Analysis of thriller opening (The Dark Knight Rises)

The opening of The Dark Knight Rises uses many technical effects to make the audience intrigued. Camera shots and angels, sound, effects, mise en scene and sound effects have been considered when making the clip.

As its the opening scene of the movie, the shots used aren't extreme close ups, because as a viewer it wouldn't be what we assume the character sees. The very first shot is a establishing shot of who is in the car, to us it looks like a military high security vehicle. It then jumps to a shot of the man who's waiting for them, the shot is a low angle and he shows the audience he has power, also the way the frame has been set up- the way he is stood gives us the impression he is important. Also there's a birds eye view of the plane, which shows us how high the plane is. They show this to us so we know how dangerous it could be- especially when they open the door. The characters are positioned in such a way in the frame that they never make eye contact with the camera, even if there's a close up they will look natural and in direct contact with the camera. The filming of each frame was done well, because it kept the identity of the men under the black masks a secret, and as a audience w didn't expect the main villain to be under one of the mask, we were left questioning the masked men.

The music from the very beginning sounds like its increasing in intensity which leaves us in suspense. The tempo also increases implying that its all leading up to something big. The music is important to give the thrill and excitement, without the music it would just be shots without meaning. The personality of the music also indicates what kind of movie it is, and from listening to the opening scene it leaves the audience with the idea that the movie is going to be action packed and suspenseful. There also sound effects such as the gun shot, which makes us jump because its so loud and implies someone may die or someone is in great danger. There is some sort of ambient sound used, when the door of the plane opens you can hear the wind blowing violently. All these sound effects are non diegetic, they are all added to impact the audience, for example when they used the explosion sound when the top of the plane blew off, it makes the audience jump and makes use belive that it is action related.

When looking at the opening scene, we come across many military like weapons which could mean its action linked but could also mean there may be a murder in the movie, but also the military like outfits signifies actions. Also the prop the main character 'Bane' is wearing is interesting because its not something that characters wear, as its looks like a mask, he may be seen as the villain as he is hiding his full identity and also he is only know as just 'Bane'. The scene is set during the day, so there is natural light and is quite bright, but the characters are mainly dressed in dull colours, this could signify danger. The set is the plane which is flying around, this signifies danger as they are a great distance from ground, and later they open the door to the plane.

When looking at the effects used in the opening scene I can tell that they possibly could have used CGI (computer generated imaging) when shooting the pane scene, as this can be very dangerous if actually filmed on a plane. Majority of action movies use this type of effect as some of there scenes are very dangerous to be done in real life. Stunt men were most likely to be used when filming what happened outside of the plane- when the plane was hijacked also because actors aren't trained to perform moves as seen.

There are many cut away shots used, this engages the audience with the scene as it shows what the characters are looking at and what they are doing. The shots all move fluently and link with each other. We see most of the characters speaking there lines, so we don't get confused. Each character is always on the same side of screen so we as the audience don't get confused. The tempo of the cuts aren't too quick in the sense that we miss dialog, everything is at the same tempo, but eventually speeds up- when 'Bane' is lifted from the plane. It was quick because it looked realistic like that.