"Ivan, lower the brightness and saturation a bit more."
Standing in front of the monitor, Duke continuously gave instructions according to his requirements. "Adjust these daytime scenes too. I don't want any bright and sunny shots change all the daytime backgrounds to a gloomy and slightly damp atmosphere."
At this moment, Tina Fey walked over and whispered in his ear, "Hans Zimmer is here."
Just like in Batman Begins, Duke once again invited Hans Zimmer to score The Dark Knight.
After a few words with Anna Prinz, letting her temporarily take over his work, Duke left the studio and went into a nearby reception room, where he met the Hollywood maestro of film scoring.
"Hi, Hans."
"Hi, Duke."
Duke walked over and shook Hans Zimmer's hand. The two had worked together several times, so he didn't stand on ceremony and got straight to the point. "The plot of this one will be darker than Batman Begins. My requirement is simple: follow the style of the previous film's score but add some new elements to make the overall tone not just more intense and thrilling but also stylish."
"I've already read the script." Hans Zimmer, understanding Duke's busy schedule, cut to the chase. "The Joker left a particularly deep impression on me. I want to use extremely restless electronic sound effects as the Joker's musical theme."
Duke wasn't very proficient in music, but he trusted Hans Zimmer's abilities. "Go ahead."
Hans Zimmer didn't stay long. After confirming the basic direction of the soundtrack with Duke, he left the Warner Bros. studio.
Duke returned to the studio and resumed his journey into darkness.
However, he maintained a clear head and understood that films so dark—just like epic films and other genres—could also lead to aesthetic fatigue if overdone. A heavy film like The Dark Knight was meant to be a one-off in his plans.
Not all films are suited for this style. Even The Dark Knight Rises later on had its dark elements significantly toned down.
As far as film style goes, the dark tone won't go out of style, but like epic films nowadays, it may stop being mainstream or liked by audiences for a time.
Every decade or so, Hollywood undergoes a shift in film genres and styles musicals, gangster films, comedies, teen flicks, action films, fantasy films, all the way to the current superhero movies.
The dark style of superhero films is definitely a fresh concept for now, and it may not go out of style anytime soon. However, stories that can carry the dark tone aren't that many. Given the existing content frameworks and stylistic constraints, turning all comic book adaptations into dark films or completely removing the dark tone from superhero movies is unrealistic.
To some extent, the dark style's visual effects can easily fatigue viewers.
In fact, what fatigues viewers more is the viewing experience itself. Because of the dark worldview, the constant back-and-forth struggle between good and evil, and the oscillation of human nature, it's easy to feel "exhausted."
Such films aren't like those Marvel superhero movies with light comedic tones that make people feel "refreshed." Although dark films have deeper stories and more resonance, the discomfort in viewing makes it hard for audiences to maintain long-term interest.
If a similar film comes out every two to three years, audiences would still be eager to watch. But if it's twice a year, many would probably be overwhelmed.
Of course, from another perspective, darkness isn't a one-size-fits-all style, nor is it an element every director can handle. The Dark Knight may be the peak of the dark style, but by the time of The Dark Knight Rises, that style had been reduced to the bare minimum.
While commercial factors certainly played a role, the limitations that this style imposes on story, film, and character are also huge factors.
Some people believe that darkness represents a high-class, high-quality film style, incomparable with ordinary comic book adaptations—especially those noisy, superhero team-up battle flicks.
But in reality, whether a film is dark or not has absolutely nothing to do with sophistication. It's only related to the choices of the studio and the director.
Some Marvel superheroes could easily be adapted into darker stories. But the former Marvel never did so, because that style was completely different from their comics and the overall franchise tone.
More importantly, not everyone likes dark films. For most viewers, movies are just a form of entertainment. So, shooting films that seem profound and uniquely stylized often fails to satisfy the mainstream audience.
Especially in the increasingly crucial international film market, audiences see comic book movies as "high-tech special effects blockbusters."
So, when The Dark Knight was released, audiences were more willing to see it as an independent film rather than a superhero movie adapted from a comic.
