Thriller Opening Sequence Evaluation for The Dark Knight

In the opening sequence for the Dark Knight many of the antagonists are wearing clown masks, this creates an enigma to their real identity as well as giving us a clue as to what the main antagonist is (in this case the clown masks are clues to the joker as he is associated with clowns and circus related instruments). The masks are also trying to represent evil as only the evil characters in the film are wearing masks. When the man is standing on the street waiting for a car the camera zooms in slowly onto the mask in his hand until he puts it on, this shows us that the masks are in fact more important in this scene than the bank robbers itself.

Another part of the opening sequence that is important is mise en scene. One way in which this is shown is the school bus. This is an important part of the scene as it shows us what type of criminal the joker is, we can derive from this scene that he is a very organised criminal. This is because his getaway car is a school bus which he uses when school buses are taking children home. It also allows the Joker to become invisible to the police as shown in the scene when they race straight past the bus in which all the stolen money is held.

Another important micro element in the opening sequence of The Dark Knight is sound. This is because the non diagetic soundtrack at the beginning of the scene is typically used in most 'big screen' films. This is because it creates tension and suspense which normally makes the viewing experience more enjoyable, and because it was used at an establishing shot it gave the audience an opportunity to lose themselves in the scene as it makes them feel part of the story.

One thing that is important for the opening sequence of this film is that the first scene takes place in the busy town of Gotham City which is where you would expect to see a crime. So it's using the normal aspect of a busy town and then placing the scene into an extra ordinary situation. This shows that the film itself could be considered to be irregular from the norm.

Written by Will Rathlou