The Dark Knight director hungry for more IMAX

by Darren Murph posted Dec 13th 2008 at 2:29PM

IMAX has been around for years, while 3D is just now starting to really infiltrate the theater scene. Curiously, it looks as if 3D will have more of the alternate cinema market share than IMAX in no time flat, despite IMAX's tremendous advantage in launch time. Thanks to The Dark Knight, however, IMAX could receive that much-needed breath of life it has been waiting for. Director Christopher Nolan has reportedly stated that he'd like to shoot an entire film for IMAX, even though it would undoubtedly be down-converted for playback on traditional screens. He did admit that the noisiness of the camera could cause issues, but that's nothing a hard-working set pusher couldn't overcome. For those who viewed the latest installment of Batman in theaters, many were most captivated by the expansive IMAX sequences -- in fact, we'd be hard pressed to find someone who wouldn't want an entire film to look like that.

[Via FirstShowing]

Filed under: Industry, Other formats

Tags: 35mm, Christopher Nolan, ChristopherNolan, dark knight, DarkKnight, film, films, IMAX, movie, movies, The Dark Knight, TheDarkKnight, titles

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

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Ken @ Dec 13th 2008 2:54PM

Why would a loud camera be an issue? Aren't ALL the sounds for a modern, big-budget movie done in post production (voices and all)?

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RockinOscar @ Dec 13th 2008 3:24PM

lol

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Sound Designer Dan @ Dec 13th 2008 5:37PM

An IMAX camera ain't just loud, it's OMG TURN THAT CRAP OFF LOUD. Most big budget movies do ADR but Nolan prefers to get the most out of the performances on location rather than doing ADR because there are many variables in ADR.

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Miggity @ Dec 13th 2008 10:07PM

The Dark Knight in IMAX was absolutely badass. I saw it four times in IMAX just because it was so amazing. I plan on going back in January when they re-release it.

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Brian Kaempen @ Dec 14th 2008 1:10PM

IMX=badass indeed. Are they re-releasing it in IMAX? I hadn't heard that, but if true, I'm all in for a 4th time myself.

-Brian

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Craig WB @ Dec 13th 2008 7:35PM

I saw The Dark Knight in IMAX and regular cinema and it really is a cool way to show a movie.

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JagoMidnight @ Dec 14th 2008 1:20PM

Everything should be shot in IMAX if the results look like Dark Knight at home,..any techies care to fill me in on aspect ratios? Last night on blu ray the IMAX scenes totally filled my friend's 720p tv,..and from what i'm reading, it would almost fill my 1080p tv, with slight pillarboxing? Little lost here,...

Fill my tv screen FTW!

Neutral

Ian @ Dec 14th 2008 6:55PM

70mm IMAX film has a frame size fairly close to a standard definition t.v. screen (1.44:1 ratio to be technical. Standard definition t.v. is 1:33:1). The rest of The Dark Knight was shot on smaller film, standard super 35mm motion with the widest frame size currently used in cinema (2:40:1). So when watching the IMAX sequences there should be some pillar boxing on the sides.

I think shooting an entire film in IMAX would look awesome, the problem is getting past all the hitches. It's very, very expensive though that shouldn't be a problem, after the success of The Dark Knight Nolan should be able to get virtually whatever he wants for Batman 3. The cameras though are massive, extremely noisy and just a major pain in the rear to work with in general.

I wonder how Christopher Nolan would feel about getting his hands on a 645 9K Red Epic with it's 65mm sensor. Massive resolution, huge sensor with the advantage of digital acquisition and a much smaller and more manageable camera than the monster the IMAX camera is. He could print directly to IMAX film for distribution. Of course the problem is it's not out yet, it only exists in computer image renders. For now anyway.

Highly Ranked

j.pickens @ Dec 14th 2008 9:49PM

The future of IMAX is digital.
I just saw Madagascar 2, which is the first IMAX release to be projected digitally.
They have new TI micromirror projectors in these new Digital Imax theaters, which are astounding.
The problem with film projector IMAX is that the film is so big, you get lots of jitter.
The digital image is rock solid.
When the theater I was in switched from standard pre-movie stuff to the feature Digital Imax projector, the first thing shown was the big green "The film advertised has been rated PG" preview screen.
It was so huge, bright, and steady that the audience actually gasped, ... at a PREVIEW screen!

Combine the high quality digital projectors, large screens, excellent sound, and now, digital ultra HD IMAX cameras, and you'll really have something.

Oh, and 3D will help as well.

Exciting stuff.

Neutral

Iridium @ Dec 15th 2008 3:13PM

I just loved that the IMAX scenes in the Dark Night filled my TV. Maybe if I had a 65" TV in my living room I wouldn't care too much about letterboxing, but I still hate it with a passion. Just remove the mask from the movie and let the extra scene be in full view. If they wanted to they could easily make a letterbox border added by the player with BluRay. It would be simpler than making a on screen menu popup.

I didn't notice any pillarboxing during the IMAX scenes on my 16:9 TV. I was running at 1:1 as well.

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chris @ Dec 16th 2008 5:11PM

I'm lucky that i didn't fork out $4000 for a big HD TV. I bought an HD ECP4500 CRT projector in good condition. $20 000 new and i paid $500 used. I have watched 720p bluray version on 150 inch screen. Convergeance is perfect. amazing detail. The part i love that leaves people envious is that my projector can handle any refresh rate up to 200 hertz. i watch 24 frames at 120hz. very smooth picture with 5 refreshes per frame.

I can play at true 24p. Most peoples HD flatpanel can do up to 100hz and can't do a factor of 24. There is a new lcd that can do 200hz apparently. For people looking for the best value for money, you can't beat a HD CRT projector.