Kevin Feige, head of Marvel Studios, once said—"The Dark Knight does show the difference between a comic book and a film, and the potential of movies. But I don't think audiences will always prefer such dark and gritty films. That's why we didn't make Thor or Captain America into dark films like The Dark Knight."
Duke fully understood this, and he knew that while the dark style wouldn't go out of fashion, it would definitely decline to a degree.
During post-production, Duke also met a few times with Zack Snyder. Perhaps because The Dark Knight hadn't been released yet, neither he nor Warner Bros. had been too affected by this style.
As a partner of more than ten years, Duke knew Zack Snyder well. Strictly speaking, Snyder wasn't particularly suited for this style.
After all, his greatest influence came from Duke's early styles.
He was good at adjusting lighting and color tones. He might be able to achieve a technically dark style like in 300, but he wouldn't be able to match it with a corresponding heavy theme.
Strictly speaking, Duke himself wasn't very suited either. The Dark Knight, like Chicago, could be considered one of those rare films that stood apart in his long career.
Once he leaves the Batman series, he won't use this style again.
Up until February, Duke was busy with post-production work, and at the same time, he made quite a few requests to Warner Bros., such as prioritizing IMAX theaters for the premiere and early screenings. This was strongly supported by the IMAX company.
The footage shot with IMAX cameras runs as long as three hours. Although it's impossible for the entire film to be in the IMAX format, according to Duke's plan, the final cut will contain about 40 to 45 minutes of IMAX scenes.
Even though that's not especially long, it still makes it the commercial film with the most IMAX footage in Hollywood to date.
In addition, under Duke's instruction, Warner Bros. and relevant staff at Duke Studio are searching across the U.S. for young Batman fans—preferably those suffering from serious illnesses.
For a film to sell well, marketing and promotion are absolutely key.
As per Duke's requirements, Heath Ledger has to come to the Warner Studios from time to time to participate in dubbing. Perhaps this helped the work; the Australian actor hasn't had any accidents so far.
Heath Ledger's death contributed greatly to the previous The Dark Knight. Countless past cases have shown that a deceased lead actor contributes more to a film than a living one.
Since Heath Ledger hasn't had an accident, the film will definitely need another promotional highlight something that draws intense attention.
By mid-February, Duke and Mike Dawson began fine-editing the film to cut the nearly six hours of footage into a version suitable for theatrical release.
Although many CGI-heavy special effects scenes haven't been added yet, the shots that only require background and lighting adjustments are basically complete. After the rough cut met Duke's stylistic expectations, the biggest task was to tighten the story while maintaining the overall style.
With such a heavy theme, if the pacing dragged like Heat, Duke was convinced The Dark Knight would flop.
"My requirements are simple. As always, use concise, sharp editing to create powerful narrative tension!"
After Duke gave his statement, the fine-editing officially began. As the director with final cut rights, he had full control of the editing. Mike Dawson's editing team worked entirely under his instructions.
Standing in front of the monitor, Duke watched the footage. The first shot was a wide view, then suddenly, the glass of a building shattered. Looking from the outside in, two figures appeared.
"Stop!" Duke rested his chin in his hand and said, "Cut the second half of the second shot. Right after the window shatters, switch immediately to an indoor close-up. Make it clean and sharp."
A few minutes later, the footage continued playing. Duke kept giving directions. "The grappling hook shoots out—don't wait for it to hit the ground. Switch to Joker's back immediately. Keep pushing in with the same camera movement. Use that push to drive the rhythm and mood."
Mike Dawson personally followed the instructions, completing each of Duke's requests. The two occasionally exchanged ideas.
"Duke, I think we can use the car that suddenly bursts in beside the Joker to break the push-in rhythm."
Watching the screen, Duke nodded. "Good idea. The next shot can be handled the same way. Just as the Joker begins to get into the car, cut immediately to the other side where the thug stands up."
Cutting from one incomplete action to another just beginning breaks editing logic—but it's a specialty of Duke and Mike Dawson.