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 "The Dark Knight". "The Dark Knight Rises" will also be the film that uses 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, each with a different personality, but they are basically a unified format, 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 T2.8 aperture and medium format with 65MM adapter ring Hasselblad camera lens, the focus of the camera lens will not be affected easily.

The focusing of the IMAX camera is quite troublesome. In the past, John Schwarzman could not focus manually in the shooting of some shots. He needed to use a remote focuser 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 IMAX's technical engineers to improve certain lenses and create a new viewfinder.

Duke wanted IMAX to refit an 80mm Mamiya lens with a T2 aperture and a 50MM medium format camera lens with a T2.5 aperture specifically for The Dark Knight Rises.

IMAX technical engineers discarded the IMAX mechanical parts in the 80MM lens and replaced it with a film-size Panavision converter. They also reshaped the entire lens head according to Duke's requirements to make it fit a A mechanical aperture device.

The lens modification of 50MM and T2.5 aperture is different. The folks at IMAX put most of the lens elements into a new barrel, turning it into a more stable lens converter.

In addition, they also manufactured a custom lens with 50MM and T2 aperture according to the construction principle of the reverse telephoto lens.

These are the basis of shooting. Without good enough equipment, even the best ideas can only exist in the director's head and on paper.

The whole pre-production is in progress. Although Duke may not be deeply involved in every job, the final result of any job must be reviewed by him as the director.

"The Dark Knight Rises" requires a lot of location scenes. Apart from setting up scenes at Warner Studios and Hughes Aircraft Factory, Duke is also investigating suitable location locations. Other cities, including New York, Pittsburgh and Detroit, have extended invitations to Duke.

He and Charles Rowan also visited these cities. It is initially determined that the film is mainly shot in New York and Chicago.

In addition, with the passage of time, many studios in Warner Studios have also reached the end.

Wayne Manor, the original Batcave, was burned down by Master Ninja in Batman Begins. So in "The Dark Knight" Bruce Wayne had to temporarily move his base camp to the bat cabin.

In this one, Duke will rebuild Wayne Manor, including of course the Batcave.

The Batcave still chose the huge studio of the Hughes Aircraft Factory, and continued to use the idea of ​​​​the "flooded Batcave". Everything is hidden under the water, when anyone just goes in. You can only see a normal Batcave, but after finding the key button, there will be a lot of perfectly rendered blocks, loaded with various equipment. Everything from batsuits to ultra-advanced computers.

The soundstage at the Hughes Aircraft Factory has a huge tank that can hold more than 720,000 gallons of water, easily fulfilling Duke's requirements for the Batcave.

The sewage system all over the underground of Gotham City is Bane's combat base in the film. Another hangar at the Hughes Aircraft Factory is the scene where the scene was built. Since it is an airship hangar itself, the cave-like appearance provides the crew with Natural conditions, build tunnels to the concrete and corrugated steel structure, up to several storeys high.

To light the scene, Duke intended to shoot with super oversensitive lighting, turning the place into a sort of arena.

As a result, those super bright spot lights can cast a deadly white effect, which can create an annoying, uncomfortable environment.

The set at the Hughes hangar also provided the platform for a more complex, spectacular, multi-layered set - a creepy subterranean prison.

It's completely different from Bain's old lair hiding in the ground. This prison is like a pile of rock cages appearing in the endless abyss. It's everywhere like a labyrinth. The gates of the cages with bars are not locked, because the prisoner is not afraid of escaping. The only way out is a super-tall column that cannot be climbed at all, leading to the ground.

In order to build this scene, the crew made two columns in the hangar, the taller one is nearly 250 feet high, and Duke, the exterior scene of the prison, is going to shoot in Jodhpur, a city in northwestern India. Na Fei has visited in the past and brought the video recordings she took. The sinister landforms there can add to the sense of desolation in the plot of the film.

In stark contrast to these remote areas, is the magnificent appearance of Wayne Manor. Duke chose the scene in Nottingham, England. He had called Irene Lauder before and would continue to use her cousin's ancient villa to shoot.

The interior of the manor was set up at Warner Studios. Although Bruce Wayne fulfilled his promise and restored the original appearance of Wayne Manor brick by brick, the interior of the house was monotonous and boring. Like a home inhabited, but just a house.

In the first two parts of the trilogy, Chicago was used as the cityscape background of Gotham City, and the two Batman films also made this declining industrial city a lot more famous, especially for the tourism industry. The Batman Gotham Parade has become a regular event in the city of Chicago.

In order to win Duke's crew, Pittsburgh also offered extremely generous conditions for the crew. Not only did they have huge tax incentives, but the municipal government also cooperated with the crew to close the streets for filming without restrictions. These real discounts also moved Duke, and finally Three cities were chosen as 'stand-ins' for Gotham City. They are Pittsburgh, Chicago and New York.

In the storyboard draft drawn up by Anna Prinz, more than two cityscapes began to appear in the background of the plot development, starting in one city, and ending in another city unconsciously.

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

In this way, in order to connect with the sunlight and present the same light, the film crew must spend a certain amount of time arranging and planning.

John Schwartzman did a lot of deployment work with Duke and the floor managers. The purpose is to be able to accurately grasp the time period of shooting and the specific street location, so as to provide guarantee for future post-production.

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

This time the soundtrack is still by Hans Zimmer and his team, and the soundtrack of the "Dark Knight" trilogy is also done by him.

After both parties sign the contract. As a master of commercial soundtrack, Hans Zimmer knows how to cooperate with publicity, so he specially accepted the media interview.

"Working on the score for the Batman trilogy, working with a great director as talented as Duke Rosenberg was a joy and a joy and a great honor for me. He was the kind of guy who listened to other people .Smart directors with a variety of observations are welcome."

As the producer, Charles Rowan added, "We all want to be shocked and surprised, but it is also our pursuit to have a strong resonance with the audience. No matter how grand the production scene is, what Duke pays most attention to is the story itself. , and the inextricable causal relationship between the trilogy. As long as you know his previous two films, everyone can appreciate his hard work."

At the same time, Batman's new car, an important prop in the film, has also been produced.

With the rapid development of science and technology, Batman, a hero who relies on plug-ins for food, must of course keep pace with the times. His car has evolved from the "tank" in "Battle Time" to the dual-drive motorcycle in "The Dark Knight". In "The Dark Knight Rises" , the old model of the Batmobile can no longer attract the attention of the audience, so the Batmobile came into being.

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

Of course, compared with "Transformers", the film's near-realistic style does not allow Duke to play the vehicle so exaggeratedly, but the performance of the Bat Fighter in the setting should not be underestimated. Its low-altitude flying ability, whether it is a speeding car 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 film, which Sky Film Studio cooperated with Walt Disney, did not sell as well as other Hasbro toy movies.

The production cost of this film alone was as high as 210 million US dollars. It only sold 25 million US dollars at the box office in the first week of its release in North America in early July. It was forced to be offline by the theater after only 11 weeks of its release. Harvested less than 60 million US dollars, the global box office has not yet exceeded 200 million US dollars.

The best-selling movie was a toy, but the success of "Transformers" has given Hasbro enough confidence. Sky Movie 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, Dwayne Johnson officially joined the crew, but Duke was not very satisfied with his body shape. (to be continued ~^~)

PS:  The Chinese New Year is coming soon. According to the requirements of the family, we have to go back to our hometown together. Starting from February, it will be adjusted to two or one. The book is also ending. I am thinking about how to end it. The update may be slower. This book will not be long before I say goodbye to everyone, thank you friends for your support all the time. The new book is estimated to be in March, and there is no outline yet, and we will notify you in time when it will be uploaded.