Opening Sequence Analysis

The Dark Knight Opening Sequence Analysis 

                                         Directed by: Christoper Nolan 

Budget: 180 million USD

Production Company: Warner Brothers

The Dark Knight is a film directed by Christoper Nolan, released in July 2008. The film could be classified as an action , crime thriller, drama and adventure. The dark knight features popular movie stars such as Heath Ledger and Christian Bale.The film made around 1.005 billion USD at box office. The cast is Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Ron Dean etc.

Summary of an opening sequence

The Dark Knight’ is most renowned for its dark vigilance and award winning script, ‘The Dark Knight’ is a successor to the other award winning ‘Batman Begins’, which introduced the entirely new dark theme to the Batman series created in Christopher Nolan’s deep minded head. ‘The Dark Knight’ was voted the best movie of 2008 and the opening scene sets out one of the most economic and effective character introductions ever, that will also explain the main genre, characterisation and narrative in the movie.

The actual basis of the opening scene of ‘The Dark Knight’ is to introduce the movie and a new antagonist character that would kill even his own men. The movie itself establishes itself as a thriller through the opening scene and that many more people will be shot in the movie due to the narrative. Even though we know what will happen at the end of the movie, ‘The Joker’ sets off a very interesting and iconic character that grabs the audience’s attention towards the movie.

The movie is said to be Heath Ledgers epitaph that won him an Oscar after his death and his performance as The Joker really creates a physco feel to the movie, that provides a 

Cinematography

The first shot is an establishing shot of a very large building within a city. The way the camera zooms in one this one particular building merely signifies that this building will have a significant place in the films as it progressively develops. It also helps create meaning for the audience in that it helps them understand the setting of the film. Then there’s a sudden break of the window glass which then proceeds with a cut to a mid shot of a clown holding a weapon, this anchors to the audience that we are seeing this view from an antagonistic perspective, which is run essentially by the clowns.

 The scene then cuts to a mid shot of an anonymous individual who is the only clown that is alone. The way the camera zooms into his mask and also as he is by himself this gives character his own entity. The zoom into the mask lasts around 10 seconds, this really positions the audience to understand the importance of the clown. Indeed some of the audience might decode that this is the actual Joker. 

The next shot is a tracking shot that follows the clowns out the building, the birds eye view shot gives the audience a sense of how driven these clowns are to complete their goal, this also gives hints that they are close by to their target. When the clowns exit the car, the low angled camera tracks along with the anonymous clown, who was originally on his own, this keeps the audience focused on his character and hints that this clown will have importance through the entirety of the film. The drifter is constantly giving clues to the audience with the use of camera shots that leaves the audience anticipated to see how everything will unfold. This is useful as it creates an enigma based around the identity of the character. When inside the bank, the camera continues to track with the action to allow the audience to see different perspectives which persists them to involve themselves in the action. After on elf the main clowns goes over to a woman and an over the shoulder shot is used to exhibit the relentless that the clowns have. 

Mise en scene

The mise-en-scene plays a huge part in creating a meaning for the audience.There is a variety of props and costumes used throughout the opening scene. Throughout the opening scene all the main characters, such as clowns were wearing bright, colorful and dreadful, creepy clown masks, which represent the Joker’s black sense of humour, and create a bipolar feeling of happiness and extreme fear, this keeps the audience confused of what is going to happen after. The characters wear dark clothes to add to the crime genre. Their costumes and props can convey the mystery of the film and the plot.

The Joker ordered the clowns to kill each other after the job is done, which creates the feeling of devotion and allegiance to the Joker, and shows how powerful and capable the character is.This, combined with the location of the bank helps the audience understand more about the narrative. The props used in the opening scene can portray the symbolism of the characters, as the antagonists use guns and weapons, we see that they are symbolic for causing danger and being a threat towards innocent people. Even the bank manager who was very confident and resolute to stand up against them, had to pursue their rules and help them, frightened and shot with a gun. A wide variety of makeup, costumes and clothing is used to develop the characters identities, background and appearance. The robbers in the scene were all wearing ordinary, everyday clothes which helps to draw attention mostly on the gaudy, splashy masks. When the joker took off his mask, we expected a normal human face, but instead we saw a face full of macabre, nightmarish makeup, which explains his psychopathic, certifiable identity. 

By the use of their costumes and props, the audience have a very clear idea of what the characters are like and we get a clear view of their personalities. It is easy for the audience to pick out the antagonists and the protagonists. The use of masks and other costumes help the audience learn about the characters and their relationships with each other. We also see with their body language, how they react with each other. While the use of masks and the guns they hold, the audience can realize the status of the characters, and whether their part in the rest of the film is important.

The action was happening during a day in daylight which suggests the impudence and chutzpah of clowns, as they were robbing a bank in the middle of the day despite people seeing them. The action appeared in the big, crowded, full of people city. The location of the production matches the genre, it being a crime thriller, the streets are typically where most crime and dangerous acts take place. The characters in the bank are a good representation of the fear of the antagonists. The scene of the clowns jumping from one skyscraper to another represents how brave and fearless the clowns are.     

 Sound 

There are two main types of sounds diegetic and non-diegetic sound. Diegetic sound is a noise which has a source on-screen. They are noises which have not been edited in, for example dialogue between characters or  footsteps. Another term for diegetic sound is actual sound. Non-diegetic sound is a noise which does not have a source on-screen, they have been added in, such as music or foley sound.

This opening scene is a tense thriller, therefore the sound is a build up to one event, there is evidence of diegetic and non-diegetic sound in this clip.  After the use of the titles we can hear the non-diegetic music rising and building up, this suggests that the operation is about to begin. We hear the gun shots whilst still seeing them on screen. As the glass breaks the music starts to speed up and gets louder and louder, suggesting a hurry while they are reaching their goal. The music at the beginning of has a fast pace and matches the general tone of the film. This is typical for crime or action genre of movies when the sound is calm then speeds up the pace to represent the buston and the action. When they enter the bank we can hear the diegetic sounds of people screaming, which makes us understand how scared and startled the people are. When the manager of the bank tries to kill them, the music starts getting louder and louder, suggesting the movement and a flurry. As the Joker shoots the manager, the music fades out which makes us feel that the danger is gone.  

Editing

We see a lot of shots from the characters point of view, edited to increase the tension and action. The transitions between each scene are sharp and quick. Also we see eye-line match in this trailer between the two characters in the car, we begin to learn of their relationship with each other and an idea of the plot of the film. The opening sequence uses the standard editing techniques, for example the 180 degree rule, match on  action, eye line match, and cross-cutting. It uses parallel action a lot to show what the different men are doing in the bank, for example one is breaking into the vault and another taking hostages. We also see the sequence of the scenes. The director makes use of ambient light throughout the opening sequence.

Barthes Enigma Code

( The hermeneutic code)

In this opening sequence we don’t really know why they are robbing the bank, they repeatedly talk about the Joker but we don’t know who he is or what his part is in the film. This creates a sense of mystery to the audience. The proairetic code- this builds tension in the opening sequence as we don’t know what is going to happen as we keep getting hints that different members of the group have been told to kill each other. The symbolic code- this shows that there may be a deeper meaning to why the are robbing the bank, rather than just for the money, perhaps what they intend to do with the money.