be real in life, because many cases are always unsolved. The Finchers’ primary intention was to clear out myths that were underlying the story and clearly define what fact was and what fiction was. He depicted for the screen play to written and research be carried out from the original reports which was held at the police department. Fincher became so doubtful that he begun to speculate into that facts behinds the scenes by interviewing witnesses into the scene to verify if what they were saying was believable. He had a feeling of responsibility therefore he decided to make a film that could fully .convince a person. Fincher and Vanderbit begun their search by interviewing every witness who was involved in the case their family members, and retired members of San Francisco to prove that there were no doubts in the Zodiac case. While they were continuing with there research, Fincher and Fischerhired an expert in forensic linguistic called Gerald McMenamin, who lecturing at California State University Fresno, to look into the letters which were sent by

8 Zodiac. Fincheer and Fischer also requested Metro-Goldwyn who was a Mayer to offer financial support towards the film but talks did not succeed. It because the studios had fixed the running time to strictly two hours and fifteen minutes. They later agreed with another film production company known as Paramount Pictures equally share the cost of producing the film. They were satisfied with running time given. Inconclusive ending, lack of dialogue and unclear action scenes and dialogues which were very huge, propelled the executives to be concerned about the entire case. It is the reason the launched a re-investigation into the matter. Fincher promised Dave Toschi that he was not going to make another error by hurrying to produce the film. The knowledge which Tosche gained from the Stochi impressed him and he realized that he had learned a lot from them. Even though Toschi thought Rufallo had done a good job on the film, the Zodiac, the film kept on reminding him of the frustrations that the Zodiac case was never closed. The major consultants on the film were Mike Mageau and Bryan Hartwell. They were the only victims who survived in the zodiac case. Fincher had his earliest conversations with Jennifer on Aniston the films casting. She mentions that Gyllenhaal and Mark Rufalo were the actors she enjoyed working with. It made her appoint the first one to play Robert Graysmith. The director described him as an interesting double sided coi who can do a naïve thing and also get possessed. At the beginning Mark Rufallo never wanted to participate in the film, Fincher but Fincher was so interested in him that he made him to play David Toschi. It because of who he was that made a big deal to him. Fincher needed the well-presented, totally reliable, and most original in his work that he could find to balance the whole movie hence he chose Anthony Edwards. Lee Norris and Jimmie Simpson played the 19969 and the characters older version respectively.

9 Fincher best camera choice that he used to shoot the film was Thomson Viper Film stream .he was used to this camera since he had used it before on other films such as the Heiken, Nike, Lexus and many more. He was also able save some money by using cheap desktops software to edit the video. Fincher explains in an interview how he dallies almost disappointed him but he brought him back in the system using his experience as the director of the film. Fincher found out that the traditional high speed cameras were used in Zodiac hence it was not shot entirely digitally. Other individual like Michael Mann’s Miami Vice were also captured with the same camera. The editorial would later make decisions on the videos and automatically maintain an updated digital negative film. Other producers such as Superman recorded to HDCAM format. The much exposition on Harris Savides, the director who was in charge of photography on during filming and the games made it uneasy to figure out how it could have been done on way that was more visual and clear. Since Fincher and Savides wanted to create a look which was dissimilar to Sven .Therefore, they created a good look on zodiac that enough audience would accept as the truth as they watch. The aim of the move was to turn the story into a first-person video shooter game. And Ficher was also added that they didn’t want to create produce a movie that serial killers would love to. The experience Savides had with Fincher was recording a video by the name Motorola commercial which he later applied to Zodiac. Fincher did several mistakes to understand the camera he was using. However, Savindes did not experience any difficult with the camera even though it certainly limited. The photographs they used belonged to William Eggleston, Stephen Shores dated early 70s and some photos retrieved from police file which belonged to Zodiac. Fincher admitted that they worked too hard to make the movie capture the real appearance and feel of the period. Despite the fact that there were some flaws on their final work some were intended. Finchers exacting ways and perfectionism

10 did not please some of the cast. It is because some scene required as upward take of up to 70. The director’s method frustrated Gyllenhaal to an extent that he rudely commented in an interview about t takes. Downey also commented that apart from the several times he wanted to strangle him, to teach him a lesson. He continues to explain that he could easily work with him because he then understood gulags so well. Fincher reacted to the comments that he was willing to wait as long it could take them to resent. Over 200 films shots were captured including pools of blood and blood finger prints at type scene by the Digital Domain. To the film be more realistic, blood seepage and cloths full of blood stains were added in the film of Cecelia Shepheard near Lake Berryessa. The flow of the case murder was done by computer generated certain because it would take too long cleaning up each stain. Computer generated was also applied within San Francisco neighborhood near Washington and Cherry streets where the cab’s driver was murdered. Finally, every music from San Francisco Opera the small city San Francisco Ballet were used to create the orchestra shire. The characters were represented by different instruments. For example, Toschi was represented by trumpet, Graysmith was represented by the solo piano and the Zodiac killer was represented by Strings....