The Dark Knight Opening Sequence Analysis

1. THE DARK KNIGHT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Joz-tAsJ6as

2. At the start of the opening scene, there is a long
shot, which acts as an establishing shot of a
large building, with others surrounding it
showing the setting of a city. The camera
zooms into the building suddenly towards the
windows of the building. As it gets closer to
the building a ticking noise gets louder, which
creates tension for the audience as a ticking
noise generally something dangerous is about
to happen, like a bomb could go off. As we get
closer to the windows suddenly one explodes
making the audience jump, which that
confirms our thoughts about this scene being
associated with danger. This also introduces
the action genre of the whole film, as danger is
a key convention in this genre. It cuts to a shot
of the interior of this building and standing
inside is two characters wearing a clown mask
and one is holding some sort of gun. Clowns
are one of the biggest fears to people and so
this combined with the fact he is holding a gun
tells us that he is an evil character and that he
has been placed in the opening scene to create
fear upon the audience.

3. It cuts to a scene that reveals a man
standing with his back to the
audience and a zoom shot slowly
tracks into his back. He is holding a
clown mask which tells the audience
that he is also one of the bad guys
involved with the disruption of this
opening. This character’s face is not
revealed so the audience have
nothing to identify him by therefore
we assume this person is a bad guy.
There is also a use of non-diegetic
sound of a tense tune that begins to
start again when the camera zooms in
on the character, possibly hinting that
this person may be the leader. This
music then stops as he gets into the
car, which suggests that this character
is important and for the audience to
recognise this.

4. The camera cuts to a shot of the previous
two clown characters who are seen
jumping out of the office building on a
zip line. The camera follows the
characters along the zip line until they
land, showing the street below
creating an uneasiness for the
audience and also showing the action
genre of the film as it is dangerous. It
then cuts to the other group of clowns
in the car and the first line of dialogue
is heard. The audience during this part
does still not see any ones face, which
shows that they are the bad guys as
their identity is unknown. The light
outside is very bright but the inside of
the car is very dark to again tell the
audience that the people in this car are
the bad guys of the film.

5. The characters in the car start talking about the
robbery they are about to perform and then
talk about a specific character they call and
know only as "The Joker". The two clowns that
were originally inside the car are the only
characters talking in this clip, however in the
back of the car slightly in shot, you can see the
character that was standing in the street at the
beginning, showing that he still remains an
important character as he comes across as
very mysterious, wanting the audience to
carry on watching to find out his part in the
film. It then cross-cuts back to the two clowns
on the rooftop who immediately start talking
about “The Joker” as a continuous
conversation from the one in the car. As they
continue talking about “The Joker”, it tells the
audience more about this character,
persuading them to keep watching the film as
they are intrigued to know who this person is
and looks like.

6. The three characters in the car get out and
enter the bank with the camera
following them but focusing mainly on
the mysterious character at the back.
When the robbers enter the bank they
begin to shoot in the air to worry the
people inside the bank and as this goes
on the camera cuts to a man in a suit
who is enclosed in his office. The
camera does this frequently throughout
this scene, introducing this character,
which tells the audience that he has a
key role in the film and that he is
important in some way. The camera
doesn’t stay still during this scene,
which keeps up with the speed of the
robbery and shows the fast-paced
action that films in this genre usually
include.

7. The mysterious character is going
around putting grenades into the
hostages hands and as he does this
the music picks up and this becomes
the music that plays whenever “The
Joker” is in the scene. This tells the
audience that he has a very
important part in the whole film and
that he could be the villain in the
film as the action genre typically has
a hero and a villain. It then cuts back
to the roof and one of the clowns
deals with the alarm and the other
clown shoots him. This tells the
audience that these clowns are not
to be trusted and are slowly killing
each other to get a bigger share of
the money.

8. The camera cuts to the bank manager who
then shoots the clown and the music has a
faster pace as he walks out of his office.
The other clowns run in panic and the
camera then focuses again on the
mysterious clown as the bank manager
tries to shoot him. This shows the real
fight in the crime and shows the rivalry of
the bank manager and the mysterious
clown. The leader of the group , or at least
who the audience thinks is the leader,
asks the mysterious clown whether the
bank manager is out of bullets, he nods
and so he jumps up to shoot him however
the bank manager shoots the clown first.
This shows that the theme of the film
could be betrayal. The mysterious clown
then rises up and shoots the bank
manager. The camera then slowly tracks
in to the mysterious clown to then
possibly suggest that he is in fact the
leader of the group and the most
important character in this opening scene.

9. The next scene then shows the clown who went to collect
the money from the vault threatening the mysterious
clown with a gun, suggesting another theme of
betrayal. The music starts creating tension as it
repeatedly plays the same notes. The audience then
hear the first line from the mysterious clown "No, no,
no. I kill the bus driver”, which shocks the audience
as he has not yet spoken and probably not what the
audience would have thought he would say. This also
confused the other clown threatening him, showing
vulnerability. The scene concludes with a huge bus
loudly crashing through the wall and killing the the
other clown, leaving just the mysterious clown which
has now confirmed the audience that he is in fact the
leader and because he is the only one left, we know
that he has planned this all. At the end of this film
opening, it cuts to the bank manager lying on the
floor and the mysterious clown then goes to speak to
him. This still shows their rivalry. He shoves a
grenade into the bank managers mouth and then
says “I believe whatever doesn't kill you simply
makes you…stranger.” During this small conversation,
a point of view shot is used for both characters,
which make the audience more involved and
frightened. The a close-up shot is used on the clown
as he takes off his mask to reveal what the characters
have previously described as “The Joker”, revealing to
the audience that this is the villain the other clowns
have been talking about.