Gotham City

[DKDetective]

Yep, me neither.
In fact, I'm very found of old school movie look. I never mind "feeling" the set or seeing a beautiful matte painting in the background, etc. Maybe it's the arty-fartsy part in me, but I can easily trade real location, realism for something more "staged" if it enhance the theatricality, and so also for me, the escapism.
And when it comes to Gotham, I'm definitely one of those who doesn't need it to look exactly like an actual city of today.



Absolutely! I'm so happy we're back to that good old gothic and industrial look. These two adjectives have always defined Gotham for me (well, and "art deco" too, because I can't get enough of Timm's Gotham either aha).

Feel I need to raise this because Timm has been trying pretty hard to erase the legacies of his collaborators Bon Kane-style, but it was NOT Timm's Gotham. Timm's design work was principally the characters.

The world, architecture, and background was the product of Timm's co-creator on BTAS, Eric Radomski. They were co-directors on Mask of the Phantasm for a reason.

Similarly, for those who aren't aware, while Paul Dini was obviously BTAS's superstar staff writer, Alan Burnett, ran the writer's room and was the main screenwriter on MOTP.

 

[J.Drangal]

Feel I need to raise this because Timm has been trying pretty hard to erase the legacies of his collaborators Bon Kane-style, but it was NOT Timm's Gotham. Timm's design work was principally the characters.

The world, architecture, and background was the product of Timm's co-creator on BTAS, Eric Radomski. They were co-directors on Mask of the Phantasm for a reason.

Similarly, for those who aren't aware, while Paul Dini was obviously BTAS's superstar staff writer, Alan Burnett, ran the writer's room and was the main screenwriter on MOTP.

Arf, I blame myself because I know all of this as I have an obsession with Batman TAS since 30 years ahah.
I took a shortcut (or write without thinking too much...) to referencing Gotham City in Batman TAS but indeed, this art deco direction is to Eric Radomski credit. We also owe him many of those awesome title cards opening each episodes which are, sadly, sometimes cut in other countries to be replaced by the just logo of the show with the translated title...
As for Dini, that's right, he only scripted a handful of episodes. Even if these are solid entry, like "Heart of Ice" or the creation birth of Harley Quinn, it's unfortunate it eclipsed what is essentially a fantastic team effort on the show as a whole.

I guess pretty much everyone on here has seen the documentary aboutall of this, "The Heart of Batman", available on Youtube. But if it's allowed to share, this also a fantastic source of information about the production of the show, with a lot of interview, including Radomski:
The World's Finest - Batman: The Animated Series

And another interesting read about the series backgrounds :
Batman animated series backgrounds Archives - Artinsights Film Art Gallery

I should probably share all of this in the Batman TAS thread...

 

[BatsAndNights]

Arf, I blame myself because I know all of this as I have an obsession with Batman TAS since 30 years ahah.
I took a shortcut (or write without thinking too much...) to referencing Gotham City in Batman TAS but indeed, this art deco direction is to Eric Radomski credit. We also owe him many of those awesome title cards opening each episodes which are, sadly, sometimes cut in other country to be replaced by the just logo of the show with the translated title...
As for Dini, that's right, he only scripted a handful of episodes. Even if these are solid entry, like "Heart of Ice" or the creation birth of Harley Quinn, it's unfortunate it eclipsed what is essentially a fantastic team effort on the show as a whole.

I wouldn't necessarily say Dini scripted only a handful of episodes. He contributed to 23, out of 85 of the original BTAS and 6 out of 24 for TNBA. I'd say 25% (give or take) is pretty substantial especially when the vast majority of his episodes are argued to be some of the show's best (in both cases).

However, DK is absolutely right with the lack of attention given to Burnett and Radomski. Both deserve so much more credit and it's a shame the success of BTAS is mostly attributed to Timm and Dini. Especially the former, who I'd frankly argue gets too much praise. Dini getting a lot of praise is fair enough though imo, one of his episodes won a goddamn Emmy for crying out loud.

