The Dark Knight

In this document I will be analysing a piece of media distributed by DC Comics. I’ll be looking
investigating the codes and conventions, meaning and purpose of the product and I’ll be looking at the
production process. The film, The Dark Knight, is a Christopher Nolan masterpiece. This film got a lot of
attention and became very popular very fast, the film generated an estimated 1.005 billion dollars by the
box office. The film was released on 24 July 2008 in the UK, it’s rated a 12A and has a rating of 9.0/10 on
IMDB.
A brief synopsis of this film is that Batman, Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent have been able a keep tight hold
of Gotham City and it’s crime rates, however this is sent spiralling into chaos when a twisted criminal
known as the ‘Joker’ arrived in town. The film is aimed at the Protagonist, Batman and focuses on his
actions and whether or not they are heroic or vigilantism, also the film looks at his psychological issues.

Purpose of product
The purpose of this product is to entertain their audiences and to generate money for the company.
Another purpose of this product is that it’s the second movie in a trilogy.

Codes and conventions

We can identify t’s a superhero film by it’s codes and conventions. The narrative conventions are very
stereotypical of that of a ‘superhero movie’. In the first act it shows Gotham and show’s the ‘hero’
(Protagonist, Batman) and other characters doing their daily activities. Then the ‘Villain’ (Antagonist, The
Joker) is shown on screen causing conflict and chaos by robbing a bank and escaping with the money.
The joker then continues to cause chaos throughout gotham. The Batman is shown battling the villain and
trying to resolve the issues he has caused and rescuing the ‘Princess’. Also there is a lot of low-key
lighting that has been used throughout the film and show’s extravagant costume design. Other
iconography of this film include weapons and vehicles.

Genre, form and style

The product is a movie which lasts for 2 hours and 32 minutes. The genre of this movie is categorized as
action, crime and drama based film. It’s a 12A, however it isn’t directed at children due to it’s dark theme
of nature and style, younger audience may find it distressing.

Meaning

This shot was one of the

beginning shots, it’s an
extreme long-shot
(Establishing shot) and sets
the scene for the entire
movie. It’s also a low-light
shot which is dim to the left
and right of the frame but has
natural sunlight coming down
the middle of the frame. The
shot shows that the film is
based ina very populated and
busy city as there are large
buildings and a lot of cars on
the road.
This shot is a long shot, it has the
main character just off to the left
centre of the frame, as a black
silhouette. The main protagonist,
Batman, is played by Christian Bale.
The lighting is a dark blue which is
usually associated with sadness,
this makes the audience feel sad for
the character, this mood is
emphasised more by the Batman
looking down at the ground. It shot
shows that the protagonist is lost
and sow’s the audience that he is in
a confused state of life.
He’s also facing towards a fire to the
right, this could be interpreted as Batman not being able to escape his
future and almost foreshadowing his future is still filled with chaos, as represented by the fire spread.

This shot is an extreme long

shot. It shows the audience
conflict and chaos, showing
conflict that the villain created.
Usually shots like these are
shown during act 2 or 3. These
frames fits in more due to in
these acts the conflict reaches
its peak throughout the majority
of the film in these acts. The
shot shows a large explosion, it
show’s how much power the
villain has and what he capable
of doing. In addition to this the
explosion is in the middle of the
frame, the rest of the frame
show’s a shot of the normal
city. That is surrounded the
hospital (the explosion).

This shot is an over the

shoulder shot, it focuses on
Rachel Dawes (Maggie
Gyllenhaal), she is known
as the romantic in relation to
Propp’s character theory.
This character doesn’t do a
lot in the film and is only
shown as the ‘romantic’, she
is also shown as the
potential love interest and has the overall purpose of ‘giving the boys something to fight for’. This shot
doesn’t serve a lot of purpose, it’s more to inform the audience of current circumstances between both
characters.

The shot is a close-up

of the antagonists face
(played by Heath
Ledger). It clearly shows
his emotions to the
audience.
The background is
blurred and the
character is focused in
this shot, it allows the
audience to fully see his
face and recognise him
as the villian.
His facepaint is slightly
smudged his face isn’t
completely covered

Throughout the film, the jokers face paint slowly starts to get messier towards the end of the film, this
could signify his rapid decline of his psychological health. The jokers left shoulder and left side of his
head is not darkened and show’s a shadow, this could be conveyed as the character being the suggested
villain.

