My Research/Influences... The Dark Knight...

I couldn't write about concept art and production design without mentioning one of modern film's greatest successes. The Dark Knight needs no introduction and i'm pretty sure that almost everyone has seen this film, at least once. If it wasn't Heath Ledger's acting that amazed (or Christian Bale's Mumbling...) that got you hooked, it would have definitely been the visual effects. For me this film is a prime example of how film has developed in each of its stages pre-production, production and post-production, showing that when a film gets the balance right between each of these stages along with a great narrative, the end product is destined for success. This film was extremely dark and mysterious which i feel no doubt came from the early stages in idea development. Looking at the concept art and sketches throughout the book, only dark tones and colours where used in a bid to set a dark tone to the story. I particularly love some of the concept art clearly produced in the later stages of development, which could easily be mistaken for actual shots from the film if you were to blink twice. Although half this book was dominated by the script, i loved looking through the concept art and idea developments, showing how they went through the different stages to produce the final designs, especially how they chose to make the joker look. This film will always have a place in my collection...