The dark knight is a great film. I think next batman film Nolan does should be entirely in IMAX format or IMAX and regular 70mm film. Because the 35 mm versions require anamorphic lenses to compress the incoming light onto celluloid to then be projected with an anamorphic lens to expand the horizontally compressed film to its original aspect ratio. Its done to produce a wider shape film to fill ur peripherals and fit more information on screen at a cheaper price.

70 mm film is 2.35! aspect or close to it. so no compression is required to maintain the wide aspect ratio. the problem is you loose resolution on 35mm anamorphic compression. You have full resolution and much higher resolution on regular 70 mm film.

IMAX is the highest qaulity acheivable. there is 4k digital cameras like the RED 1 and others in development but they are only equivelant to 35mm film. IMAX 15 perforated 70mm prints are equivelant to 10 000 x 7000 pixels which is nearly 6 times greater detail than FULL HD 1920x 1080p. Digital is clearer only because it has set shape for each dot of information. Celluloid has no pixels but an enormous amount of tiny dots called grain. the images is captured on the grains aswell as the entire face of the print. PIxels are clearer, but there is more grains for size compared to pixels.

Digital projectio will be great for live sporting events but the qaulity would not be as good as IMAX celluloid technically. Digitals struggled to block all light output to perform blacks. Celluioloid blacks are hard to penetrate thus giving excellent dark details. Celluloid doesn't hotspot like ccd/cmos sensors do.

I'd liek to see Next batman movie shot in 3D. and i am talking about the gimmick marketing and use in movies like spy kids and the like. 3D should be use to creat depth to the picture and aid special effects. Gotham would feel so immersive in IMAX 3D. The idea is to remove the flatness and show 3D space. 2D to 3D switching becomes a gimmick.

Warnerbrothers could make a lot of money teaming up with comanies such as edimensional with providing home users with shutter glasses. Because anaglyph is bad for your eyes and doesn't work very well such as the polar express because they stupidly didn't adjust filters correctly. shutter glasses have the same effect as polarised glasses without any refraction and the like that polarised glasses have.

I'd like clear a big issue up that people complain about all the time online.
People say bluray isn't much different from DVD so why change. You can tell them all the technical difference but they are addament there is little difference and won't get bluray.

MYTH 1: HD isn't any different except it show the same thing at a higher resolution.

answer: WRONG!! People think that DVD is the same as the theatre release in detail and qaulity. It's not. The original. IMAX prints are 10 000x7000 resolution and super 35mm is approximately 4000x3000 when scanned. The dvd copy is 700x300 approx resolution scan of am image 6 times the resolution AKA detail of original picture.

When u downconvert such a high resolution u loose alot of detail, which decreases depth perception..It's like zooming out with soft focus .

Bluray simply reveals more detail of the original print. the detail sin't compressed and lost as much as dvd.

MYTH 2: besides higher resolution there still the same?

answer: again WRONG!! The biggest deifference between dvd and bluray is somethin that most people don't even realise. DVD in NTSC formatt uses 3:2 pulldown technique to achive the original film speed of 24 frames. Problem is image jitters and panning shots are a blurred mess. DVD PAL is sped up 4% and pitch altered up 4%. to acheive 25 frams per second. The reason its done is because Most peoples tv's run at a 50hertz refrsh rate (remember movies are simply still froms flashed repeatedly very fast to imitate true motion) so in order to show a 24 fram speed film correctly it has to be sped up. A movie will play at any refresh rate al long as the refresh rate is a multiple of the frame rate.

Blu ray shows films closest to 24 frames per second. technically electronicly it is 23.98 frames per second because the 0.2 is used for colour information etc.

Conclusion: Bluray is far superior to DVD when watching films. There is no masking on bluray and you get true HD sound up to 7.1 channels. You can only experince the cinema like weight of film on bluray as its not manipulated or sped up. Until people understand how movies are created and processed, they will be clueless as o what the differences are.

Information is purely my expereince and knowledge based on use and investigation..

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David Schneider @ Dec 19th 2008 10:00AM

Scrupulously Elaborated Fraud Scheme Taints Japanese Corporations
by David Schneider email: david_lawyer@walla.com
It is known there are many hidden obstacles on the way to success in business. One chooses to overcome them legally going through thick and thin, others prefer to speculate upon a fraud scheme to tear out some money. For instance, the Russian Federation allows the latter to prosper and not to be accused of their heinous deeds since the Russian legislation is used selectively and corruption has become a norm of life.
In our case, representatives of Toshiba Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation LT, Inc. ( ) (http://www.mclogi.com/) have been working successfully in partnership for many years in Russia. Nevertheless, they –Mr. Naohiro Baba and Mr. Koichiro Natsume, had decided to snatch a large sum using Mr. Vadim Danilov and his clients.
Vadim Danilov was convinced by Mr. Baba that he had been registered as an official Toshiba trader – the Ninth Wave operating from the UK. In addition, Mr. Danilov was declared that NANA Eurooppa OY (NANA Europe Ltd.), and NANA Baltic OY were his sub-dealers, as well as all the companies which had been invited by Mr. Danilov to Toshiba's Conference also become his sub-dealers. So, Mr. Danilov worked hard believing that his current position is a real one and promising future promotions.
To his luck, Mr. Danilov had uncovered the scheme while checking fake invoices and seeing asset misappropriation in bills. As a result, he started finding out the data with Mr. Baba and Mr. Natsume but they preferred to fade away from Russia and kick back Mr. Danilov leaving him in debts.
Nowadays, Mr. Danilov had been obliged to return “the funds received” from Toshiba Corporation. He has been struggling for his rights and compensation for material and moral damages for 33 months.

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