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Post #378492

Author
crazyrabbits
Parent topic
Idea & Help Wanted: 'Rory's First Kiss' - A Fanmade Preservation Project/Documentary On The Making Of "The Dark Knight" (TENTATIVE PROJECT)
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/378492/action/topic#378492
Date created
22-Sep-2009, 3:25 AM

Hello, everyone. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the forums, but I’ve been focusing on other things over the past year, and I haven’t had as much time to come on and browse the forum as I used to.

I’ve slowly been collecting materials for a preservation project that will focus on The Dark Knight, and will encompass every aspect of the film from pre-production to promotion, in a manner similar to Jambe Davdar’s stellar documentaries on the making of the original Star Wars trilogy.

My current goal for this project is to edit all deleted and alternate shots (and there are quite a few) back into the film, remove the film’s original audio track (or subdue it), and replace it with a commentary track made from featurettes, soundbites and interview clips I have collected over the past two years. I would then integrate the behind-the-scenes material I’ve collected (i.e. material that’s not on the official release), and play it at certain points during the film.

I’ve spent some time off and on over the past year researching the film, and I have found plenty of rare and unique material for use in this project. I have Christian Bale’s and Heath Ledger’s costume test photos from pre-production, a reel of pre-visualization sequences that were made long before filming began, footage on the making of the police convoy chase, and several other goodies that are currently unavailable.

The final product will include the film (with all deleted shots edited back in) mixed with behind the scenes footage and the aforementioned commentary. I’m looking at making this a two or three-disc set, with the final two discs focusing on the viral marketing game that played out during the last half of 2007 and early 2008, proshot footage I’ve collected focusing on three different scenes in the film, and the promotion of the film on various morning talk shows. I also know that there is another user out there on the Fanedit.org forum named FranticCanadian who’s undertaking another project that is also focused on collecting materials from the film. Needless to say, no matter what he has, it pales in comparison to what I have.

At this stage, I have collected more than 4.5 gigabytes worth of material relating to the production. This includes almost every shred of promotional footage released before the film debuted and several behind-the-scenes specials. I think it would be safe to say that, outside of anyone involved in the production, I have one of the (if not the only) largest collections of Dark Knight material anywhere. To give you a sampling of what I have, my collection includes:

  • roundtable interviews with the entire cast (which were only available through the Warner Bros. Press website)
  • behind-the-scenes footage on the making of the Tumbler/garbage truck chase (not released on DVD)
  • excerpts from the Chicago and Hong Kong press conferences
  • previsualization animations of four scenes from the film (skyhook escape, hospital explosion, helicopter crash/truck flip, Pruitt building)
  • high-resolution captures of almost all of the TV spots (featuring alternate footage)

This project will likely take upwards of a year. I need to improve my skills with video editing and plan this whole thing out, but I am very confident that I will be ready to go by early next year. There are also some materials I want to obtain that will probably take a long time, and may end up being a wild goose chase.

Here’s some of what I plan to include on this release:

  1. Audio commentary created from multiple audio and video interviews released during production
  2. Hundreds of pictures, including candid behind-the-scenes photos, posters, DVD announcements, trade advertisements, unreleased costume test photos, magazine covers and more
  3. Section on the making and impact of 42 Entertainment’s groundbreaking viral marketing campaign
  4. Possible isolated score
  5. DVD_Rom folder with commercials, featurettes and other interviews

I’m looking for any of the following:

-Footage of the TDK convention panels at the major comic book conventions in 2007 (Wondercon, Comicon, etc.)
-any fanmade footage of filming in Chicago or Cardington Studios (preferably proshot)
-studio dailies (which are probably nigh-impossible to find, so this is a bit of a pipe dream)
-the UK CD/DVD press kit (has “editor’s choice soundbites” which aren’t available in the North American press kit)
-high quality version of TV Guide’s TDK: Big Movie Premiere
-any other material pertaining to the promotion or release of the film (especially if it’s official documents from WB press websites)

If you’re interested in helping me finish this project, drop me a line at alex.sahounov@gmail.com.

Let me know what your thoughts are on this project. Thanks!