Gotham City

[Iceman]

Arkham style would be fine.

 

[BobJM]

Gotham should feel like it just never stopped building. Years after years of development, and the city is crumbling under its own weight with most of its civilians living at the bottom of this concrete mess.

 

[Invader Joker]

 

[Aximili86]

Some of these on the page are probably a little much, a little too far leaning toward Burton/TAS or Metropolis (Lang, not Supes), buuutt...

These - hell yes. Maybe a liiittttle more art-deco look in there, but still this side of Burton is where this should be. Gotham the show nails it.

 

[Boy Scout]

View attachment 21131

Make it dirtier and add some more Gothic architecture and you’ve got my perfect Gotham.

 

[pixen]

I kind of want something that hasn’t been done before. I don’t want Burton Gotham or Justice League/BvS Gotham. Give me a Gotham that’s always raining and dreary with neon signs. Before anyone tries to pounce saying Schumacher Gotham... that’s not what I mean. I’m going for Batman Year One graphic novel. Neon signs, grim, rainy, dreary. Someone in Birds of Prey forum shared this from one of the directors other films and it has a nice vibe to it...

 

[Boy Scout]

I’d love a neon Gotham. It just fits IMO.

 

[Aximili86]

Ehh, neon signs everywhere are one thing, but make 'em more 1940s sleazy noir than Blade Runner or high-tech Hong Kong/Tokyo in look.

Always felt like Metropolis should be the shining modern beacon, Gotham should feel in a real state of disrepair and even the clean/wealthy areas should probably look like all the buildings went up a century ago.

Sort of like 70 years have passed from this, but that general aesthetic/design/feel never went out of fashion. Tech's advanced, but it's still pretty much akin to Lucky Luciano's still running New York, the mafia owns the docks, dudes are walking around in trenchcoats and GM/Ford still makes those big, round-shaped elegant cars in 2019 (just now with iPods & GPS and stuff ). Gangsters using some evolved/updated take on tommyguns, the works. Comic booky alternative universe, modern, but Gotham's still operating like it's fashionable to still be 1946.

Dark City type of thing. Not quite as stylized as Burton, but probably more in that direction than anything else we've seen in live-action, bar Gotham. Just add in a mix of some more modern cars and cell phones etc like the show does.

Philly might work pretty well as a basis (or parts of New Jersey), with some heavy set-dressing. Just don't shoot it as-is like Nolan did in Chicago. Sleaze it up to an extent no city actually is in real life, just go all exaggerated crazy.

 

[Astro13Zombie]

Yep I’d love that too.

 

[Boom]

This is why I hope Gotham is a combination of miniatures, matte paintings, CG models, sets, and on-location shooting. I want something that is wholly unique, and that combines any number of elements. I'd like a mix of new-age and Gothic architecture. I'd like to see some parts looking pristine and colorful like Tokyo or Vancouver, and then other parts looking dark and gritty like 70's New York. I'd like the city to feel claustrophobic, as if they had built these buildings on top of each other. I want a city that feels new and old, beautiful and ugly.

 

[Tg11]

I hope they go for a Dark City type motif as well

 

[Aximili86]

Just seems like the way to go. Practical sets, you can shoot some wide stuff in a real city but the claustrophobic street-level stuff could pretty easily be a sound stage like in Dark City.

Neon's great, just...sleazy gritty 20th century neon, don't go all cutting-edge-tech Seoul/Tokyo/whatever hyper-modern. Saw Vancouver suggested up there, Vancouver's probably way too "clean", lots of glass buildings & modernity. Skyscrapers are great and all, but go more Empire State Building than, you know, One World Trade Center or that recent one in London.

Agreed on the miniatures, maybe even matte paintings, Boom. We probably both know that's never gonna happen though. 2019, greenscreen bullshiz it shall be.

Came across that on google, no idea where it's from, but that's pretty perfectly indicative of the vibe. New York/New Jersey, but fictional New York/New Jersey, no familiar/real skyline, and like the place just never got cleaned up. Mob still runs the town, streets are grimey & run-down to hell, it probably rains 300 days a year and everyone still dresses like Bugsy freakin' Siegel.

And some more Dark City goodness for the hell of it, still such a stunning-looking movie:

Embrace this feel and you'll have something different for on-screen Batman, big-time. Not just the city design, but the whole mood, cinematography, just go full-on noir this time around given it's supposedly a heavily detective-based thing.

Honestly, I wouldn't even mind a voiceover narration from Bruce. So unlikely they'd do it, but that'd be fresh for the character. Really get inside Bats' head as he's stalking rooftops trailing leads, in this Dark City type alt-reality north-east-USA art-deco-but-modern hellscape.

 

[Invader Joker]

Just seems like the way to go. Practical sets, you can shoot some wide stuff in a real city but the claustrophobic street-level stuff could pretty easily be a sound stage like in Dark City.

Neon's great, just...sleazy gritty 20th century neon, don't go all cutting-edge-tech Seoul/Tokyo/whatever hyper-modern. Saw Vancouver suggested up there, Vancouver's probably way too "clean", lots of glass buildings & modernity. Skyscrapers are great and all, but go more Empire State Building than, you know, One World Trade Center or that recent one in London.

