THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDpjSr9VhG0

Some Facts on the Films Marketing

• Warner Bros. held the world premiere for The Dark Knight in New York City on July 14, 2008 this was in order to promote the movie.

• The Dark Knight was distributed to 4,366 theatres.

Introducing Narrative and Character

The opening sequence with its fast changing dark images, broken glass and fire sets the film up as an action thriller.

The audience don’t really get much of an idea of what the story is from this opening.

Unusually the sequence also shows of what it is now an old fashioned photograph developing technique.

Location/ Setting of Film-Opening Sequence

• In the opening sequence the director decides not to give any clues to the film that is about to follow.

• The only setting that is given away is right at the end of the sequence when the audience see the batman mask laying on ice as if it has been discarded or lost.

How the opening captures an audiences attention

In order to capture the audiences’ attention in the opening sequence of a film there are:

• Extreme close-ups on significant objects which is to draw the audience into the film.

• Throughout the whole of the opening sequence the editor decides to give away very little. What is about to follow therefore remains a mystery to the audience.

How titles are integratedwith the footage

• The start of the sequence shows the production company, the studio Warner Brothers and the distributors . It also uses a zooming out effect on the DC Comics logo (the originator of the batman character).

• The sequence also mentions and shows the main actors and actresses, for example Anne Hathaway who appears in period costume on a developing photograph with her name as a credit alongside.

Editing

• Different types of editing are used in the opening sequence:

1. Montage Editing- where the sequence shows a number of images in order to create an impression of where the story may lead. In this case seeing the photographs of people before seeing them before seeing them mutilated.

• Text is added to the sequence to advertise the production company, etc. and the performers.

Cinematography

There are various camera shots being used in The Dark Knight Rises opening sequence such as:

Extreme close-ups are shown on key objects such as the photographs of the characters. The audience should then want to know why the photographs are being destroyed.

Throughout the opening there are only close-ups and extreme close-ups shown to give the impression of mystery. There is no panning or panoramic views.

The camera angles add to the atmosphere of mystery and confusion.

Despite the credits being rather small the audiences attention is drawn to them by moving them across the screen.

Sound

• The famous composer of the Dark Knight Rises

• music, Hanz Zimmer, created an unforgettable theme tune and soundtrack which when the music is repeated in various parts of the film (being a non-diegetic sound), acts as a reminder of something that may also have occurred earlier in the film.

• The music played in the opening sequence is also used to demonstrate the serious nature of the film and to build up tension.

Mise-en-Scene

• Towards the end of the sequence we see a character, but we don’t yet know who it is. We only see gloved hands which additionally gives the impression of mystery, as the gloves are presumably worn to hide the wearer’s identity. The person in disguise draws a ring around someone’s picture this suggests to the audience how they are probably wanted or that they are a target in the film.

• The black and white photographs, the old fashioned developing technique shown and the period costumes demonstrate that the film is set in another time.