This Christopher Nolan film is
another from a collection of thriller film openings that is really tense and
exciting. Also known as the bank robbery scene, we see a group of men robbing a
bank all in masks sent on a mission by the Joker, and at the end of the scene
the Joker is revealed to in fact be one of the masked men. He escapes with the
cash, while the rest of the men lie dead in the bank after they all conspire
against each other. From this we get a sense of the capabilities of the
mysterious character, and the darker and more edgy tone of Christopher Nolan’s
Batman Trilogy.
The opening shot begins with a
synchronous, non-diegetic boom in the soundtrack as the music begins. The crane
shot begins as a long shot that tracks over buildings and slowly moves into a
focus central building. This establishing shot which moves in to the action
builds anticipation in the viewer. One of the windows in the building is then
broken from the inside using a gun, and it cuts to a close up of a man who
broke the window. We see that he is wearing
a mask that resembles a rather creepy and mysterious clown. It then cuts to a
pan of the same man by the window and another masked man with him, preparing
equipment in bags. There is very low-key lighting, just light from outside, so
this backlit frame raises the question of what they are trying to hide, their
identity and/or their actions.
The next shot is of a man
standing on a corner of a street in New York, which is a closed shot as his
position is clearly composed, but the city still goes on behind him. The shot
is backlit so we see this repeated image of silhouettes and hidden identity.
The man holds a mask in his hand, and the camera moves in towards the mask,
again with the image of a clown on it. It is implies therefore that the men seen
so far are all working together for this mission, and that the clown mask,
showing this evil, villainy imagery is a recurring theme in either this scene
or indeed the whole film. It also nods to the clown image of the Joker, who is
later revealed to be this man standing on the street. The camera tilts up
slightly as a car pulls in, and the man puts on the mask before her gets in the
car, showing that he wishes to conceal his identity from the people he is also going
to work with.
The scene cross-cuts to the men
in the building who broke the window, and the camera is behind them showing
another backlit image. The men then get on a zip wire which they constructed by
shooting the end of the wire out of the window onto the roof of the
neighbouring building. The camera looks up to the masked man as he puts the
carabiner on the wire, showing his character’s power. There is then a rolling
shot of them leaving the building via the zip wire, and as they leave the window
the camera follows them and suddenly tilts down toward the roads beneath them.
This shows their isolation from normality, and the secret nature of their
mission. The film’s high production value is clearly visible through their
elaborate crane shots and stunt men to get the shot of the men dangling from
the zip wire.
We see the view from inside the
car that pulled up on the street with two men in the front seats, also masked,
and one in the back seat. As the camera is inside the car, we feel as if we are
with the men, and getting insight into what they are saying. The shot itself is
weighted towards the guy in the backseat who is closest to the camera, showing
his importance in the story. It cuts to a close-up on a man in the passenger
seat, loading a gun in his lap. The shallow depth of field shows the
uncertainty and dangerous nature of the mission, and the light from outside the
car emphasises the shadows of the menacing mask. To further the plot, there is
another mid-shot of the two men who landed on the roof via the zip wire, and
they discuss who the Joker is, and how he is known for wearing makeup to scare
people. This highlights the Joker’s mysterious character, and that they have no
idea that he is one of the masked men on the mission with him.
The final shot before they enter
the bank is a mid-shot that is very long which pans from left where the three
men exit the car, to the right where they run in towards a building, which is
then shown to be the bank. As they use a shallow depth of field it allows the
camera to focus on the masked man on the left hand side of the frame who gets
out of the back of the car. The overall weighting of shots from then on and
subtle focus toward this character (Joker) implies that he is more important
than the rest of the men whom he is working with.
The soundtrack in this opening
sequence is a constant pulse that builds anticipation and creates a sense of
urgency. It allows the freedom of fading out the pulsing, especially when the
Joker is shown on the street, and to use effects like synchronous booms to
emphasise dramatic moments, like the Joker’s first appearance and the dramatic
tilt of the camera out of the window onto the street below.
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