Director information

1. CHRISTOPHER NOLAN
(Christopher Jonathan James Nolan)

2. BASIC INFORMATION
• Nolan was born on the 30th of July 1970 in London. He has been film-making for over
15 years and in that short space of time, he promoted from low budget productions to
some of the biggest blockbuster films. After shooting short movies with his Dads
super-8 camera, Nolan moved on to create 16 millimetre films at University College
London’s film society while studying English Literature. It was here the he learned
techniques such as the Guerrilla technique, which he later used to create his first
feature film ‘Following’. Later, Nolan’s career took a turn for the best when he was
given the chance to revive the Batman franchise in 2005, starting with ‘Batman
Begins’ (2005). This film was a hit and got good reviews all around for his
interpretation of the hero. Before creating another incredible Batman film, he directed
‘The Prestige’ in 2006 starring Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman. Next came ‘The
Dark Knight’ in 2008, this film was Christopher Nolan’s best received film as of 2008.
His work as a director, producer and co-writer did not go unnoticed because he was
nominated for over 11 awards. ‘The Dark Knight’ went on to gross more than a billion
dollars at the world-wide box office. In 2010, Nolan grasped the attention of his
audience once again with ‘Inception’. Then came the last of the Batman trilogy ‘The
Dark Knight Rises’ in 2012. Due to the success of Nolan’s take on Batman, Warner
Bros. invited him to recreate the beloved Superman. He did so in his ‘Man of Steel’

3. NOTABLE THRILLERS
• Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight
Rises
• Inception
• Memento
• The Prestige
• Insomnia
• Following

4. THE DARK KNIGHT ANALYSIS -
CAMERA WORK
• The wide angle establishing shot at the beginning shows the
audience where the scene/film will take place so we get a bit
of context before the action starts. High angle shots of the
two clowns in the first room we see makes us feel like we
are spying on them as it gives the feel of a cctv camera. As
the two zip out of the window, we see the camera tilt down
quickly, this shows the sheer drop below them. After this tilt
we see a high wide angle shot looking down on the two
criminals as they fly across the street. This emphasises the
height they are at and puts the audience on edge as we
don’t know whether they will make it across. Seeing the size
of these two against the large gap and street below
emphasises the height and the size of the gap they are

5. THE DARK KNIGHT ANALYSIS -
SOUND
• As soon as the film starts we can hear quiet, slow action music, from
this we can tell that the first five minutes will be action packed. This is
effective because it makes us want to keep watching to see when the
action starts. The non-diegetic music is in time with the actions in the
scene, this adds effect as we link each action we see to the sound
which keeps us wanting to watch more. At the point when the man in
the office shoots the window to smash the glass and kill a clown, the
music really picks up and gets very loud and fast. This creates tension
as we don't know whether he will manage to kill all the clowns or get
killed himself. Sonically enhanced sounds such as gunshots and
smashing glass keep the opening interesting as we cant look away for
a second without hearing a gunshot. The dialogue in the opening
makes the audience suspicious of all the clowns as they are all very
weary of each other and don’t seem to like each other. This makes us
wonder what will happen next.

6. THE DARK KNIGHT ANALYSIS -
EDITING AND MISE EN SCENE
• Cross cutting is used throughout the opening of TDK, this shows the
audience that the plan the Joker has made is very well thought out and
precise to the minute (When they hack into the wires on the roof to stop the
police being alerted). It also shows us where each character is at all times so
we don’t get confused as to where the others are. It is quite slow paced at
the beginning, this creates tension and sets us up for the action that is about
to happen. Fast paced editing breaks out when the clowns get into the bank
and start shooting, this keeps the audience excited and on edge.
• The clown masks used in the opening are very spooky and they wear gloves.
This shows the audience that they are involved in crime as they are covering
their identity. We can clearly see they are antagonists as they are wearing
scary masks and dark clothing, this is typical of villains. The props used are
very typical of a bank robbery (Guns and grenades). The fact that this
robbery is in the broad daylight is not typical of a thriller. However, this
variation makes it all more interesting as we want to see if they’ll get away