Made in Hollywood

As the soul of the entire crew, Duke's use of imax cameras will be more frequent and in-depth than the previous "Dark Knight". "The Dark Knight Rises" will also be the film with the most imax lenses in film history. , The number is estimated to reach 50% of the entire film. "≤,

To this end, imax provided Duke with four cameras designed and manufactured by Marty Muller. These heavy cameras are hand-made, and each has a different personality, but they are basically a unified system, and All parts are interchangeable.

Each imax camera is equipped with its own fixed focus lens, which is divided into 40mm, 50mm, 80mm, 110mm, 150mm and 250mm. Many of the lenses are also equipped with a 65mm adapter ring with t2.8 aperture and medium format picture. For Hasselblad camera lenses, the focus of the camera lens will not be affected easily.

Focusing on imax cameras is quite troublesome. In the past, John Schwarzman was unable to focus manually in some lens shots, and he needed to use a remote focus motor equipped with a torque motor to operate the whole process.

During the preparation period, Duke put forward some requirements for the use of imax cameras based on previous technical experience, and asked the technical engineers of imax to improve certain lenses and create a new viewfinder.

Duke wanted imax to modify a 80mm Mamiya lens with a t2 aperture and a 50mm, t2.5 medium format camera lens for "The Dark Knight Rises."

The technical engineers of imax abandoned the imax mechanical parts in the 80mm lens and replaced it with a film-specific Panavision converter. They also reshaped the head of the entire lens in accordance with Duke’s requirements to make it suitable for one lens. Kind of mechanical diaphragm device.

50mm, t2.5 aperture lens transformation is different. The people at imax incorporated most of the lens into a new lens barrel and transformed it into a more stable lens converter.

In addition, they also created a custom lens with a 50mm and t2 aperture based on the construction principle of a reverse telephoto lens.

These are the basis of shooting. Without good enough equipment, no matter how good the idea is, there can only be the head and paper of the director.

The entire preliminary preparations are in progress. Although Duke may not be deeply involved in every work, the final result of any work must be reviewed by his director.

"The Dark Knight Rises" requires a lot of location scenes. In addition to setting up the Warner Studios and the Hughes Aircraft Factory, Duke is also investigating suitable location locations. Since the project was initiated, not only the original Chicago is seeking to continue shooting in the past. Other cities such as New York, Pittsburgh and Detroit have sent invitations to Duke.

He and Charles Rowan also traveled to these cities and initially determined that the film was mainly shot from New York and Chicago.

In addition, over time. Many of the studios in Warner Studios have also come to the end.

Wayne Manor, the original Bat Cave, was burned down by the ninja master in "Batman: Hour of War", so Bruce Wayne in "The Dark Knight" had to temporarily move his base camp to the Bat Barn.

In this part, Duke will rebuild Wayne Manor, including the Bat Cave.

The bat cave still chose the huge studio of the Hughes Aircraft Factory, and continued to use the idea of ​​‘flooding the bat cave’, hiding everything under water. When anyone first enters, they can only see an ordinary bat cave. But after finding the key button, there will be a lot of perfectly presented squares, loaded with all kinds of equipment, from bat clothes to super high-end computers, everything.

There is a huge water tank in the studio of the Hughes Aircraft Factory, which can hold more than 720,000 gallons of water. Duke's requirements for the Bat Cave can be easily fulfilled.

The sewage system all over the underground city of Gotham is Bain’s base of operations in the film. Another hangar at the Hughes Aircraft Factory is the site of the scene. Since it is an airship hangar, the cave-like appearance provides the crew with Natural conditions. Build tunnels leading to concrete and corrugated steel structures, up to several floors.

In order to illuminate the scene, Duke intends to use super-excessive lighting when shooting, turning this place into an arena-like place.

In this way, those super bright spotlights will give off a pale effect, creating an annoying and uncomfortable environment.

The set of the Hughes Hangar also provides a platform for a more complex, spectacular, and multi-level scene—a creepy underground prison.

It’s completely different from Bain’s nest, which is hidden underground. This prison is like a pile of stone cages appearing in an endless abyss. There is a labyrinth everywhere. The cage doors with fences are not locked because they are not afraid of prisoners escaping. The only way out is a super-high column that cannot be climbed at all, leading to the ground.

To build this scene, the crew made two pillars in the hangar. The taller one is nearly 250 feet high. The ground location of the prison Duke is preparing to shoot in the city of Jodhpur in northwestern India. Na Fei has inspected in the past and brought a video recording, where the sinister landscape can increase the barrenness of the plot.

