The Dark Knight Avid Workflow

"The Dark Knight" director/cinematographer team Christopher Nolan and Wally Pfister are well known for their insistence on a traditional photochemical finish for their collaborations. And watching their films in a theater, it's hard not to see their point. "Batman Begins," "The Prestige" and "The Dark Knight" all had unbelievable clarity and depth. I have nothing against the DI process, but it does seem to result in a slightly flatter look when compared with a traditional finish.

"The Dark Knight" had a hybrid workflow; from what I understand, the IMAX shots were scanned digitally for the 35mm prints. Editor Lee Smith then selected the part of the frame that would appear in 2.40:1 on the 35mm prints. Those sections were then filmed-out and cut in with the anamorphic 35mm negative.

On IMAX prints, the process was backwards. The 35mm portions were up-scaled digitally using IMAX's amazing proprietary system. Those were then cut together with IMAX camera negative for the large format sequences.

How cool is that!! Here is an interesting article from Avid detailing the challenges facing the editing team.

Editing The Dark Knight on Avid