IMAX version of Dark Knight gets examined
July 2, 2008 – 4:14 pm
In a recent article, Studio Daily explores the process of filming in IMAX for The Dark Knight. The film, opening Friday, July 18 to IMAX and conventional theaters, contains six sequences filmed using IMAX cameras, equalling a total 28 minutes of film footage. The IMAX scenes were then intercut with the 35mm film.
At the recent 2008 Cine Gear Expo, Dark Knight cinematographer Wally Pfister goes into further detail on the necessary preparations he and director Christopher Nolan took before filming in IMAX.
The process, Pfister explains, began with the earlier experience of digitally re-mastering (DMR) the first Batman picture, Batman Begins, into The IMAX Experience in 2005. The DMR process took the original 35mm film and outputted it to IMAX sound and picture quality.
“We shot lots of tests in Chris’ garage,” says Pfister. “Very guerilla-style, we drove down Hollywood Blvd. without a permit, shooting. We needed to get an idea what we were getting ourselves into.”
Next, Nolan began to pick scenes he wanted to do in IMAX. “He had to sell the studio,” says Pfister, who admits he was excited to shoot in IMAX, whose image is 9.5 times bigger than anamorphic 35mm. “He needed to answer in his own mind if he could finish the film within the post schedule.”
Previews of the film have been generating incredible praise on the revolutionary use of IMAX in a major studio feature film.
Read the entire article by following the link below:
UPDATE 1: The producers of The Dark Knight also discuss the IMAX version in a recent article from Comic Book Resources. Producer Emma Thomas reveals some shots for Nolan’s previous film, The Prestige, were filmed with an IMAX camera “just so we could a sense of what the issues were going to be.”
With the shooting of the Dark Knight, Thomas continues:
The prologue was always meant to be [filmed in IMAX], the car chase was meant to be, [and] the end was going to be . . . As we went along, there was just some shots that we just thought would be great in IMAX, and so we just added some because it turned out to be much, much easier than we thought it would be.
UPDATE 2: If you wondering about ticket sales, MovieTickets.com are reporting 50% of pre-ordered tickets for The Dark Knight are for the IMAX version with over 100 performances already sold out.
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