What is Nolan's ambition to incorporate IMAX film shooting into the feature film ' The Dark Knight'?

Unprecedented shooting site forced even after destroying $500,000 camera

As mentioned above, "The Dark Knight" was Nolan's first attempt at IMAX filming. However, neither Nolan nor cinematographer Wally Pfister had any experience with IMAX, so they started from scratch and explored the possibilities. According to the behind-the-scenes footage included on the Blu-ray, Nolan shot IMAX footage on the first day. The opening bank robbery scene begins with a breathtaking aerial shot.

When they tried to shoot handheld using the smallest of the giant IMAX cameras attached to a Steadicam device, the metal pole broke, showing how unexpected this was for Nolan and his staff. Starting filming with a scene using IMAX seems like a declaration of determination on Nolan's part, but he may have also felt that if he was going to fail, it would be at the beginning.

Encouraged by the quality of the first scene shot in IMAX, Nolan and the producers negotiated with the studio to "increase the number of scenes shot in IMAX," and IMAX cameras were used in many scenes, including aerial shots and nighttime car chases. In other words, the fate of the IMAX project that Nolan was trying to push forward depended on the first scene of "The The Dark Knight."

“The Dark Knight” ©2014 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

There were many other difficulties with using IMAX cameras. Not only the camera but also the film was extremely heavy, weighing 50 kilograms when loaded. Nevertheless, Nolan and Pfister managed not only dolly shots on a stable dolly, but also handheld filming carried by hand. In addition, the camera's operating noise during filming was loud, and simultaneous recording was often impossible. The sound of the robbery scene at the beginning was almost entirely added later.

It's a famous story that in a car chase shot on a public road in Chicago, an IMAX camera was brought into the middle of the speeding vehicles, destroying one of only four IMAX cameras in the world at the time. Nolan commented that "I'm glad the film was safe," which would have made anyone at IMAX faint, but he has since become a habitual offender of destroying IMAX cameras, which are said to cost $500,000 each, and it was also reported that he submerged one in water in "Dunkirk." Either way, there is no other filmmaker today who continues to explore the possibilities of IMAX as much as Nolan.