How Batman Influenced My Film Career

The third and final Batman film,” The Dark Knight Rises”, comes out July 20^Th and no one is more excited about the new Batman film than this guy right here. I mean who doesn’t love Batman? He’s one of the most popular and most recognizable superheroes in pop culture. You can’t go anywhere without someone wearing a Batman shirt or quoting lines from the films. I’m 25 years old and when I look back on my childhood, the Batman franchise became a huge influence on my film making career. 

 I was 3 years old when I first watched Tim Burton's 1989 film  "Batman" on the good old VHS. I remember the commercials that came out right before the movie started. It first had the diet coke commercial where Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred calls Gotham’s convenience store to let them know that Batman is picking up Diet Coke. Then we hear, “just for the taste of it, diet coke" jingle and Alfred drinks the last Diet Coke. We cut to black. We fade in on a dark blue night sky. Then Danny Elfman’s orgasmic music pops up and we see the main title "Batman" appear in yellow words on screen. It was that moment when I realized I’m about to watch a great movie.

I can write 50 pages about Tim Burton's  "Batman"  but that’s not the point of this blog. The moment I watched  "Batman" was when I realized I wanted to make movies. In a way"Batman"  was also my film school. It taught me about character development. For example, in the film, we slowly find out why Bruce Wayne becomes Batman. As a kid, his parents are killed by his arch nemesis, The Joker. That's his characters motivation as to why Batman wanted to fight crime. So in the end, batman taught me about plot and characters. Which is kind of funny cause the 1989 film is known for its visuals and less on plot. Some hardcore batman fans believe that the early batman films didn't do the comic books justice. Well if you watch the later batman films with Joel Schumacher as director….then yeah…I mean bat nipples...come on.... Sounds kinky but no. 

It wasn’t until director Christopher Nolan stepped in and rebooted the batman series. I was 18 when "Batman Begins" came out. I was right out of high school; I was not yet a man but no longer a boy. I went to see this film with my dad with low expectations. To be honest I didn't care about  "Batman Begins" . There was only one batman film and that was when I was a 3 year old boy. After leaving the theater I said to myself, "Boy was I wrong about Batman Begins". Everything I knew about Batman was erased in my mind. It finally told batman’s true origins and focused more on the Bruce Wayne character rather than the villains. The release for batman begins was perfect. Here I am becoming an adult and here comes Christopher Nolan's Batman Saga that's geared more for adults. 

What really boost my confidence as a filmmaker was during the summer of 2008 when "The Dark Knight" came out. We all know the story. It was the summer of batman that year…well for us Chicagoan s, 2007 was the summer of batman when they filmed  "The Dark Knight"  in our city...but I digress. I remember renewing my license that day and my brother somehow got tickets to a sold out midnight showing of  "The Dark Knight" . Expectations were so high. Well you know about the whole Heath Ledger thing but I won't get into that. The AMC Theater was filled with mostly college students. It was loud and my feet were anxiously dancing. Then the lights dim down and the movie begins. The first 6 minutes of the  "The Dark Knight"  we first see The Joker with his back turned standing on the street corner of Gotham city. I kept rubbing my elbow at my brother and quietly saying "DUDE THAT'S THE JOKER...THAT'S THE JOKER".

For me, the first 6 minutes of the film started out as an awesome popcorn flick. It got my attention but then it went from being a superhero popcorn flick to an artistic masterpiece. I walked out of that theater that night and said to myself “not only was this the greatest movie ever made but its films like the dark knight that makes me want to make movies" I mean look at that film, the visuals, the complex story, the acting  etc. 

Why is Batman so dang popular? Is it because he’s a superhero who doesn't have super powers? Is it the villains? I don’t know, but I have learned a lot from those films and they made me the filmmaker that I am today. I’m so influenced by Batman that I even somewhat borrowed a shot from one of the batman films and put in my short film "Only Thunder".I wouldn't say borrowed, it was more of a tribute. Very Tarantinoish to do but it was worth it. I'm not going to say what shot exactly or what scene, you're just gonna to have to watch  "Only Thunder"  and find out. Which by the way will be playing on August 11Th at the 2012 Prairie State Film Festival...but I digress. 

I remember the night before we had to shoot"Only Thunder" . It was 2:30AM,  I didn’t eat, was sweating balls but yet I was excited. I was so pumped up. Some filmmakers would listen to certain songs to help them get in the mood. I slowly listened to the song "immortal" by Evanescence and a little bit of the "Magnolia" soundtrack but for some reason I started listening  to the Batman soundtrack. Which one? All of them, including "Batman and Robin"......yes Bat Tits again! It really pumped me up. But the song that really pumped  me up that night was Hans Zimmer score from "The Dark Knight Rises", the deshay deshay barsara basara chants. Which means "he rises". That chant has become my workout music. 

The most important factor I learned from the batman films which is now a cliche in superhero movies  is sacrifice. Every super hero has to sacrifice a normal life in order to save the day. Batman isn’t a superhero, he's a hero, which means he’s only human, just like you and me. He has limits. When you’re in the film business, you don’t have a normal life. This is not a 9 to 5 job. If you want to make it in this film business, you really have to put your personal life aside to order to succeed. The choices that you have to make will not be popular by friends and family. And this is coming from the same guy who quit a shitty job at an airport in order to make  "Only Thunder" . It’s tough to balance a normal life and a film career. 

Having working on movies sets,then go home and sleep for an hour then go back on set, then leave...then come home see your family and so on and so forth is hard. Like Alex Delarge from "A Clockwork Orange" would say, "I don't have time for the old in and out anymore if you know what I mean"….well I might have time for a quick quickie. Don’t get me started with how much weight you’ll lose. If I get any skinnier I’ll look like Christian Bale from "The Machinist". Don’t think of this as a scare tactic cause its not. I just have to learn my limits, like Batman should but Batman has no limits. Wait a minute, I just said he has limits and now I'm saying he doesn't. Forgive me, its hard to think straight in this business. Now that the new Batman movie is coming out, what’s gong to happen to the dark knight, will he live, will he die? All know is that this going to be an epic film. I really hope that during the end credits they play "Bat Dance" by Prince.