1. Luke Fortser
Micro essay: An Analysis of Cinematography and Sound in
Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight
The film that I chose to analyse is The Dark Knight directed by Christopher
Nolan. The clip that I have chosen is the bank robbery scene from the opening
parts of the film. The microelements I will be focusing on are cinematography
and sound.
This scene begins out with an
establishing aerial shot of one
building in the “Gotham” sky
rise this shows us that the film
is set in present day, as the
building looks very modern.
The camera then zooms in
towards a certain window
whilst playing incidental music
along side giving us the idea
that action is about to start. The film then uses a matching action shot of the
window smashing and the person that shot through it. This shows us that there
is some form of crime going on as they then proceed to shoot a zip line over to
another building. During this scene we hear a lot of incidental, non-diegetic
music that carries on throughout.
After this we are given a medium
long shot of a fairly well dressed
man stood with a duffle bag and
a clown mask giving us the
impression he is with the other
men we see in the opening shot.
It then goes to a tracking shot to
a close up of a clown mask,
which this man is holding in his
hand. During the tracking shot it
changes from a deep focus to a
shallow focus of the mask. This is used to make sure the focus is on the mask and
nothing else. This could be hinting at the main villain, as it is a foreshadowing
effect to keep showing joker/jester figures throughout the scene. After this we
then see a pull focus from this character on to a rough looking truck. This could
be showing us that the people who are doing his job don’t have much money. The
scene then keeps cutting from this group of three back to this group of two
showing us that they are all working together as they are having ironic
conversations that coincide with each other. “ I know why they call him the
joker” then after the cut another extra says “so why do they call him the joker?”
2. Luke Fortser
After this
conversation ends
we then are shown
the three men getting
out of the truck but
the focus is kept on
one of them using the
rule of thirds, we
know this because he
is in the centre of
view taking up most
of the frame. This
could be because he is a higher power in this team but we still have the idea that
all of them are even in power. It then keeps the focus on this one villain using a
panning shot as they enter a bank giving us more of an idea that he is of
importance. The film then proceeds to show us a steadicam shot of this bank as
the three villains run down to the desks. We then see a medium close up of a
woman touching something under her desk. This is used to make it easier to cut
in the other two men that are still on the roof. The extra then goes on to say,
“here comes the silent alarm” during this we see the other man reach into his
coat from the over the shoulder shot of the clown that is talking. This then gives
us the idea that he is going to do something to the other man. But before we find
out it cuts to a close up of a duffle bag that is being opened showing that the
contents are grenades. The villain that had the focus on him earlier then
proceeds to put these grenades in people’s hands then pulling the pin. This is
used to show the nature of these criminals and that no one is safe in this
situation.
After this we then cut back to the two on the roof where the clown that disabled
the alarm states that he is done. The other character then shoots this clown and
it shows a pull focus from the clown being shot to the other. They show this so
we know the nature of the criminals doing this job. It then has a few fairly
meaningless cuts until we see a medium close up of a character sat in his office.
His face is emotionless with no panic shown it keeps the focus on his face until. It
then cuts to a clown in the bank who is shouting at the hostages, we then hear a
gunshot and see that the man
who was sat in the office has a
gun. This makes these sounds
diegetic and synchronous
whilst incidental music still
plays over the top of the scene.
The man then walks out
through the window that he
smashed to find and kill the
crooks. During this it cuts away
to a medium close up of the clown trying to get his way in to the vault but is
electrocuted and shocked. This shows the bank isn’t an ordinary one and the
robbers are dealing with something much more serious. As he walks we see a
tracking shot looking at this man and a point of view shot of this man seeing a
3. Luke Fortser
clown running behind the desks as this man shoots. We then are shown a close
up of the two clowns sat behind a desk showing their fear even though they have
masks we see they are covering behind the desk. The main clown then attempts
to shoot the attacker but is shot back at. After we know the character shooting
has ran out of rounds the clown then stands up and shoots him. A zoom is then
used to show the face of the clown that shot him and he way he looks gives us an
idea of the character being confused almost.
We are then shown a full body, long shot of one of the remaining clowns running
in to the same room as the clown trying to get into the vault. Alongside the
incidental music the two clowns have a few lines of dialogue making a mix of
diegetic and non-diegetic sound. We then see a close up of the vault locks being
spun so we know they are opened and the clowns say “one less share right?” and
the other clown states “funny, he told me something similar” from this we know
he is going to kill the clown before he actually does this.
