Newark Students Get Behind the Scenes Glimpse at 'Dark Knight'

Four Newark students got a front-row preview Friday of "The Dark Knight Rises," the latest Batman flick due out next summer.

Arts High School juniors Antonio Chambers and Ericka Hernandez and Carina Silva and Andre Marques, a senior and freshman, respectively, from East Side High School, spent the day touring movie sets and learning about the ins and outs of the movie industry – even stopping to eat lunch next to "Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan and actress Anne Hathaway, who plays Catwoman in the flick.

"It was exciting," said Hernandez, who wants a career in film editing. "I just kept looking back, like, 'Oh my god, that's them!'"

But aside from the celebrity sightings and an exclusive peek at an action scene filmed on Raymond Boulevard, the teens, all aspiring filmmakers, learned what it takes to produce a blockbuster hit like "The Dark Knight Rises."

The students first got a lesson in film history at the New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission on Halsey Street, courtesy of the commission's executive director Steven Gorelick whose firm coordinates filming throughout the state. The group then toured Newark City Hall, which was converted into a shabby refugee camp for filming Thursday.

"Apparently Gotham City has been taken over and that's where everyone is sleeping and staying," said Chambers, who said he loved learning the business aspect of movie-making.

Nolan and film executives first scouted Newark City Hall as a possible location last February in the middle of a blizzard, according to Gorelick. The Broad Street building was closed due to the inclement weather at the time but was reopened so that the "Inception" director could visit.

"(Nolan) said, 'I love it and I'm going to be back,'" recalled Gorelick. "He was true to his word and he's here today and he was here yesterday.

"He sees things we ordinary mortals just don't see," he added with a laugh. "We finally began to see what he was envisioning when we saw all these sets laid out."

above and below ground in Newark Friday and , featuring Morgan Freeman, as Lucius Fox, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as John Blake, at city hall Thursday, said Gorelick. He said the scenes filmed in Brick City were all large-scale, pivotal moments in the movie, the third installment of Nolan's Batman franchise which is nearing the end of production.

"They aren't the intimate moments, they didn't come here for that," said Gorelick. "They're able to do things here because there are some things they weren't able to accomplish in New York, such as (filming) in the subway."

During rush hour Friday, crews were still filming on Raymond Boulevard at Military Park Station, with "Gotham City SWAT" and police cars seen speeding down the street during a scene. Across the street, on a concrete island between Park Place and Broad Street, a hundreds of fans stopped to snap photos of the rare sight.

Earlier in the day, a black-masked as she emerged from the underground light rail station where filming was taking place.

But back in the Newark classroom, students Silva and Marques plan to use their firsthand experience Friday to give Nolan a run for his money. For two years, the duo has been involved in producing the full-length, fantasy adventure flick "The Flight of the Arrowhead" using miniatures, computer-generated imagery (CGI) sets and green screens.

The movie was created from scratch, with students creating their own costumes, composing the film's musical score and writing scripts, said Andrew Teheran, who teaches video animation and art at East Side. He expects the movie to premiere the end of this school year or next fall.

"Seeing the difference from doing film in school and seeing a real movie that's going to be a hit, it's totally different," said Silva. "We've got some experience (from today) to go back with to work on our film."