The Dark Knight- Analysis

How does Christopher Nolan create tension and convey The Dark Knight as a Thriller?

The Dark Knight is a mixture of a few different thriller sub-genres; it has conventions of crime and actions thrillers, and also some conventions of the psychological thriller genre, all of these sub-genres play apart in creating tension within the film.

In the opening of the film the music is very quiet, and slowly builds as the scene unfold. At the beginning certain sounds are made more prominent than others. A ticking can be heard in the background, this creates tension as it gives the viewer the impression that something is about to happen in the scene.

At the beginning of the scene, an establishing shot is shown of rooftops in a city scene, this shot then focuses and zooms in on one building in particular, this building is large a looks like a office building, with rows of small square glass mirrored windows, then shot them zooms further in and one of the windows smashes, this is a prominent sound in the shot, and draws most of the viewers attention making it seem important and adding tension, the shot then cuts to the inside of the building, to the room from which the building was broken, where the viewer is now show a shot of two men wearing clown masks, one of which is holding a gun which a string and hook attached to it.

The shot then jumps to a low angle mid to long shot of a man standing on a side walk with a duffel bag over one shoulder, and in his other hand holding a clown mask. The shot then zooms in on this mask, which gives the viewer the impression that it has importance in this scene, and the idea of a clown has importance in the movie. By using a clown to cover up their identities, it creates a sense of tension and fear, as it plays on people’s fears and nightmares as a lot of people are afraid of clowns, especially ones that have haunted faces, which are the type portrayed with the mask, by using this is makes the men seem scarier, more dangerous and sinister.

We then see this man jump into a car that has three other men inside, all of which are also wearing clown masks. This shot them jumps back to the rooftop shot, showing both of the men inside the building moving from the building they are in to the rooftop opposite them using a zip wire, as they move across they are shown from a bird’s eye view from which the viewer can see the scene below. This gives a sense of danger and vulnerability and creates tension among the viewer. When the two men land on the building, they fall into the camera, this gives the viewer the impression that they are not in control of the situation.

As the men begin to speak they talk about the job at hand, which hints to the viewer what is about to happen, and they also talk about someone called the joker. This shows the viewer that these men are hired, and that everything has been planned for them and also tells the viewer that they are not in control of the situation at all and only know what they have been told as none of them know who it is that has told them to do this. This gives a sense of mystery and tension, and the identity of this person has been hidden more than the other men in clown masks. Also from hearing this name, it gives the viewer some insight into why these men are wearing clown mask.

The men then all start loading guns in the car and as they jump out scan the area and then run into a building, which the viewer can infer is a bank. At the same time, the viewer sees the other two men breaking into an electrical box. This scene is quite dramatic and creates tension for the viewer as they can see that these men are quite dangerous, as they have guns and seem to know what they are doing, as they are quite planned and are acting quite strategically.

As the men are robbing the back, the viewer sees who they infer is the bank manager as he is in a smart suit and has a separate office, from the rest of the bank realise the situation that is unfolding. He appears quite powerful at first, attacking the robbers and shooting at them. But this image of him is then reversed when he is shot and the robber that shot him is shown from a low angle shot, giving the viewer the impression that he is powerful and dangerous creating tension.


As the men begin to break into the vaults and rob the bank, each start to kill the others off, each saying that they have been told to kill each other by the joker when one has finished the job which shows the audience that the joker has a lot more control over the situation than was thought before, and also gives the impression that this has all been carefully planned, which creates tension as the viewer wants to know what this person has gone to so much trouble for.
At the end of the scene the audience sees two men dragging bags of what they can infer are full of money into a pile at which point one pulls out a gun ready to shoot the other guy, but this guy says something about a bus, at which point one comes crashing through the glass doors. This creates tension as the viewer sees that this man knows more than the others, and so they wonder who this man is and why he knows more than the other men, they begin to wonder, and infer the idea that he might be the joker.

The group of men that are robbing the bank are shown in a very stereotypical way of robbers, wearing masks, working together and then turning on each other, being very planning strategic and also being shown as dangerous and ruthless, not caring is they hurt of kill anyone to get what they want. The bank manager is also shown in a very stereotypical way, very smart and powerful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OYBEquZ_j0&feature=player_embedded