The film retells the founding of Facebook through 2 depositions that run at the same time. That legal process shows how a social network built to connect people was created by someone who could not connect with them. Fincher's film moves at the speed of thought and uses Aaron Sorkin's dialogue as a weapon.
The Social Network is a 2010 biography and drama film directed by David Fincher. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (3 narrative and 1 editing), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Whiplash uses several of the same techniques.
Telling the story out of order by jumping between time periods. The order you see events in changes how you understand them.
How this film uses it
The film is built around 2 depositions, which are sworn interviews for a lawsuit. It cuts back and forth between them and the past they are describing. The legal present and the creative past keep talking to each other. Each moment in a deposition passes judgment on a past scene you are watching at the same time. Because it is told out of order, the film ends up being about how people interpret the events.
Where to see it
The deposition cutaways. The legal present interrupts the past it is retelling, and the 2 timelines argue about what the same events mean.
Cutting back and forth between 2 timelines, often past and present. Each one helps explain the other as the film goes on.
How this film uses it
The Winklevoss lawsuit deposition and the Saverin lawsuit deposition run at the same time as each other and as the events they describe. Fincher cuts between 3 points in time: the Harvard past, the legal present of one suit and the legal present of the other. Because they run side by side, you see the same events from several legal sides and several moments.
Where to see it
The cuts between a deposition room and the Harvard past. The Winklevosses are questioned in a conference room while the film shows the events they describe. The 2 timelines argue about who was wronged.
Timing the cuts to the rhythm of the action or the music. The fast, precise editing gives a scene momentum you can almost feel physically.
How this film uses it
Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall cut the film at the speed of Zuckerberg's coding. Ideas arrive and get carried out before the previous thought has fully landed. Add Sorkin's overlapping dialogue and Fincher's exact choice of shots, and the editing feels like a current. You don't have time to form your own judgments. You get pulled through.
Where to see it
The opening breakup scene. The dialogue overlaps and the cuts are tight. You scramble to keep up with the exchange while also taking in what it reveals.
Writing an opponent the film never fully labels as evil. Their motives mix ordinary human wants with real harm, and they may even help the hero grow.
How this film uses it
You can read Zuckerberg as the villain who betrayed his only friend or as the visionary held back by people who couldn't keep up. Eduardo can be the wronged partner or the man who froze the account. The film sets up every relationship so that no one is simply right. The depositions make this possible. Each side presents its case, and the film refuses to pick a winner.
Where to see it
Eduardo's final confrontation with Mark. Both men make arguments about what happened that you can't knock down. The film treats both as valid at the same time.
Questions
The Social Network: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does The Social Network use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in The Social Network (2010): Non-Linear Narrative, Parallel Chronology, Kinetic Editing and Ambiguous Antagonist.
Who directed The Social Network?
David Fincher directed The Social Network, released in 2010. CineCode also covers Alien³ (1992), Se7en (1995), The Game (1997), Fight Club (1999), Panic Room (2002), Zodiac (2007).
What films are similar to The Social Network?
Films that share techniques with The Social Network include Whiplash (2014), Snatch (2000), Oppenheimer (2023), The Irishman (2019).
