Batman short film

Hey Everyone,

I'm a long-time lurker. I recently finished a Batman short film that I filmed mostly during my freshmen year of college. I'd love for you all to check it out and let me know what you think! Hope you have as much fun watching it as I did making it


Cheers,
Paul

Nice work, Paul. Your compositions are nice and tight, the digital effects work was nicely integrated, and the musical score was very effective.
I particularly liked the Lamborghini Aventador-inspired Batmobile, and the rogues gallery cameos in the onscreen news feeds... and is that a custom Linux platform he's running?

Your day-for-night cemetary shoot was a failure, however, particularly when the sun was visible in the frame...! :facepalm

I didn't mind his retro grey suit and green eyes, but the cape was much too small for him.
And Batman with a beard? A little disconcerting, I must admit. :wacko

I'd be very interested in acquiring a cowl like that. Where did you get it?

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated! There are definitely a number of things that could have been improved upon. I certainly agree that the cape was much too small.

Thanks also for your thoughts on the day-for-night. That was particularly difficult, mostly due to factors beyond our control. For instance, the cemetery that we utilized (Forest Hills Cemetery in MA, lovely staff & landscape) did not allow us to shoot at night. So we were dealing with a lot of sun, on a hot summer's day, in a small designated area as the cemetery is still active. I also had no crew (as I filmed the majority of this during my freshmen year and nobody wants to help a freshman :cry) so it was difficult to block light as I was doing pretty much everything (though I did have a fantastic crew for the studio shoot we did earlier this year).

There is no shot of the sun during that scene, even before the not-so-great color grading. I believe the shot you're refering to is @ 4:17, that large flare is one of many that we added throughout the scene to help sell the night effect. The insertion of the cricket sounds were also meant to serve that purpose.

Anyways, I appreciate that you checked it out! Hope it was at least somewhat entertaining! I got the chance to work with some fantastic artists during this project, the gauntlets and batarangs were custom made by an amazingly talented member of these boards (DangerRuss). And a friend of mine fabricated the cowl, you can check out his work at Reevz666. Unfortunately the mold broke when we casted a cowl in resin (used in the Batcave scene, when he lifts it off his head). I will be making a new mold soon and if you are interested in a limited run, feel free to shoot me a message

Cheers,
Paul

I enjoyed it, but I do have one gripe. If you go by the comic, and imo it should be the bible of any movie based on a comic, or previously written source, Batman has a very strict code he goes by that dictates the actions of Batman. One of the first of these is Batman does not appear in the day, only at night. This is to insill more fear and terror of him in the criminals. I understand places would not let ya shoot at night, and I overlooked those, my gripe is toward the mugging in the beginning where Batman is out during the day. Batman is a lot less terrifying in the daytime, also having the daytime be "Bruce time" lets him gecuperate from the previous nights fights as all bruce has to do is play the part of the millionaire playboy, freeing him to come, go, sleep late as he pleases.

I hear ya, though I really don't understand why people are upset when Bats is shown in daylight. He's the world's greatest detective and crime doesnt just stop when the sun comes up. Sure, he would more likely be working an investigation as Wayne during the day, but I imagine there are some days where it is otherwise. its a full time gig, really. But I do enjoy more when Batman is a demon of the night, as you do

Haha, Batman needs to shave.

Anyway, this was an entertaining short film, and I liked it a lot. Good work.

haha, thanks mate!

it's not just fans, Bruce says it himself in the books a few times. It's that way because Batman is only as effective as he is, is due in large part to the psychology involved. Because it's night he can appear from nowhere, coming and going without being seen. Criminals are suddenly knocked out from nowhere. He can take his batmobile, plane, boat etc.. without being immediately spotted where it came from and revealing the entrance to the batcave. Plus night is a scary time as it, add to it a vigilante who's waiting to punch you in the face and criminals get even more edgy, making them easier to beat.

mandosoldier said:

it's not just fans, Bruce says it himself in the books a few times. It's that way because Batman is only as effective as he is, is due in large part to the psychology involved. Because it's night he can appear from nowhere, coming and going without being seen. Criminals are suddenly knocked out from nowhere. He can take his batmobile, plane, boat etc.. without being immediately spotted where it came from and revealing the entrance to the batcave. Plus night is a scary time as it, add to it a vigilante who's waiting to punch you in the face and criminals get even more edgy, making them easier to beat.

Click to expand...

Oh, there's no doubt Batman is more intimidating and more 'at home' when it's dark out- but I still don't see why he can't be doing rounds during the day, sometimes there's an absolute need for it. I tried to depict (perhaps not very sufficiantly) in the short film that crime is at an all time high ever since Batman showed up, hence he's out in daylight just as much as nighttime. But having Batman in sunlight is hardly new- Batman #1, many episodes of BTAS, not to mention the entire '66 series showcases the Dark Knight in broad daylight.

You'll most likely see it in "Rises" as well, here's a recent quote from Nolan: “We felt to some degree we’d earned the right to do that [put Bats in daylight] with the character,” explains Nolan. “Batman Begins was very much about explaining the logic of the suit, and how it belonged in the shadows, in a position of stealth where he’s able to intimidate people with it as a new entity. And then through The Dark Knight we would bring him out during the magic hour and we changed the suit accordingly so he withstood that kind of exposure. But also the character himself has the reputation now, so he’s able to expose himself more and still intimidate people. And with the third film we’re just pushing that further…"

Anyway, I appreciate the feedback and understand the preference to see Bats in the shadows. If it were any easier to acquire permits for on-location night shoots, I most certainly would have utilized that time.
maybe next time

Not to be argumentative, but even Batman needs down time. To have him out in day as much as night would tax him to the point of ineffectiveness. This is why he has his code dictating Batman's actions. And the early series imo really didn't have any idea of what to do with Batman other than have him fight crime. The series really didn't get interesting until Batman started acting like well, a bat.

And everything Nolan said in that interview makes me have serious doubts to the quality of Rises. Nolan has gone through insane lengths to make the last two films darker and grittier. He's even made Batman a wanted fugitive. So I fail to see how having Batman in the daylight where any rookiee cop, and heck any boy scout that's paying attention will be able to clearly spot a black figure with a cape running around rooftops, and in this scenario the tumbler batmobile would be even more of a useless chunk of metal that it already is as it'd lose it's one saving grace, stealth.
Batman just should never be in the sun, Nolan keeps arguing realism, well let's look at it this way, it's daytime you see some guy dressed in what appears to be a giant batsuit, are you going to be intimidated scared, or a "stay away from the crazy man kids" scared? I can let this go for fan films like your because as you said filming permits are a ***** to get at times. However a multimillion dollar film with access to limitless CGI, I really don't wanna hear excuses on why he's in the sun.

Hey everyone!

if you enjoyed my Batman fan-film, please check out my next (even bigger!) superhero project - we could use all of the support we can get!

SUPER

Hey man I appreciate the film it was awesome.. for fanatical entertainment. If it was darker ? whoooa... even better.