Textual Analysis of Dark Knight Opening Sequence

The opening sequence to The Dark Knight starts by showing to the viewer the well known Warner Brothers logo in a noire like style with dark blue tones. The clouds that frequently feature behind the logo are also of black and blue tones. The same happens to the Legendary ictures logo that appears after it! it is represented in the same way. The D" comics Logo is then shown while music is slowly building up and becoming more tense. The music is #ust the sound of single strings playing alone. The camera then shows an $%treme Long &hot of several sky scrapers and moves slowly into one flowing into the opening scene. ' believe the target audience of the Dark Knight would be males aged from ()*)+. The reason ' believe the film is aimed at males is because of the high octane action! high tech gadgets and weapons of mass destruction. This may also apply to females that are fans of these conventions featured frequently in action films also. The hobbies and interests these people might have would be the knowledge of previous Batman films or books or an attraction to watching superhero films. The film doesn,t necessarily demand the knowledge of these things to follow the plot or understand it but it helps to know the conte%t. The opening sequence follows the convention of introducing us to a setting where some of the action will take place. This is common in many action films and is usually done by using an

$%treme Long &hot or $stablishing shot. The opening sequence however does not follow the convention of introducing the audience to the main characters of the film. 't instead shows the viewer a barrage of bank robbers in clown masks whose identity,s are not revealed. They are all participating in a bank robbery for the #oker and keep on mentioning him to each other! not knowing where he is. -ne by one these masked assailants are killed by each other! or other means! until one is left! leaving the audience to ponder on who it is.

The opening sequence follows the convention of building up enigma and hooking the audience in by wanting to know the answer to the questions the sequence presents them with. The opening doesn,t e%plain who the bank robbers are or give any identities and it doesn,t answer the question of who the last man in the clown mask is. This causes a lot of enigma for the

audience and shrouds the opening in mystery.

The film is made by three company,s collaborating together! this affects the opening sequence by presenting all . of the logos in the noire like tone that is carried on throughout the films entirety of its running time.

The camera creates meaning in the opening sequence at the start of it. 't starts off as a full shot of a figure clutching the clown mask then /ooms in at a steady pace until the mask is clearly visible in the screen and the camera is filming a close up. This creates meaning by suggesting that the mask is important or the person under it is integral to the film because close ups usually symbolise something important in film.

The dark tones of black and blue on the credit sequence suggest to the audience that the film is going to be dark or bleak in one way or another.

0any questions could be asked about this opening sequence! such as1 'who is the joker and where is he?', 'why are they robbing a mob bank?' and 'if the films called the dark knight then where is batman?' The message of this opening sequence that it trys to make the audience consider is the brilliance of the #oker. 2e manages to set up a 3 man bank #ob! dispose of them individually and reap all of the earnings from his mission. The conventions of action and build up of suspense are featured in the opening sequence often. The non diagetic background music is always slowly rising in tempo and making loud low pitched #umps. The tension of the disposal of nearly all of the bank robbers could make the audience wonder whose going to be ne%t to die. The genre of the film and opening sequence is action. 't follows conventions like1 being set in an urban environment which is most likely a city! close ups and fast paced camera shots! non diagetic sounds utilised to make it sound more dramatic! daylight is used frequently over artificial light and the inclusion of lots of weapons! action and adventure. This targets the target audience by presenting them conventions they will already be comfortable with and want included in the film they4re watching.