The Dark Knight Pfister to Preview The Dark Knight

[Octoberist]

edit

 

[explode7]

I'm going to split this up since I want to include too many smilies.

Intro:

• So, the registration area for the expo was a shuttle-ride away from the theater where the panel was, so that's why Ashkong and I didn't make the morning panel. There was a huge crowd of people, and a bunch of people were let in after the theater was full to stand only, so...yeah. (If you don't think this film is going to be huge...this film is going to be huge.) There was easily another theater-sized group of people (including us) who were shut out, so I guess when Wally and the moderator heard about it, they scheduled an extra panel at the end of the day. Therefore, they are awesome.
• I stayed for a few panels in between, and in the Western genre one, someone asked cinematographer Owen Roizman about movies to recommend for cinematography "inspiration." He went "Ooh, I dunno, there are just so many.." then he specified Wally's work (especially BB and Prestige) and said he was REALLY looking forward to TDK. When his peers admire his work like that, it's just more awesome.
• Wally is really cool, and I think this second panel might have been more fun since a bunch of people he knew (colleagues, very likely) asked technical questions from the audience and they joked around and stuff. (There was also free alcohol at this event, apparently. ) And as I said, he thanked us for coming back, when we should have been thanking them because they could have just not held a second panel. They are very cool.
• They didn't show new footage, just the first theatrical trailer since Wally said he color-timed it himself, and the projector that was being used was the best resolution we could get digitally. It was actually the first time I had seen that trailer on the big screen, and it was gorgeous.

I will start with the MIND-BLOWING AWESOMENESS in the hospital explosion. In spoiler tags, of course.

Spoiler

Right before the building goes down (in the film and in real life), Heath walks out of it in a nurse's outfit and wig, pushes a trigger button, and it beeps but nothing happens. He tries several more times, and small propane explosions occur behind him. It's not the building going down, they rigged separate small explosions.

Finally, he gets pissed off and goes into a school bus, and RIGHT as he closes the door, the demolition starts, and they got this all in one shot. Wally described how the camera tracked with Heath, etc etc, but I wasn't exactly paying attention as I was writing all of this down. But yeah, he said, "It wasn't JUST a first take for the building, it was a first take with Heath too!" They had to reinforce the glass in the bus and everything, to make sure Heath wouldn't get hurt. Wally also gushed about Heath's performance, and his ability to do this scene (expressions and all) in one take, cause there were no second chances.

Oh, and I dunno if we've heard about this yet, but there's also:

Spoiler

An interior police station explosion as well.

Sounds like Rush Hour 2 to me.

 

[batman44]

And my anticipation goes up yet agian.

 

[Caped Crusader]

o wow ..

"An interior police station explosion as well."

 

[slicendice]

the suspence is killing me

 

[Anita18]

And onto the other, more technical stuff:

Shooting with IMAX cameras:

• They got the IMAX cameras for free. It was funny since the moderator was like, "..do we have any journalists in here? Don't say that the cameras were free since I'll be getting tons of calls!" and Wally said louder into his mike, "WE GOT THE CAMERAS FOR FREE!"
• He specified 28 minutes of IMAX footage in the film. All of the action scenes and aerial shots were in IMAX.
• Chris and Wally first came up with the idea of filming TDK partially in IMAX during shooting for The Prestige, but it was actually by accident. One of the people on the camera crew shot a few IMAX plates without telling anyone and Chris "went ballistic" after he found out about that. It actually worked out very well for the VFX shots, and they tried 2 days of shooting for Prestige in IMAX, just to see if they could do it. There were also a lot of test shots in Chris's garage, and up and down Sunset Blvd one late Friday night, "with no permits or police permission or anything!"
• When they told the IMAX people this plan, they asked Chris if he wanted an IMAX director of photography. After deciding that Wally could figure it out, they told them to "piss off."
• When asked what he told his crew about filming in IMAX, Wally went, "You're goin' down, boys!" They did figure out how to work the smaller IMAX camera in Steadicam. The camera is 100 lbs so...yeah, it's not easy. There's a scene where the camera operator has to run across a gravel rooftop, and they were able to do it using the Steadicam. They also had to really plan out those shots, since that setup would only load 1.5 minutes worth of film at a time.
• They even tried using the IMAX camera as a hand-held, since Chris was adamant that they treat this 100-lb monster as a regular 35-mm camera. Wally was able to do a 10-sec shot hand-holding the IMAX camera, mostly to show that he could actually do it.
• For the car chase scenes, Lev custom-built them a Levhead to hold the IMAX camera, since the smaller ones couldn't support the weight.
• Shooting with the IMAX also brought up lighting challenges, since it picks up stuff beyond a person's peripheral vision. They had to figure out tricks about where to put the lights in night shots and stuff.
• Chris joked that using IMAX film was like using a Super-8, since there's only one lab in the world which can develop IMAX film. They'd send the film to LA, then receive the product in Chicago 5 days later. It's just like developing old-school film.
• When viewing the film in IMAX, the scenes shot in 35-mm will keep the original aspect ratio, but the size of the image will expand when it switches to IMAX.
• When viewing the film in a regular theater, the "extra room" will be cropped. Chris Nolan and editor Lee Smith did all of the crop lines themselves, to make sure it won't look awkward. You do have to frame things differently in IMAX because the screen is so tall, so you can't just crop out the same areas throughout the film willy-nilly.
• Wally recommends everyone see this film in IMAX. For those in the SoCal area, he thinks The Bridge is the best place, but CityWalk is also good. If you must see TDK in a regular theater, he DOES NOT endorse digital projections. He and Chris hate them. In underexposed shots, the color gets all muddy and it's just ew. Update: Lemme explain this more. Pfister and Nolan are not against the idea of digital projections, but the way they're currently used. Most movie theaters have digital projectors with a resolution of 2K. Film is scanned at 8K, optimally. You lose a lot of resolution, and as filmmakers, he and Nolan do not like that. Wally screened the first theatrical trailer with a Blu-ray disc on a 4K projector, and he thought it turned out very nicely. But almost no commercial theaters have a 4K projector.

