Batman Begins

The Caped Crusader

Batman Begins tells the story of how, through the trials of his childhood and early years, Bruce Wayne became Batman. Director Christopher Nolan (Memento, Insomnia) was adamant that his film should be firmly grounded in a believable reality and he made it clear that he wanted the visual effects to integrate seamlessly into what would be a very physical style of film making.

DNEG’s primary challenge was the creation of the expansive landscape of Gotham City. A wide variety of techniques was employed including large-scale miniatures, matte painting and highly detailed digital environment work.

The facility also handled all of the monorail train work, the Batman digital stunt double shots, the miniature rooftop car chase sequence and the opening Himalayan Monastery sequence.

A five-person pre-visualisation team was established in the visual effects department at Shepperton studios, working directly with the film’s VFX Supervisors.

DNEG created some 300 visual effects shots for the film, making it the lead vendor. A wide range of new tools, techniques and working methods were developed to produce seamless environments and effects of the highest possible quality enabling DNEG to do justice to the sweeping grandeur of Christopher Nolan’s unique cinematic vision.