JCutts - Analysing an opening sequence of The Dark Knight

Genre:


The Dark Kight is a crime thriller.The opening sequence is typical of its genre. It includes a bank robbery and within the first 2 minutes we aleady see a gun shot. This is most likely going to fulfill the vewers expectations. From the opning sequence we get the sence of the crime thriller through the oraganised crime and in this case, the bank robbery. However within this obbery there is a corruption within itself. This may challenge the viewers expectations and also help to make the viewer of who to consider to side with.


Film Language:


All the ''villians'' in this sequence have a mask covring their face. This not only disgises their identity but also gives a sense of mysteriousness to who it could be and hence allows the viewer to guess from the very start what is exactly going on. We also see things such as guns, hammers, and other weapons which all convey crime of some sort.


The camera angle is never actually face on with any of the charecters and always either behind them or at an angle which means the viewer cannot clearly see any charecter . Again allowing the viewer to use their imagintion and and gives a sense of confusion why exactly they are hiding their faces. A dolly would have been used to shoot a lot of this scene as the camera is often moving as well as a high cutting rate . This builds tension , this is re-enforced with the frequent cross cuts. Also allowing us to see what every mans task is in the ''job''.


The sound in the opening sequence starts off in correlaton to the cuttin rate. It starts off slow but as the tension builds so does the beats in the sound and cutting rate.


Welearn through the dialogue that this bank robbery has evidently been well planned. We hear one guy say ; '' The joker, the guy who planned the whole job'' In an establishing shot of the charecters. This sutbly informs the viewer of what is going on. Through non-verbal languge we also can assume they have done this before by their confidence and pace in their body language .


Narrative:


The audience is positioned as almost involved in the robbery and allows us to see all the aspects of the bank robbery. However there is a slight sense of allienation for us , the viewer, as we do not see the identity of the robbers, behind the masks. The major themes of the narrative include organised crime, and thi sis shown through many aspects. For example the gun shots connote crime and villiany. Tension is maintained throughout the sequence by a range of different techniques. They use the soundtrack by using sudden loud noices, as well as an increasing ''drum'' beat sound. A hight cutting rate is also used during points of actions to really allow the viewer to feel the tension of the scene.

Representation & Ideology:

Two social groups are explored in this opening sequence. There are the mysterious group of men commiting the organised crime. We rarely get a face on shot of these , often it will be n angled shot to add mystery to the charecter, they also are all wearing masks which stop the viewer from seeing their identity, keeping them guessing of the significance of this. Also the innocent bank workers are representated as helpless and certainly inferior , this would be supporting the basic ideologies of a crime thriller, as bank workers are often seen as the victims.

The values and beliefs of most people thinking the law is somethign that should be stuck by would be broken by this organised crime. Also withing the crime , there is a case of the men killing one another ( again organised) in order to increase their slice in the reward. This is not only breaking the law but also maybe seen as ethically wrong and decietful.

The semiotics in the opening are used very cleverly. The masks used to hide identity are almost ''clown like'' Which is often used in mysterious films and in other films of a similar genre, For example ''Saw''. Guns automatically have conotations and signifiers of crime , and the way they are used with such confidence suggest they have done or used them previously ot this job. Re-enforcing the fact they are or should be seen as ''the bad guys''. The very opening of the scene shows a long shot of the city which shows very tall sky scrapers, this emphises the urban and city landscape the scene is going to take place in. We are instantly hown that something unusual is going to happen with a sudden smash of glass in one of the buildings, connoting crime of some sort instantly.

Media Audiences:

This is a tentpole and therefore aimed at all four of the quadrants. We know this firstly because the film itself was given a ''15'' Certificate but they appealed and cut certain bits out to ensure it's ''12A'' certificate. This was agreed to reduce the certificate as a lot of the more ''explicit'' parts are not actually filmed, but are left to the viewers imagination to think of what happened. I think the majority of the readers of this text are clearly meant to be against the villains commiting the crime. This is so that later in the film when we are actually introduced to Batman, we can side with him , and it is made more obvious that , that is the intention of the film.

As a British teenager i see this opening sequence as firstly very gripping. It has high action points with also a twist in terms of the plan to kill them off to increase their percentage of the money . Although it still leaves a lot to keep the viewer guessing which is a great technique to keep the viewer interested, by putting them in the position to try and ''work out '' the problem. Despite this it is clear we are meant to side against the criminals and i think they way it is filmed allows us to do that , but still taking an interest in the ''Jokers'' role.

Institutional Context:

Several key actors are used in this film ; Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Micheal Caine, Morgan Freeman. These are very well known actors and would atract film lovers from all of the gour quadrants, emphising the fact it is a tentpole. This was produced by Legendary pictures, and was certainly an Industrial film. This Film went out on Blanket release in order for it to be seen as an ''event'' and increase more people to go. Hopefully also avoiding as much piracy as possible. It also used media synergy and was released on many platforms , such as DVD, Computer games etc. This enabled them to maximise profits on this film.