Thriller Analysis #3

The Dark Knight-

The Dark Knight is the second instalment to the rebooted Batman series. In this sequel we follow the caped crusader as he hunts down ruthless mobs bosses and criminals, and introduces Batman’s greatest enemy The Joker.

Dark Knight Opens with the non diegetic sound of a ticking clock, then introducing our first visual of a city skyline, immediately shows the viewer the location. The skyline shot focuses in on one windowed building, suddenly a window shatters and we are then brought into a bank heist as the clown masked criminals begin the job. Throughout the whole opening scene no credits are scene, most likely not to attract the viewers attention away from the what is being seen on screen, it shows its importance, as the main antagonist of the movie is being introduced at the very beginning, unusual, as you might expect the main character to be seen first, but as this is a sequel Batman has been previously introduced, and by doing this the director lets us know that the antagonist The Joker is going to play a vital role in the film. As the scene progresses the characters that where introduced as the Jokers men are being killed of one by one as each of them completes the job they where there for, this builds suspense in the scene as we are slowly being led upto the unveiling of the Joker, unknown to the audience that the Joker is on the scene, only unmasking himself at the end of the Heist sequence. This is a very interesting and brilliant way to introduce the villain of the movie, giving us an insight into how he works and what we might be able to expect later on in the film. The Music throughout the opening is very simplistic, small shots of noise, like the clock ticking, and then leading into a light beat that accompanies the gang as they work. From sound changes from that of background noise to dialogue and diegetic noise the gang make as they are working, glass shattering, door locks being smashed. These small noises eventually build up getting more frantic and larger in sound, e.g. gunfire. As the bank heist comes to an end we are then shown the mastermind behind the plot as he makes his solo escape from the bank.

The Dark Knights opening is very frantic, it shoots the audience straight into the action of a crime, following the gangs every move, it builds suspense, the first time I saw it I was waiting any second for Batman to jump out and ruin their plan, but as it was the main antagonists plan we can see why it wasn’t what I had expected.