In an era where the spectacle of the summer blockbuster is overly dominated by the use of computer graphics, one of the most refreshing aspects of Christopher Nolan's Batman movies was his reliance primarily on practical effects and location shoots. The Dark Knight was no exception - replete with sumptuous IMAX cinematography of Chicago standing in for Gotham City, its action scenes were equally impressive on account of the fact that they were filmed for real, with no green screen composite shots to speak of and CG used only to remove the sight of well-positioned cameras. The night time chase through the city streets - surely to go down in cinematic history as one of the most impressive and engrossing sequences of all time - came with a heavy price. Conway Wickliffe - the special effects technician leaning out of a 4x4 whilst filming a parallel stunt car - was killed when the vehicle he was in failed to make a 90 degree turn and collided with a tree. A veteran industry technician who had worked on a string of Hollywood action movies including Children of Men and a number of James Bond movies was commemorated in the closing credits to The Dark Knight.