Fight scenes and stunts:

• Christian apparently only had a limited amount of fight choreography training for BB, which is why the edits are so fast. (Wally was adamant it was not bad hand-held camera work, LOL.) It's mostly his stunt double Buster Reeves doing the fighting. For TDK, Christian had a lot more time to learn the fights and he was more eager to participants in the stunts, so Buster only did a few stunts this time. It's Christian in the batsuit on top of the Sears Tower, with only a thin string to keep him safe. And yes, the camera stays on each shot longer in the fight scenes this time.
• Heath did all of the fighting. They only brought in a double for one or two dicey stunts, but otherwise it's all him.

The film's progress:

• Wally felt they ran out of time for color-timing, but he's incredibly picky about them . Every piece of footage that we've seen has gotten his approval, even the trailers. Working with Chris and Lee on color can be very "entertaining" since both Chris and Lee are red-green colorblind.
• The 35-mm check prints were finished 2 weeks ago. Technicolor is working on printing them now.
• They're also currently working on the final IMAX prints.
• Wally mentioned he just watched the finished film in the Universal lot, but apparently they're only private screenings since nobody has peeped about spoilers.

A few funny stories about working with Chris to finish off.

• Apparently Chris really wanted to amp up the action for TDK, but the only way he knew how was to have more explosions. "Chris was obsessed about blowing things up!" They scoped out buildings around the world that they could level, and there were candidates in Germany and Scotland before they found the one in Chicago.
• Wally only knew about Chris doing a second Batman film in the middle of working on The Prestige. Apparently Chris is a very last-minute sort of guy, and Wally has learned not to ask him about his long-term plans.

 

[slicendice]

sa-weeeet!

Anita, you rule!

 

[Caped Crusader]

Thanks so much Anita

 

[Anita18]

Oh, and I also forgot to mention that I'm surprised the budget for this film isn't all that much higher from BB, since shooting in IMAX is apparently 4x more expensive than shooting in 35-mm. They were very careful with their film consumption.

Also, I definitely feel incredibly lucky that we have people like Chris and Wally (and their long-time crew) working on a Batman film. They all just have so much integrity and passion in their work.

 

[Conebone69]

Sweet, thanks anita. That sucks that the fight scenes wont be like the ones in BB.

Looks like saint sinner x was lying after all cuz he said that the fight scenes were like BB's

 

[Conebone69]

Hope the fight scenes are shot like this then:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=veTBZ-NbMwQ

 

[Street Vendor]

That report was almost as good as being there. Thanks, Anita!

 

[ActuallyRobin]

Interesting about IMAX providing the cameras for free. I'm guessing they're hoping TDK will prompt a rise in IMAX usage and bump up their bottom line.

 

[S.D. Plissken]

This new information is so awesome. Thanks again, Anita!

 

[TheBatman072]

Everything about Chris Nolan's Batman movies have been groundbreaking and innovating.


It's amazing.

 

[Solidus]

Nice stuff Anita as always you come through in flying colors.

Nice to hear again the action will be more steady.

Back in December/November there was some article saying the action would not be like BB's. And more proof of it. Though the trailers are obvious that the camera work during action is much smoother.

Thanks Anita.

 

[NickyTea]

It's funny that he's upset about the 2k projection...

Films may scan in 8k, but I know a LOT of effects houses do their shots in 2k.

 

[Retroman]

Thanks for the awesome writeup Anita. Very interesting info.

It looks like Warners really gave Nolan and co. carte blanche on this movie.