The Dark Knight is a action thriller directed by Christopher Nolan, released in July 2008 it became only the fourth film in history to gross $1 billion. The film was nominated for a total of 178 awards and won 103, including Best Supporting Actor awarded to Heath Ledger (The Joker). The film was distributed by Warner Bros Pictures with a budget of $185 million. Staring actors such as; Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
The opening shot shows an establishing shot, centred in an urban environment, high rise buildings fill the shot with no background of skyline, the camera tracks in, changing from a shot of many buildings and then to a shot of a single building, the shot lasts a total of 15 seconds this creates suspense. The suspense is then broken with the smashing of a window. The next shot shows two characters, this is where the main enigma starts, the two characters are wearing clown masks, creating the enigma of “why are the men wearing masks”. The use of a clown masks relates to the common fear of clowns, connoting. The fact he is holding a gun tells us he is the antagonist and will create danger within the film. Non-diagetic music through these shots is a simple beat, the beats rise occasionally to match with the height of tension, for example the beat changes with added base when the window is smashed. The use of the prop gun creates the obvious enigma of “why does this man have a gun” “what does he intend to do”.
The scene cuts to a long shot, once again a track is used to emphasise the importance of an object, the object being a clown mask, this tells the audience he too is linked with the other antagonists. The antagonists face is never shown because his back is shown to us, therefore we automatically presume he is bad. As we continue tracking in a van suddenly pulls up and the man gets in. The tense tone stops completely and it cuts back to the people in the office building, allowing us to figure out that they are travelling in 2 groups.
The group in the small office then use a zip line to travel to another building, the use of advance equipment shows they have a great intent and have the power to defeat anyone who gets in their way. This is shown through the use of a high angle extreme long shot, in the foreground we are shown the antagonists and in the background we see a round and cars, this shows that everything around them is ordinary but their actions are extraordinary, a common convention of a thriller.
The story is then explained when we switch to inside the van, 3 characters are in the van and are all wearing masks, the enigma about identity is increasing with every shot as we are yet to see a face 1 minute and 45 seconds into the opening. Two characters are now talking about the heist they are about to perform, the specifically talk about a character known as “The Joker” the other character does not speak. Then parallel action is used to the men on the roof who are also talking about “The Joker”, this all creates another enigma about this character creating questions among the audience.
The action then starts when the characters enter the bank, shots are fired and actors create a more dramatic feel with fast movements although editing is not particularly fast paced. Non-diagetic music then quiets down to allow the audience to focus on the diagetic sound of screaming and gun shots. The bank manager is shown to signify his importance and authority shown by his surrounding office.
Music volume then increases when we cut to the men on the roof, they are hacking into the alarm system, they now have control of the bank, a usual convention is the switch of control between antagonists and protagonists in thrillers. Parallel action then shows by switching back inside the bank, the silent character is now strapping grenades to hostages, this shows the power he has. He still doesn’t speak increasing his mysterious attitude creating a larger enigma.
We switch again to the men on the roof, once one man’s job is complete the other antagonist shoots his partner, this creates a huge enigma about the reasoning behind why he was shot, it also shows they cannot be trusted and their next actions are unpredictable. The characteristics are common in any action thriller film when portraying an antagonist. The man runs to a large vault, non-diagetic music increase, connoting the importance of the vault, he uses a large mechanical tool to break into the vault, the use of advanced tools are often used in superhero movies.
We switch back to the bank floor, we are shown a antagonist beating a hostage, then a cut to the manager who was shown earlier. He is calm, this goes against the typical conventions of thrillers, we track towards his face going into a medium close up, his lower body is covered as he turns towards the antagonist. In timing with a cut we hear a gunshot, the cut takes back the previous shot of the antagonist (shot reverse shot). The glass behind him chatters indicating that is where the gunshot has come from, the antagonist falls with the glass reviling the manager. This great piece of editing, camera work and framing creates an amazing scene created with great precision. Non-diagetic sound then heightens to signify the rise in power of the manager and we are shown panic by protagonists as they rush to cover. The manager starts to shoot as the silent antagonist, the music increases along with the loud sound of gunshots. The leader asks "He's out right?" to which the mysterious clown nods. The leader rises then gets shot by the bank manager. Through all the murders of the various clowns it tells the audience that a theme of the film will be betrayal. The mysterious clown rises up and shoots the bank manager.
One of the characters goes down to the vault, once the man who is breaking into the vault completes his job the other man, continuing the theme in the film. The clown now can take the money in the vault and the job is nearly complete, then there is an ellipses that cuts from the clown taking the money to the main hall where the money is now collected. The clown who went to the vault then threatens the mysterious clown with a gun, again suggesting another theme of betrayal. The music here begins to repeat the same two notes over and over to build tension. In this part we hear the first line from the mysterious clown "No, no, no. I kill the bus driver" which confuses the audience due to what we have been shown so far and there being no bus. The scene concludes with a huge bus loudly crashing through the wall and killing the the other main clown, leaving the mysterious clown which has now confirmed suspicions that he is leader with him being the only one left and that he has planned this.
This opening is ful of engimas and great editing, the use of constant parallel action and then to create mstery among the audience with leaving the questions to be answered in the final minutes. The opeing is relivant the our opening because it uses enigmas, parallel action and complex editing all to tell a story, not just relying on acting alone.
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