The Dark Knight is the second film in the Dark Knight trilogy that were directed and co-written by British filmmaker Christopher Nolan, the film was released in the UK on the 21st July 2008 and gained £11,191,824 on its opening weekend (UK) it was produced by Legendary pictures with association with DC Comics, who hold the rights to Batman, and it was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film won two Oscars, one Posthumously for Heath Ledger in Best performance by an actor in a supporting role for playing the Joker. The other Oscar came for Best sound editing.
The target audience for this film is predominately males aged from 12 (the films official certificate) to 30 as the films has icons that present to the stereotypical male interests, this being action, violence and suspense. However another target audience for this film are fans of the Batman franchise, which dates back from May 1939, therefor this can relate to older audiences as they have been following Batman throughout their childhood. The target audience will be mainly middle and working class for this film as there is no social message or deeper meaning as it is based on a character that has been recurring for over 70 years.
The opening institution credits are seen first. The Warner Bros. logo has been stripped of it’s infamous golden colours and replaced with a dark blue colour, this is the first shot a viewer sees and instantly connotes a dark film, with the non- diegetic soundtrack being a low sound with a dark tone reinforces the dark film convention. This also happens with the Legendary pictures logo and the DC Comics logo. There is then a fading transition that slowly reveals smoke coming towards the screen, then appearing a black Batman logo. This connotes that Batman, the lead protagonist may show a dark side in the film, drawing in the view and creating a mysterious tone.
The opening scene for this film is 5:30 minutes long and follows a group of clown masked criminals perform a bank robbery, with the lead antagonist, The Joker, being revealed in the end. The first shot is a extreme long shot, and ariel shot. The came focusing on a large, modern building, this connotes wealth. The mis-en-scene of the shot is several high buildings and roads, the implies that the film will be based within a city, an viewer of the previous films, and or Batman fans, will already know this is Gotham city. There is non-diegetic incidental music that is quiet, but gradually gets louder as it zooms towards a window, the music creates a tense atmosphere, suspense and a feeling that something interesting is about to happen. The first cut goes to a man, dressed in all black wearing a clown mask and holding high-end equipment; the black connotes a robber, criminal and perhaps someone who doesn’t want to be seen, this is extended by the idea of a clown mask being worn, it connotes that he does not want to be seen, this relates to the secondary target audience of Batman fans, as it shows a link towards the Joker, the lead antagonist to the movie, this creates excitement for the view as the Jokers character was previously hyped up by the marketing of the film.
There is a cut to a street corner that shows a man, holding a clown mask with his back facing the camera, this is a long shot as it shows the whole man. However his face is not revealed, this creates a mysterious atmosphere, the camera then zooms into the mask, giving a preferred reading the the mask is significant as a clown mask is an icon of the Batman franchise. Throughout this shot there in a incidental music that again creates tension and suspense. This is interrupted by the diegetic sound of a car screeching around the corner at this point the music gets louder and heavier connoting that it’s getting closer towards a significant moment.
There are several quick cuts as characters starting preparing for a potential crime, there is a lift in soundtrack, it gets louder and lower, this is when two characters are zip lining over a road, this connotes tension and fear of the two characters.
Within the car there is diegetic speech, one of the clowns is discussing the shares from a job, this is now hinting that a bank robbery will occur, there are guns being loaded and aggressive driving, these are all icons of action films. The speech continues and there are references towards the Joker, it then cross cuts to another narrative where as two other clown robbers are discussing the same topic, this connotes the important of the Joker and builds up excitement and suspense to his inevitable reveal.
The makeup of all the characters connote chaos and crime as their faces are covered and are all wearing dark clothing. On the other hand the scene is at day time which appears to be sunny giving high key lighting in the scene, this ironically connotes happiness, this further emphasises the chaos and mayhem that seems to be represented with the jokers character without evening meeting him yet.
As the characters pull into the bank there is a panning shot of the character running up steps, there is diegetic sound of footsteps. There is a cut to inside the bank where the soundtrack gets quieter as diegetic gun shots are heard as well as screams and shouting, this connotes chaos and anarchy.
The bank connotes wealth, the clerks are all dressed sharply and smart this is an icon of success and represents the style and setting for the rest of the film. The bank manager using diegetic speech to say “Do you have any idea who you’re stealing from?” this further connotes wealth and that it isn’t a random bank, that the Joker has chosen this one especially, making the viewer think why, this engages the viewer and draws them into the rest of the film
At this stage the Jokers character is represented as a stereotypical antagonists in an action adventure film, he is seen as crafty, as he planned a bank robbery and extremely violent as he instructs them to take each other out. This is a negative representation the character.
One of the last shots and most effective shots of this opening scene is a shot reverse shot with one character, the bank manager being a POV shot, this POV shot is used to show the magnitude of the Joker, a low angle shot is shown on the Joker to connote his power in this situation. The diegetic soundtracks creates a loud and low sound as the Joker pulls off his mask, this connotes the importance of the characters and fulfils the build up. Where as the bank manager is shown in a high angle shot that is also an over the shoulder shot of the Joker, this show the Joker is the dominant character, as he has low angle shots, the takes up the whole screen for his dialogue and he is included in the over the shoulder shot.
Overall this is an effective opening, as well as being quite unconventional, as it does not feature an appearance of the protagonist, although one reference to the protagonist it is not a direct one. It is also unconventional by not showing any credits, the stereotypical conventions of a film opening are credits either in the scene or on a back drop before or after the opening scene, and they usually name the Director, top billed cast, producers, writers, make up, costume designers, music and casting. None of these are seen within the opening 6 minutes of this movie, however this does not hinder the effectiveness or the opening. The opening creates a near perfect opening for the rest of the narrative, gives a wide range of shots that establish the environment, characters and power.
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