Jess Barnett

As a group we analysed the opening scene of 'The Dark Knight'.

The scene starts with an establishing shot of skyscrapers, showing the audience that the scene is set in a densely populated city. There is intense non-diegetic music throughout the establishing shot, which creates tension for the audience. It then zooms in on one of the tower buildings at which point we see a window smash, which makes the audience jump.

Then we see a mid shot of someone in a clown mask, the mask makes it obvious to audiences that this is the villain as anything that is used to obscure the face, suggests they have something to hide.

We see; through an over the shoulder shot, the                                       person in the mask load a gun and shoot it out                                    the smashed window, this is accompanied with                                    the loud diegetic sound of the gun going off

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                                        Next we see a cutaway, to a low angle shot of                                           the back of a man, the low angle shot makes                                           the man seem taller and more                                                               intimidating. Audiences can instantly tell he is                                         also a villain because there's a zoom to a close                                         up of his hand with the clown mask in it. The non-diegetic sound increases in volume and tempo, further increasing the suspense and creating tension for the audience due to the suggestion that something is about to occur. We then hear the diegetic sound of screeching tires as a car pulls into the shot, the man walks to the car and opens the door. 

There is another over-the-shoulder shot from                                        the back of the antagonists' car, this is effective                                       because, it shows the audience more of the                                   location they're committing the crime in, as well                                       as making the audience feel a part of what's going on as the cameras placed as if the viewer is another person in the car.

The car environment also allows us to hear the 'clowns' talking among themselves (non-diegetic sound) which allows the audience to get a feel for the kind of people the clowns are whilst still not allowing us to see their faces as they're still wearing the masks.

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                                                           At the very  end of the scene, we see the                                                 remaining clown remove his mask and finally                                           his identity as the Joker is revealed.

                                      The moment he removes his mask is an                                                   extreme close up at a low angle, this makes the                                       joker seem scarier and more intimidating, his makeup is also very inhuman so makes it harder for the audience to like him as a character.

The extreme close up also shows his emotions and the audience can see the distrust and almost manic look in his eyes.

Most of the shots in the scene are tracking shots which helps to keep the fast paced/action-adventure feel to the film and builds anticipation in the audience, keeping them engaged and on the edge of their seats.

The non-diegetic music rises and falls in tempo and volume as the tension rises and falls in the film for example it is loud and high tempo when they're breaking into the bank but when the joker is alone in the bank and all the clowns and bank staff are dead, the music drops as the threat is gone. 

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Watch 'The Dark Knight' trailer below.