Agreed on the miniatures, maybe even matte paintings, Boom. We probably both know that's never gonna happen though. 2019, greenscreen bullshiz it shall be.

Came across that on google, no idea where it's from, but that's pretty perfectly indicative of the vibe. New York/New Jersey, but fictional New York/New Jersey, no familiar/real skyline, and like the place just never got cleaned up. Mob still runs the town, streets are grimey & run-down to hell, it probably rains 300 days a year and everyone still dresses like Bugsy freakin' Siegel.

Just put more gothic architecture and gargoyles and that's perfect!

 

[Tg11]

Or I would go with a Dark City meets Nolan type motif for the new Gotham

 

[OutOfBoose]

Played (watched) Heavy Rain. Kept thinking how it's atmosphere reminded me of Year One graphic novel. In case Reeves decides to not go into stylized Burton/Dark City/Matrix look, I'd love the film to look similar to Heavy Rain.

 

[Tg11]

Played (watched) Heavy Rain. Kept thinking how it's atmosphere reminded me of Year One graphic novel. In case Reeves decides to not go into stylized Burton/Dark City/Matrix look, I'd love the film to look similar to Heavy Rain.

This look for 2021 Gotham I could go for

 

[Invader Joker]

As contrary to what other people want, I don't want the movie to be set in the 80's, 90's, 2000's etc.
I want, for the first time, to see what a modern day Gotham City would be like, to have touches of being modern but also being mixed wth really old architecture.

 

[David H.]

Gotham 2049.

 

[Aximili86]

Seriously doubt they're actually going to set it in the past. Short of this solo Joker movie being a sort of toe-in-the-water to eventually match up a Batman in the same continuity as that, but I doubt they go that road.

You can still have a 2019 Gotham that, while it has all the tech of now, feels classic, art-deco, period though. The Gotham show pretty much nails that - cell phones exist, computers, yadda yadda, but it simultaneously looks like Gothamites just really latched onto the mid-20th-century asthetic and ran with it, never moved on.

The Burton movies did that too, sure, but that was pretty hyper-stylized and didn't exactly feel like a real living-and-breathing city. There's a middle ground here, all that great Batman-y architecture from the books, animated series, Burton movies, Gotham show, but with the tangibility and "this is an actual place"-ness of the Nolan stuff.

Heavy Rain's a great reference point too, OutOfBoose. Maybe more mood-wise than architecture and stuff, but awesome call.

 

[batman44]

The Joker movie has basically what I would want Gotham to look like. It has that gritty, grimy feel akin to films like Taxi Driver or Se7en.

 

[Tg11]

The Joker movie has basically what I would want Gotham to look like. It has that gritty, grimy feel akin to films like Taxi Driver or Se7en.

I could go for that

 

[Gothamsknight]

Just seems like the way to go. Practical sets, you can shoot some wide stuff in a real city but the claustrophobic street-level stuff could pretty easily be a sound stage like in Dark City.

Neon's great, just...sleazy gritty 20th century neon, don't go all cutting-edge-tech Seoul/Tokyo/whatever hyper-modern. Saw Vancouver suggested up there, Vancouver's probably way too "clean", lots of glass buildings & modernity. Skyscrapers are great and all, but go more Empire State Building than, you know, One World Trade Center or that recent one in London.

Agreed on the miniatures, maybe even matte paintings, Boom. We probably both know that's never gonna happen though. 2019, greenscreen bullshiz it shall be.

Came across that on google, no idea where it's from, but that's pretty perfectly indicative of the vibe. New York/New Jersey, but fictional New York/New Jersey, no familiar/real skyline, and like the place just never got cleaned up. Mob still runs the town, streets are grimey & run-down to hell, it probably rains 300 days a year and everyone still dresses like Bugsy freakin' Siegel.

And some more Dark City goodness for the hell of it, still such a stunning-looking movie:

Embrace this feel and you'll have something different for on-screen Batman, big-time. Not just the city design, but the whole mood, cinematography, just go full-on noir this time around given it's supposedly a heavily detective-based thing.

Honestly, I wouldn't even mind a voiceover narration from Bruce. So unlikely they'd do it, but that'd be fresh for the character. Really get inside Bats' head as he's stalking rooftops trailing leads, in this Dark City type alt-reality north-east-USA art-deco-but-modern hellscape.

This! just all of this

 

[old city outlaw]

Eddie Mendoza

 

[Mani-Man]

To me the most important thing is that Gotham itself has character.
A gothic looking city with unique building structure, bright neon signs and just a lot of character.

Thats why Burtons Batman and Schumachers batman movies take the cake over everything else.
Yeah especially B&R go way over board, but i like the idea that the city isnt just your plain old city.

Its why i dont like Nolans gotham at all and also not the glimpse we got from the Joker "gotham".
It looks too "normal", too much like your everyday city.

 

[Tg11]

Eddie Mendoza

This just looks awesome