The Dark Knight - Action film opening sequence

The Dark Knight opening sequence 

The Dark Knight (2008) From Warner Bros. and directed by Christopher Nolan. It contains the best acting performance from Heath Ledger. The middle film in the Dark Knight trilogy containing Christian Bale as Batman.

In the first shot, we are greeted by a man carrying a duffel bag and a clown mask, he jumps into an armoured vehicle with blacked out windows. The audience can already tell that something is wrong. The crew proceed to rob a bank in the centre of Gotham city. The gang kill each other off until there is only one-member left. This member is the Joker who, reveals himself at the end to the brave Banker who tried to fight them off. 

The recommended audience for this film would be anyone from a teenager to an adult +. there is suggested violence and you do see people get shot but there is no blood or gore making easier to watch for anyone.  

The camera use is impressive. The first shot is a mid-shot which, introduces us to the first character, the Joker, played by Heath Ledger. We then see two more gang members on the roof of the building next to the bank, the men use the zipline and the director uses an establishing shot to show the height of the building. There is a pan when the robbers depart their car and break into the building. A handheld is used to follow the gang into the building and into the main hall. An over the shoulder shot is used when the robbers on the roof shoots the other, we can see it coming because of the way that they are positioned and how he also reaches for something in his coat so, the one working at the fuse box doesn’t see it coming. The camera then zooms into the drill as the robber attempts to open the safe, this created tension because we, the audience, can tell that something is about to happen. Towards the end when one robber is pointing his gun at the Joker, they use a tracking shot when the Jokers moves to the left. This kind of shows the gun’s perspective as it moves alongside the Joker. Towards the end the camera follows the Joker. The audience start to realise that this Character is going to be important to this story.  

I can tell that this will be an action film because of the mise-en-scene. First, there are wearing similar clothing e.g. suits ties, and they all have clown mask. Everyone has the same facial expressions throughout the film. This makes the characters mysterious as one them is smiling and another has a worried expression. The denotation of this could be all their emotions in the robbery. For instance, they could be excited but also slightly scared or nervous. They use weapons and explosives showing that they don’t play around and that this is a serious job. 

There is a non-diegetic soundtrack which, uses short and fast orchestral stabs which replicates a heartbeat, from the audience and the robbers. We can also hear every single bit of the equipment they use. The characters are twice heard question the Jokers identity meaning that the Joker isn’t as well known yet and that he may or may not be involved practically in this heist. In the bank, we hear the running footsteps of the robbers, then the screams and cries for help amongst the people in the bank. The music is much quieter allowing us to hear the people in the bank. 

The editing makes the story easier to follow. The joker has a long shot duration which, is also the longest out of the other characters in the intro. This implies that he is the new leader of the bunch and a main character throughout the rest of the film. The transition of the robber on the roof to the vault is very clean, we see his passage from the roof to the vault in a matter of seconds, the use of the ellipses makes the story shorter but more exciting. 

I think that this is a successful opening as its filled with action, suspense and drama. It sets it up to be an excellent watch with great acting.