In stark contrast to these remote areas is the magnificent appearance of Wayne Manor. Duke chose Nottingham for the scene. He called Irene Lauder before and will continue to use her cousin’s ancient villa. Come to shoot.

The interior of the manor was set up in the Warner Studios. Although Bruce Wayne fulfilled his promise to restore the original appearance of Wayne Manor brick by brick, the interior scenery of the house was dull and uninteresting. It's like a home where people live, but just a house.

In the first two parts of the trilogy, Chicago was regarded as the urban background of Gotham City. The two Batman also made this declining industrial city a lot of visibility, especially the promotion of tourism industry is obvious, even The Batman Gotham Parade has become a routine show in Chicago.

In order to win Duke’s crew, Pittsburgh also offered extremely generous terms for the crew. Not only did they have huge tax concessions, but the municipal government also provided unlimited cooperation with the crew to close the streets for shooting. These practical concessions also moved Duke, and ultimately Three cities have been selected as "stand-ins" for Gotham City. They are Pittsburgh, Chicago and New York.

In the sub-shots drafted by Anna Prinz, more than two urban scenes began to appear in the background of the plot development, starting in one city, and unconsciously changing to another city and ending.

In order to achieve seamless connection, maintain continuity. The crew will shoot in different cities, different seasons, and different time periods.

In this way, in order to connect the daylight and present the same light, the film crew must spend a certain amount of time arranging and planning, only in this way can it be ensured that the horse's feet are not exposed.

John Schwarzman and Duke and the branch venue manager did a lot of deployment work, in order to be able to accurately capture the shooting time period and specific street location, to provide protection for future post-production.

In addition. Charles Rowan concluded another negotiation and finalized the film's soundtrack team.

This time, the soundtrack is still written by Hans Zimmer and his team, and he also manages the soundtrack for the "Dark Knight" trilogy.

After the two parties signed the contract, as a master of commercial soundtracks, Hans Zimmer knew how to cooperate with publicity and specially accepted the media interview.

"To score the "Batman" trilogy and to work with a brilliant director like Duke Rosenberg is an incomparable enjoyment and joy. It is also my great honor. He is the kind of person who is willing to listen to others’ opinions. , Welcome all kinds of wise directors with observations."

As a producer, Charles Rowan added. "We all want to be shocked and surprised, but we also seek to resonate strongly with the audience. No matter how grand the production scene, Duke is most concerned about the story itself, and the intricate causality between the trilogy Relationship. As long as you understand his two previous films, everyone can appreciate his good intentions."

At the same time, the important props in the film, Batman's new car have also been produced.

Science and technology are advancing rapidly. Of course, Batman, a hero who relies on plug-ins for meals, must also keep pace with the times. His car has evolved from the "tank" of "War Hour" to the two-wheel drive motorcycle of "Dark Knight". In "The Dark Knight Rises", the old model Batmobile can no longer attract the audience's attention, so the Bat fighter came into being.

This big guy who can run fast and soar into the sky looks like a combination of Autobots and Decepticons. Following Duke’s "model special effects" concept, the crew built this high-tech vehicle in a 1:1 ratio. The model, through real street shooting, plus the necessary computer modification, presents the thrilling chase in the film.

Of course, compared to "Transformers", the film’s close-to-realistic style does not allow Duke to play with the vehicles so exaggerated and fancy, but the performance of the Bat fighter in the setting is still not to be underestimated. It can be as superb as the Harrier fighter. Its low-altitude flight ability, whether it is a speed chase close to the ground, or a fast-climbing aerial combat, can be easily competent.

During his busy work, Duke also cared about the situation of "Super Battleship." This adaptation of Sky Studios and Walt Disney was not as big as other Hasbro toy movies.

The production cost of this film alone was as high as 210 million U.S. dollars. It only sold 25 million U.S. dollars at the box office in the first week of its release in North America in early July. After only eleven weeks of release, it was forced to be offline by theaters. Earned less than 60 million US dollars, and the global box office has not exceeded 200 million US dollars.

The film’s best selling toys, but the success of "Transformers" has given Hasbro enough confidence. Sky Studios and Walt Disney can only share a very small share of toy sales, which is destined to be irrecoverable. Huge investment.

At the end of August, Dawn Johnson officially joined the crew, but Duke was not very satisfied with his size. (To be continued.)

ps: The New Year is about to come. According to the requirements of the family, we must go back to our hometown together. Starting from February, it will be adjusted to two or one change. The book will also end. I have to consider how to end. This book will not take long to say goodbye to everyone, thank you friends for your continued support.

It is estimated that the new book will arrive in March. There is no outline yet. We will be notified in time when it will be uploaded.