This shot is a long shot as it

shows the characters body
and the scene around him.
This frame portrays the
character negatively,
showing the antagonist with
his back facing the audience,
not much of the antagonist is
shown apart from his figure in
the shot, this show’
Leading lines have been
used in the frame to the left.
They have created this by
aligning the street lamps on
both sides of the road in a
straight line leading to the black night sky.
In his hand we can see a prop, however it’s been darkened down and doesn’t show what prop it is, we
can predict that it is a weapon like a knife. We can see in his other hand as well a gun. This shot show’s
the audience that he is a very dangerous character.

Production Process
The process of making a film is split into five stages in the media industry: Development, pre-production,
production, post-production and distribution. These five stages are crucial to making a successful movie.
 1) Development stage
The development stage is the first stage of the whole production process. The producer begins the whole
process by selecting a story that they would like to create, or adapt into a movie. In relation to the chosen
film, the producer picked The Dark Knight to adapt from a comic book series into a movie. The main
producer, Christopher Nolan was the main person responsible for the creation of this film alongside other
producers: Charles Roven, Emma Thomas and Lorne Orleans). After they choose a story to adapt, the
producers will work alongside the screenwriters to create a synopsis for the film.
When the synopsis is finished then they begin the creation of a step outline, this document outlines the
most important scenes which will be most beneficial to the ‘dramatic structure’ of the film. After the step
outline is finalised, the focus is on the creation is a treatment/ proposal plan, this is usually a 25-30 page
document outlining an explaining the narrative of the story, the characters, the soundtrack and the overall
mood of the film. The treatment is usually highly detailed formal document which only has only text and
no images.
When the directors and screenwriters fully know what they’re doing, the screenwriters will create a
screenplay, screenwriters are usually given a time period of several months, this can take a long duration
of time to create due to them re-writing and changing key scenes or dialogue.
The last task in the development stage is creation of a pitch and they’ll pitch their potential movie to
possible financiers, this is to raise funds for their product.

2) Pre-production stage
This stage is highly planned out for the insurance of the creation of the film, to be as smooth and as less
stressful for all crew involved. This stage includes all documents and tasks to do with the creation of a
film. Also in this stage, specific crew are hired for certain roles.
Production budget is also decided, this is the amount they spend on the film. A soryboard is also created
by the storyboard artist, they are responsible for the creation of visual images/ drawings, with the help of
the director, a storyboard is very important as it show’s the desired shots that they would like to create. A
shooting schedule is also created and the assistant director is in charge of managing the shooting script
alongside many other various tasks. The film producer is responsible for hiring crew for the production.
Other crew include:
● Production designer - Nathan Crowley
● Location manager
● Costume designers - Lindy Hemming, Roberto Craciunica
● Hair designer-
● Makeup designer
● Casting director
● Sound designer
●
3) Production stage
The production stage is the stage that the film is produced, the scenes are produced and the frames are
shot. This is only shooting and filming of the movie.
An ordinary day on set usually consists of the hired crew arriving on set at a certain time, other crew like
actors have a different time they should arrive on set because actors need more allocated time for hair
and makeup and costume set up. The actors also rehearse their lines with the producer.
The other crew involved sets up the stages and locations, the lighting and camera crew set up their
equipment ready for the film to be produced.
 4) Post-production stage
The post-production stage is when all scenes and frames have been filmed to the standard of the
director.
The fourth stage only focuses on the editing side of the whole production. During this stage the frames
are put together and the relevant edits are made by the editor. Also in this stage the editor will consider
and edit such things as the soundtrack and sound effects (the score) and the transitions between each
frame so t doesn’t look ‘jumpy’ but flows throughout the film.

5) Distribution stage
The distribution stage is the last and final stage of the production of the movie, this stage is all about
promotion and the distribution of the product, this stage is very important as it’s how the product/film is
distributed to the targeted audience.
Usually, the product is first shown in cinemas around the countries/globe first, this is also known as the
‘exhibition’. Afterwards the film is copied and duplicated to different mediums like hard disks, onto film or
digitally streamed. This stage also consists advertising and promoting for the product, the advertisements
for this can be as simple as making a trailer for the move and publishing it onto youtube, TV and trailer
advertised on other DVD’s. TV interviews of the actors are also a good way to promote the film. Other
promotion methods are: print promotions such as promoting the film in magazines, billboards and posters.