Institutional Information:
When the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of gotham, the hero known as the Batman must come to terms with one of the greatest psychological tests of his ability to fight injustice. The movie was released on 18th July 2008 with an estimated budget of $185,000,000 (USA) making $158,411,483 on opening weekend (USA). Overall the movie grossed $533,316,061. The movie was directed by Christopher Nolan who is also known for directing Interstellar (2014) and Inception (2010). Nolan also worked on the screenplay along with Jonathan Nolan who has worked together many times previously. The movie stars famous actors such as Christian Bale who is known for American Hustle (2013) and Terminator Salvation (2009), as well as the late Heath Ledger who is famous for 10 Things I Hate About You (1999). This was the second film in the Dark Knight Trilogy and ended up becoming the bestselling of all three films. The film won 124 awards all together and 97 nominations including an Oscar for the sound editing of the film.
Target Audience/ Genre:
The primary target audience for this film is fans of the batman franchise. his franchise has the ability to attract many different ages as the franchise dates back to May 1939. The target audience would predominantly be males above 12 years old as the film displays violence through the use of guns and bombs. This action aspect of the movie would greatly appeal to male audiences. The genre of this movie is thriller with the sub-genre of action or superhero. However this challenges stereotypical conventions as the protagonist has a darker side which is not normally common for the hero of the story.
Opening Credits:
Right at the beginning of the opening we are presented with a shot of the 'Warner Bros. Pictures' logo, however the normal gold yellow tones are replaced by dark blues and blacks with a stormy sky in the background. This could connote that the movie will have a darker side, in this case its the protagonist. This isn't common within the genre, this adds an edge to the movie as it hasn't been done before. The same idea has been applied to the 'Legendary Pictures' logo again making the film darker, as well as the 'DC Comics' logo. After this we are given a shot of what looks like the swirl of water or the smoke of an explosion. A cloudy vague version of the batman logo then fades in and out again quickly. This is a well known symbol that the audience would recognise easily.
Mis En Scene:
This aerial shot is used to establish the location of the movie. The shot is around 20 seconds long and shows us a wealthy looking city. We can see this due to the large number of tall buildings, this can be recognised by people familiar with the franchise as Gotham city, this is where the Batman franchise is set. Cities are also more crime filled than rural areas, this is a common setting used for action movies. An example of crime is displayed when we see the window of the building getting smashed. This leads up from the setting straight into the plot of the opening.
This high angle shot emphasises the danger the robbers are in as they slide out the window, this tells the audience that the criminals have done this before as they jump out without hesitation at the long drop. This implies that this robbery has been carefully through out and planned beforehand warning us that these people are highly dangerous. This is demonstrated again when the scene cuts to an aerial shot of them zip lining between the buildings.
This close up shot is used to emphasise the danger the criminal is in as the man behind him lifts his gun to shoot him. Close up shots and generally used to show a characters emotion, however in this scene the majority of characters are wearing masks, this therefore leaves the audience to imagine what their facial expressions would be as this sequence plays out in front of us. As its such a stereotypical shot for an action movie its easy for the audience to fill in the blanks.
This close up shot of the bank worker shows him leaning over to a desk and taking something out of a draw, although we understand what he is doing, we aren't shown what he is taking out of the draw. This adds mystery to the scene. This then cuts to a shot of a robber who is shot from behind, as he drops and the glass behind falls away we see that it was the bank worker who shot him and what he got out his draw was a gun. This short sequence is very successful as it plays on the confusion of the audience.
This low angle shot is used to show dominance of the man in the mask over the bank worker. The dominance is because the worker in the bank has already been shot, therefore is in a weaker position compared to the joker. These low angle shots are stereotypical within the action thriller genre because they make shots of the villain dramatic. This is successful as it shows that the joker has control of the situation.
Although the joker is present throughout almost the whole opening scene, his identity is kept a secret only being hinted at every now and then. This adds mystery to the opening allowing the audience to pick up the clues and figure out which one is the joker- a key character in this story. All the criminals are dressed in dark clothing, this has connotations of crime, especially robbery. Cross cuts are used between different conversations about the joker, this reinforces the idea that the joker is a very important character for this movie.
Sound:
In the opening we start with non-deigetic music added in the background whilst the city is introduced, this music gets gradually louder as you zoom into the building, this builds tension signalling to the audience that the action is about to start. We hear diegetic sound as the window is smashed, and straight after the music starts to build up and pick up pace, this links in with the action commencing. We cut to a scene with the joker standing on the corner of a road holding a mask, as the camera zooms into the mask we hear one lingering note, this tells the audience that this mask is important to the plot. This note is immediately cut off as the van pulls up and the joker springs into action. During the high angle shot of the street a loud thud has been added as non-diegetic sound, this creates a dramatic effect emphasising the danger the robbers are risking.
As the robbery is happening non-deigetic thuds have been added to the scene in groups of two. These could represent a heartbeat, this adds a sense of danger and threat to the movie. It puts you in the position of the people being robbed. At the end of the opening as the joker looks down at the bank manager the same music is played that was added during the establishing shots of the city Gotham. This tells the audience that this is the villain that everything has built up to reveal.
Character Representation:
The Joker is presented as manipulative as he was able to set up a whole bank robbery involving multiple criminals and purposely manage to be the last man standing, this shows intelligence. The men are presented to be working for the Joker as they call him 'The Boss', this tells us the audience that the Joker would have be crafty to pull this off without revealing his identity as none of the robbers know who he is, this is shown through snippets of conversation such as 'So why do they call him the Joker?' 'I heard he wears makeup'. This is also a line which helps the audience identify him as when he takes his mask off at the end of the opening. The long build up leading to the reveal of the Joker illustrates to the audience that he is a very important character.
Conclusion:
Overall this is a very successful opening for a thriller action movie. This movie is one of the most successful action movies made. It cleverly sets up the audiences opinions of the Joker before even revealing him, therefore the audience get a sense of what he is like right at the start of the film setting the tone for the rest of the movie. The use of sound builds up tension very well, also adding clues for the audience to pick on up as the scene progresses.
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