From the literal meaning, "dark style" is a style that is both dark and black.
Although this term is relatively unfamiliar to audiences compared to today's mainstream films, "dark films" have long been dormant in the film industry. In earlier film circles, audiences liked to call similar films expressionist, B-movies, gothic films, or film noir.
Speaking of it, Duke is not unfamiliar with this style—The Matrix also carries such a style.
As for the origin of the "dark style," it's actually hard to trace, because in Goya's Black Paintings series, Pieter Bruegel the Elder's The Triumph of Death, and Boccaccio's story collection The Decameron, one can already find evidence of the existence of "dark style."
It's just that at the time, these contents weren't referred to as "dark."
And in film, Duke's upcoming post-production of The Dark Knight is undoubtedly a representative example. If one were to go through Hollywood's history following this style, it wouldn't be hard to find that even as early as M, Carl Theodor Dreyer's Vampyr, and F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu, elements of the "dark style" were already present.
Not to mention film noirs that deliberately showcase slums, human malice, and intentionally place scenes and stories under a black night backdrop.
In Duke's eyes, the dark style, like film noir, is just one of the many branches forcibly split from cinema.
There's no doubt that Christopher Nolan once was the key figure who enabled dark style films to truly enter the mainstream film circle. Dark style even became synonymous with high sophistication.
This style stood out in superhero films, directly or indirectly bringing about two trends—first, in contrast, films that followed the mainstream blockbuster style like The Avengers and Iron Man appeared more joyful and popcorn-friendly; second, after The Dark Knight brought depth and style to DC Comics and Warner Bros., the entire DC Universe had to follow a unified style and set of values, so Man of Steel was, to a certain extent, forced to adopt a "dark style" that wasn't entirely fitting.
As for Batman v Superman, a dark tone was set from the beginning of its development.
To realize this style, one needs both setup and shooting, as well as post-production.
In fact, whether it's Duke or the former Nolan, most of The Dark Knight was shot during the day. To achieve a dark visual style, post-production is critical.
Although he had gone through a gothic-style film like The Matrix, this style was still relatively unfamiliar to Duke's post-production team. This also meant that the post-production speed wouldn't be fast, and Duke had to strictly supervise the production process.
No one is born a master of all film styles—not even Duke. Even though Time to Begin the War allowed him and his team to accumulate some experience, he still cautiously and meticulously oversaw every aspect of post-production.
To make the post-production team follow this style, one must first understand what the characteristics of the dark style are.
"Dark" refers to the tone of these films' visuals being artificially dimmed. Even those scenes that occur during the day are gloomy and damp.
Of course, many of the plotlines in these films happen at night.
And "black" refers to the themes of these films being dark. The stories often involve words like sinister, pathological, eerie, violent, bloody, mysterious, religious, alternative, etc. Although many film stories are fundamentally positive, promoting justice over evil, during the development of the plot, the aforementioned elements are magnified and exaggerated, thereby producing the "black" effect.
However, even a man-made concept needs to follow certain rules and stylistic norms to be established. In dark-style films, as Duke sees it, there are roughly a few common characteristics.
First, the story is grim, and to a considerable extent contains pathological elements.
The protagonist—whether a positive or negative character—often has childhood shadows and trauma, such as Bruce Wayne.
This shadow and trauma accompany their growth, eventually becoming part of their values. Moreover, such trauma causes them to appear in a kind of "pathological" form—for instance, the Joker's scars and makeup.
More importantly, the antagonist's revenge is not for retribution or repayment, but rather a violent and bloody ritual to awaken the public. Their violence, to a large extent, is not about personal history or grudges but relates to a kind of salvation and revelation.
Such villains, like the Joker, transcend the usual definition of "bad guy." Like the protagonist, they carry philosophical depth and provoke reflection, causing the protagonists to often face moral dilemmas. This vacillation of values and reflection on justice and evil is a sort of cinematic aesthetics that is truly dark.
Second, religiosity and the resulting sense of ritual, mysticism, cult appeal, incompleteness, and eccentricity are often characteristic in the sensory and narrative elements of such films. In many segments and plots, the protagonist is enlightened by a master or wins out in some ritualistic gathering or activity before progressing to the next stage.
