I love the Dark Knight. I saw it twice in theaters and that is not something I ever do. It is an extremely well crafted story augmented by mature audio-visual sensibilities: in fact, the best action flick since Terminator 2, in my opinion. I happened to catch part of it on the small screen last night and I noticed something unusual that I had not noticed before. I later scanned through the film for a closer look and it wasn't my imagination: the aspect ratio changes. 2.40:1 / 35mm 1.78:1 / 70mm I was aware that the film was shot in two formats and that seems to be the difference. It is a peculiar decision. I can only speculate that, even though the film is intended to have a ratio of 2.40:1 (as do many action/epic films,) someone decided that 70mm film stock is too costly to crop to that extent. I don't know. I suppose it is not a big deal, just unorthodox. Has anybody else noticed this? Does anybody care or have any thoughts?
I've got the two disc edition of The Dark Knight and there is a short feature on it called "Gotham Uncovered: Creation of a Scene" that talks about how they shot 6 scenes in 1.43:1 specially for IMAX. They say that they wanted to throw the audience into the action. The DVD also includes those scenes in their original 1.43:1 format. The scenes that are shot in IMAx are: The Prologue, Hong Kong, The Armored Car Chase, The Lamborghini Crash, The Prewitt Building and The Dark Knight. So that's the reason some of the film is in 1.43:1 format instead of 2.40:1. Although I'm not sure about the 1.78:1 you've got...
For one thing, a wider aspect is generally considered more immersive and that is why action/epic films are wider. I cannot seem to locate any studies regarding psychological responses of an audience, but they do exist somewhere. I did find this picture on Wikipedia to illustrate 1.44:1 70mm film: This ratio does not appear in the film. The 70mm image was matted down to 1.78:1 (a standard 16x9 TV screen.) To take from Wikipedia again; So why did neither the theatrical nor Blu-ray release get a uniform look? Was it intended to have a variable aspect ratio or not?
It isn't just the aspect ratio, but how things are filmed to take advantage of that ratio (ex. Lawrence of Arabia's famous scenes in the desert, where the then new wider aspect ratio was used to create a seemingly endless expanse of desert around the title character, cementing the idea of his isolation from civilization/society). Um...you may wish to reword that statement. The IMAX film format did indeed appear in the film...in IMAX theaters. The 70mm image in theaters showing 35mm, and on Blu Ray, was then matted down to fit the aspect ratio of the smaller formats. But said scenes, iirc, did in fact show full screen aspect ratio when shown in IMAX theaters. This was already answered by the other poster. Certain scenes were filmed in the IMAX format for effect, an effect that would really only be readily apparent in IMAX format theaters in terms of quality. In 35mm theaters the difference would be somewhat less apparent (although, tbqh...it actually may have helped produce tighter grain on the 35mm print for those scenes originally filmed in 70mm). In IMAX, the 35mm prints were digitally scanned to IMAX format...but as with any "blow up" there still remains a slight difference (it is kind of like - but not exactly - like taking a 720p image and upconverting it to 1080p). This is why the cinematographer of Dark Knight chose instead to shoot some high action sequences in IMAX format on set itself: as the original format for those scenes were in IMAX format originally, there would be no degradation, however slight it may have been, of the image as opposed to digitally blowing up/rescanning 35mm to 70mm. And as an added bonus, if what I think to be true is in fact true, when fitting the 70mm to 35 it would have a side effect of tighter grain during those scenes. Sometimes stuff like this just comes from the DP wanting to do something, and the director trusting him enough to champion it to the producers, and the producers looking at it and thinking that it may actually generate more buzz and revenue so they give the green light. Obviously it was done for specific scenes for specific reasons...but usually stuff like this comes about because of want for experimentation.
I mean to say that the variable formatting didn't really appear in IMAX theaters. The 35 was rescanned and digitally "blown up" to 70mm aspect ratio, with the scenes filmed in IMAX format staying as is. As for why it appears differently on Blu Ray...I'm suspecting it may have something to do with maintaining the integrity of the format.
Another reason why they may not have the same aspect ratio on Blu Ray or non IMAX theaters was also due to effect. There have been films that use different aspect ratios for effect. Can't remember them off the top of my head...but I recall some films in the early days of the "wide scope" ratios starting out "normal size" and then, when something changed the nature of the story the wider aspect ratio appeared to cement the idea of "this is a big change, this is important, moreso than what has come before".
I assumed it was a given that the frame would be balanced regardless of shape and size. Lawrence of Arabia does fit the 'epic' description. I believe that is essentially what I said. The theatrical (including IMAX) version and Blu-ray version both have variable aspect ratios. Some sequences appearing in 2.40:1 and some in 1.78:1. It was not answered by the poster. I even stated in the first post that portions of the film were shot on 70mm so I agree. The benefits of larger formats are obvious anyway (at least I think so.) But why is part of the film 1.78:1? Why is not all of the film 1.78.1? Or, since the DVD is all 2.40:1, why is the entire film not 2.40:1? That detail is decided very early in the production. It was a conscious decision. I am not suggesting it was a mistake. Perhaps it is comparable, in some respects, to Wings of Desire or the Wizard of Oz shifting colour for dramatic effect. Or why not even compare it to "put on your 3D glasses now" sequences like in the last Superman movie? The Simpsons Movie.
