The Dark Knight Film Opening

BY DANIEL INGALL

Introduction to the film

The film The Dark Knight (Action/Superhero) is Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is the second part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins. Christian Bale reprises the lead role of Bruce Wayne/Batman, with a returning cast of Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, Gary Oldman as James Gordon and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox. The film introduces the character of Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Gotham's newly elected District Attorney and the consort of Bruce Wayne's childhood friend Rachel Dawes who joins Batman and the police in combating the new rising threat of a criminal mastermind calling himself "The Joker“

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqvbv-SB4bg

Stand Out Moments

The stand out moment in this film opening is that the mastermind behind the robbery is the joker and he orders his henchmen to take out the crew once their specific role has been completed so there are fewer shares in the money. The mysterious last standing henchman says “I believe whatever doesn’t kill you simply makes you stranger” and removes his mask revealing that the last standing is the Joker. The quote and the way the Joker looks emphasises the point that he is a weird psychotic character.

Conventions

The distribution company, Warner Brothers is right at the beginning followed by the production logos which are Legendary pictures and DC comics. The name of the actors are challenged in the opening, this so no focus will be lost when showing the bank robbery seen. Introduced to the main characters is challenged and also met. We are introduced to the ‘Joker’ at about 5 minutes into the opening however he features in the whole introduction but he is wearing a mask to hide his identity. We are not introduced to batman within these 5 minutes.

Camera

We are put straight into the action after a 20 second establishing shot. This informs the audience that it is based in a city environment.

There is a camera movement when is focuses on the joker before getting in the truck of his mask. This is to show the mysterious character with revealing his identity

There is a close up of the joker putting a grenade in a civilians hand, the joker is at a high angle so show that the joker is the superior person

Lighting

The lighting that is used is all natural, high key lighting which makes it very realistic.

Actors

One of the main characters is Batman that is played by Christian Bale. Christian Bale suits the role of batman as he created the deep mysterious voice to hide Bruce Wayne’s identity. The other main character is Heath Ledger starring as the Joker. Heath was put onto an isolated island for three months so he could get into the evil, mysterious character of the joker. Michael Craine, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Morgan Freeman. All these actors are big, phenomenal actors.

The Director of the Dark Knight is Christopher Nolan. He has done two very successful films recently such as The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception and 6 more which has a gross profit of $3.5 billion worldwide.

Props

There are heavy uses of props such as guns and masks which are used to relate back to the genre and also relates back to the super hero film, the idea of identity being hidden.

All the people in masks are wearing similar clothes which suggests that they are part of the same gang this also relates to the hidden identity.

The props help to reinforce the power the Joker and his henchmen have over the civilians as they are not armed.

Sound

The first piece of sound we are introduced to is a non-diegetic sound which is music in the opening. The same music is played when the camera shows the joker holding his mask. The music is slow paced and creepy which helps build the tension.

When the joker gets into the truck, the music picks up showing that the action will occur soon with these characters.

When the characters start to talk, diegetic sound, there is a repetition of the name “Joker” which helps to set up the rest of the plot and builds to the enigma.

Enigma

Enigma is created for the first 2 minutes. The audience is wanting to know who the ‘Joker’ is and why is he robbing a bank and why does nobody know who the mystery character is.

Who are the gang, and what they are doing with the money?

As it is a Batman film, the audience will be questioning where batman is to stop the robbers.

Why I like is so much

I enjoy this opening because we are thrown straight into the action and there is lots of enigma to the Joker character. When the Joker reveals his identity he comes across as a very clever, psychotic mastermind giving the audience the impression that it is going to be an action packed super hero movie.