Thursday, September 4, 2014

Special Feature:
The Batman 1989 Production Still Gallery
Part 1- Artwork Reference & Storyboards

Fellow fan Thorsten Lehmann and I recently acquired a rather large collection of fantastic imagery created during the filming of Batman '89. Much of this imagery consists of still photography created for publicizing the film. These images appeared in trade articles, merchandise like the Topps card set & movie souvenir magazine, and in video packages like the Warner Preview video. Some images from the collection you may have seen before (perhaps not with such clarity), while others appear to be unpublished up to this point. :)

Since there are a LARGE number of images, I thought it best to break them down into related sections. Today's post covers reference artwork and storyboard images included in the lot. The storyboards and logo reference have obvious ties to the film production... but it is interesting to note that the film's producers included key shots from the graphic novel "Batman: The Killing Joke" in these reference photos. Burton has gone on record MANY times as being heavily inspired by this book. The fact that "The Killing Joke" was specifically targeted for inclusion is yet another piece supporting the idea that Burton truly was striving for a comic feel in this film.

 photo logoref1_zps1ee8ef58.jpg

 photo logoref2_zps2ae211ee.jpg

 photo characterdesigns1_zpsd6d5db4d.jpg

 photo characterdesigns2_zpscc87f899.jpg

 photo characterdesigns3_zps3568719d.jpg

 photo characterdesigns4_zps2ef22812.jpg

 photo characterdesigns5_zps5d9bc268.jpg

 photo characterdesigns6_zpsee49936c.jpg

 photo characterdesigns7_zps859e61da.jpg

 photo characterdesigns8_zps3f7e8760.jpg

 photo furstdesk_zps23bf6b79.jpg

 photo furstdesigns1_zps274cd487.jpg

 photo furstdesigns2_zps7ef27883.jpg

 photo furstdesigns3_zpse2f1bb5b.jpg

 photo furstdesigns4_zps052b9904.jpg

 photo furstdesigns5_zpsab37fe0a.jpg

 photo furstdesigns6_zpse31dab5a.jpg

 photo furstdesigns7_zps5931aa79.jpg

 photo furstdesigns8_zps1ccebf74.jpg

 photo gadgets1_zps56b0b520.jpg

 photo gadgets2_zps0b6f01f8.jpg

 photo gadgets3_zpsbd9a1e77.jpg

 photo gadgets4_zpsb190177d.jpg

 photo gadgets5_zpsb4a2dfa5.jpg

 photo gadgets6_zps0ec08745.jpg

 photo gadgets7_zps88802dac.jpg

 photo storyboard1_zps5c6ebf8f.jpg

 photo storyboard2_zps6aeaf7e3.jpg

 photo storyboard3_zps7ebcb70f.jpg

 photo storyboard4_zps6b3fc9b7.jpg

 photo storyboard5_zps4b981d42.jpg

 photo storyboard6_zpsbcd30e1c.jpg

 photo storyboard7_zps8670aeeb.jpg

 photo storyboard8_zps8639cd6e.jpg

 photo storyboard9_zps408cb748.jpg

 photo storyboard10_zps39c64979.jpg

 photo storyboard11_zps2eb54fe9.jpg

 photo storyboard12_zpsb9cdbd1f.jpg

 photo storyboard13_zps90ed072f.jpg

 photo storyboard14_zps421fa863.jpg

 photo storyboard15_zps4065ca40.jpg

 photo storyboard16_zps022688c5.jpg

 photo storyboard17_zps78addb03.jpg

 photo storyboard18_zpsa5d7340c.jpg

 photo storyboard19_zpsee003544.jpg

 photo storyboard20_zpsffeff62f.jpg

 photo storyboard21_zpsa5658192.jpg

 photo comicref1_zpsb7b92304.jpg

 photo comicref2_zpsa76ee0aa.jpg

 photo comicref3_zpsfc88a965.jpg

 photo comicref4_zpsc917a361.jpg

 photo comicref5_zpsec42f18e.jpg

 photo comicref6_zps3e84a037.jpg

 photo comicref7_zpsbb47aff0.jpg

 photo comicref8_zps026e5e3a.jpg

 photo comicref9_zps67d8169a.jpg

Also included in this collection were a small portion of images from Batman Returns. Presented here are the artwork reference shots from that grouping, which consist entirely of set & background designs:

 photo batmanreturns2_zps55fff3dc.jpg

 photo batmanreturns3_zps691ceab4.jpg

 photo batmanreturns4_zpse6b9b5a7.jpg

 photo batmanreturns5_zps89965679.jpg

 photo batmanreturns6_zpsfc0a1cfd.jpg

 photo batmanreturns7_zps2199e4ff.jpg

 photo batmanreturns8_zpsec2eceff.jpg

 photo batmanreturns9_zps4e44d443.jpg

2 comments:

  1. These are incredible! I don't know how you continue to post such meaty content on such a regular basis, but I'm loving it.

    The photos from "Heh" to "It wasn't funny the first time" are actually taken from Alan Moore's 1988 classic The Killing Joke. Easily one of my favorite comics :)

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  2. That concept artwork for the speargun does explain where Toy Biz got the look for it's accessory.

    ReplyDelete