 

[shauner111]

When it comes to mansions, city design, I don’t really care about logic. I just want it to look as cool as can be. And I don’t really care about the way the city looked pre-Burton. The city is GOTHAM. When you don’t make Gotham City gothic...that’s just one giant wasted opportunity. It’s a Batman story and a film. A visual medium. So make the visuals pop. Make it look cool. It doesn’t get any better than gothic architecture. When I first saw the inside of Wayne Tower, I lost it.

Nolan’s Wayne Manor always looked good on the outside but I never liked how plain and bright everything was on the inside. I know some of that is lighting but the interior set design always felt...disappointing? It made sense don’t get me wrong. But it’s like they sacrificed creativity for logic. It’s not like making it gothic would be super illogical either. It’s Batman!

 

[J.Drangal]

I wouldn't necessarily say Dini scripted only a handful of episodes. He contributed to 23, out of 85 of the original BTAS and 6 out of 24 for TNBA. I'd say 25% (give or take) is pretty substantial especially when the vast majority of his episodes are argued to be some of the show's best (in both cases).

Yep, that's actually more than I remembered. He wasn't a regular from the start and if I remember correctly he was even reluctant to participate at first. He finally catch up pretty fast haha.
All in all, everyone had to be where they were for the show to become the staple it is. I really hope they have such a solid and complementary team for Caped Crusader... But I digress

When it comes to mansions, city design, I don’t really care about logic. I just want it to look as cool as can be. And I don’t really care about the way the city looked pre-Burton. The city is GOTHAM. When you don’t make Gotham City gothic...that’s just one giant wasted opportunity. It’s a Batman story and a film. A visual medium. So make the visuals pop. Make it look cool. It doesn’t get any better than gothic architecture. When I first saw the inside of Wayne Tower, I lost it.

 

[Blade Hoarder]

Now that I have let the movie stew in my mind for a bit, I would put the Gotham city in this movie in the same ballpark as Batman Begins. A nifty combination of real cities like Chicago and Liverpool and CGI augmentation. But I don’t think it comes close to the artistic triumph of baroque nightmare fuel as Burton’s Gotham. Especially the 89 version. There is just something special about that Gotham that is still the benchmark. There is a reason it changed Batman’s iconography forever.

The Batman’s Gotham is very atmospheric, thanks to Reeve’s measured direction, but the sets themselves, aside from maybe Falcone’s room, are hardly inspired. In 89, every single interior is an artistic triumph down to Vicky Vale’s apartment.

 

[DKDetective]

When it comes to mansions, city design, I don’t really care about logic. I just want it to look as cool as can be. And I don’t really care about the way the city looked pre-Burton. The city is GOTHAM. When you don’t make Gotham City gothic...that’s just one giant wasted opportunity. It’s a Batman story and a film. A visual medium. So make the visuals pop. Make it look cool. It doesn’t get any better than gothic architecture. When I first saw the inside of Wayne Tower, I lost it.

Nolan’s Wayne Manor always looked good on the outside but I never liked how plain and bright everything was on the inside. I know some of that is lighting but the interior set design always felt...disappointing? It made sense don’t get me wrong. But it’s like they sacrificed creativity for logic. It’s not like making it gothic would be super illogical either. It’s Batman!

Well, they were going for the look of a mausoleum, all white marble and stone, a dead empty lifeless place, a tribute to the dead. Which I quite liked and found very fitting, having visited a few tombs of European royalty with the same colour palette and aesthetic. The interiors in Rises especially.

Granted, it was very different from the classic image in the comics and previous films. So your mileage may vary.

At first, I thought they went a bit far this time and it looked a touch artificial, especially for a 20th century skyscraper penthouse, but then I did some research into the 5th Avenue and Central Park penthouses of the Vanderbilts, Carnegies, Roosevelts, etc. (all of the touch points for the Waynes), and Chinlund bloody nailed it. I was shocked how much dark wood there was.

 

[WayneMB]