Such setups are, in essence, a process of self-healing and ability upgrade. But under the drive of the dark style, a scene that could have been vibrant and energetic must turn into a plot of "climbing up from a mass grave." In the process of becoming heroes, the characters must go through a series of events that wash away their original beliefs, then painfully choose to maintain the status quo.
Regardless of what they are or how they perceive the world, whether the world needs to be cleansed and restarted, heroes always choose the most universally accepted values and make decisions with the least bloodshed.
And in more films, the dark style is expressed as a visual element—300, The Matrix, and even Batman Begins—rather than the film's core values being inherently dark.
This dark visual effect, to a certain extent, implies MV-style elements, including MV's camera language and editing techniques. In set design, color grading, and overall production coordination, it fully reflects a sense of "spectacle."
Tracing back to the source, these visual effects come from painting, expressionism, gothic art, and many modern and contemporary oil paintings.
Elements that can be reflected during filming mostly come from the actors' performances and dialogue. In post-production, if those brightly lit shots can be successfully blended into the dark style, that's the problem Duke as the director must consider.
Of course, there's one more issue he must think about this was also the part Doug Walter was most concerned about at the beginning can the audience accept this style?
If it had been at the beginning of the century when superhero movies were just emerging, Duke wouldn't have been able to confirm that either. Although Tim Burton's films back then also carried a distinctly dark tone, compared to The Dark Knight, the darkness in Batman and Batman Returns could only be considered minor.
Everyone in Hollywood knows that films are deeply influenced by the social environment. Some films that succeed in the future might very likely fail if released just a few years earlier. That's why Duke had always been cautious when dealing with the Batman series and had been closely observing the changing trends of the film market.
In fact, it's not hard to see now that, after being bombarded by multiple superhero films, audiences are to some extent growing weary of those adaptations that gloss over the plot and only focus on whether the CGI looks realistic. For example, unconventional superheroes like Iron Man have been well received.
Likewise, superhero movies that feature characteristics and creative tendencies of serious films can be said to have emerged in response to this trend.
Naturally, in such drama-driven films, positioning the characters in dilemmas where "good and evil alternate" and assigning villains with highly logical and philosophical motives—along with some spectacular visuals and stories unfolding in the dark—can genuinely provide a fresh sense of stimulation to the audience.
In this kind of film style, the villain is also key. If the villain is just a stereotypical character like those in Marvel films, the entire style becomes imbalanced.
Therefore, villains are often similar to the heroes, both trying to reshape society according to their beliefs. For this purpose, they are even willing to use a "sudden death" shock therapy to cure society.
This naturally elevates the villain's level—or let's say, their class.
In fact, how long the strong momentum of future superhero films can be sustained depends largely on the villains.
Tim Burton, who had also added some darkness into the first Batman movie, excelled at a kind of Gothic expression.
Under the corrective influence of Hollywood, this expressive method has already become less related to the story itself and more about the character designs, set decoration, and makeup. His Batman and Batman Returns were shot almost entirely under the cover of night, involving themes like death, cults, and other essential Gothic and dark elements.
This kind of surreal, futuristic, and hybrid style with Burton's signature characteristics is actually quite different from the style Duke wants to achieve.
What Duke aims to realize in post-production is for The Dark Knight to completely detach from the category of comic book adaptations and exist as an independent film.
If we examine it purely from a filmmaking standpoint, what Duke wants to do in editing is to avoid treating the original comic as a script, and instead simply borrow the relationships between characters from the comic, completely reshaping the main storyline, and using a different method and storytelling technique to produce the final cut of The Dark Knight.
This can be a bad thing—if the film quality is lacking, it will inevitably be drowned in the complaints of comic book fans.
But it can also be a good thing—freed from the constraints of the comic book style, the director can unleash his creativity more freely, allowing the dramatic peaks in the story's conflicts and contradictions to become even more intense.
...
Hi For access to additional chapters of
Director in Hollywood (40 chpaters)
Made In Hollywood (60 Chapters)
Pokemon:Bounty Hunter(30 Chapters)
Douluo Dalu: Reincarnated as Yan(40 Chapters)
Hollywood:From Razzie to Legend(40 Chapters)
The Great Ruler (30 Chapters)
Join pateron.com/Translaterappu