Production Design- Batman Begins & The Dark Knight

As I love this subject I will always be writing blogs on it but as there was quite a bit of interest in my first production design blog I thought I would put up some information about the recent Batman films, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight as I find them very inspirational. These films are a huge step away from previously released Batman films and are filmed in a completely darker and raw style, using less of the comic hero side of things and instead showing the depth and despair of the dark Gotham City and it's villains. I think it works superbly and I have been completely captivated by what i have seen so far. These are perfect films to see in the cinema too with the larger screen, the Dolby Surround Sound and additionally The Dark Knight has been filmed in IMAX so this film has an even larger viewing impact on you. I would also like to start detracting people from watching bootleg, not just in part because I want to help protect the film industry but because if you are watching bootlegs then you felt it was okay to give yourself a more diminished viewing of a film just so you could tick a box to say you had seen something. You lose out on so much of the quality and what was thought through to create maximum impact during filming has been lost with bootleg, you lose clarity of film, colour, speed, sound etc.. In Batman Begins there is a scene where hundreds of bats fly towards the camera, in the cinema people was so absorbed that they ducked as they felt the bats were coming towards them, I am sure those watching the same film on a bootleg copy lost of out on the impact of that scene. Why would you deny yourself that to save a small bit of money aren' t those things part of the the joy of seeing a movie after all.

These new Batman films were directed by Christopher Nolan, who is a new generation of director. He is part of a new wave of film makers coming through who are cutting edge and using more modern technology with a new approach and it's enthralling to see them pushing the boundaries even further. They see film making with a new perspective which is refreshing and they put you in a position where because you are unsure about their directing style, partly because they don't already have large established films in their portfolio, you find yourself gripped to your seat in anticipation.

I'm a big fan of action packed, futuristic or magical movies and this in mainly due to the design. A set has to be recognisable for what it is but the depth of this can be stretched as far as the imagination can take it for example with Batman, Gotham City doesn't exist only from a magazine and the whole concept of the Batman character is fictitious so this gives the designer greater parameters to design within. However one reason why Batman Begins and The Dark Knight work so well is in part due to the work of Nathan Crowley and his team. He designs with superb elegance, it's not clumsy but very sophisticated, it revolutionary in pre-production and execution during filming. He created quiet believably the immense size of Gotham City all the way through to the confided wet underground of the Batcave. The feeling of size and confinement were portrayed in such detail that you were dragged into the scene and felt that you were actually there watching from the side.

The third film in the Batman series is in pre-production now.