Superhero - T.D.K.R

Analyse how the film’s opening establishes genre conventions and reaches target audiences through technical codes, narrative and characterisation

The Dark Knight Rises was released on 20^th July 2012 and was directed by Christopher Nolan. It is set in the fictional city of Gotham, but in reality was filmed in Manhattan, New York as well as various other filming locations throughout production. Christopher Nolan had previously directed the previous two films in the trilogy Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.  This means that audience already expected this film to be as successful and as good as the other ones and will watch it with high expectations due to the results of the previous films. The Dark Knight Rises had a budget of $250 million and has made over $1 billion dollars and the box office.

During the opening sequence the most action filled section starts with a high angle of an airplane flying in which the camera pans to follow its path. It then cuts to Dr. Pavel who is sitting inside the plane who proceeds to turn his head as the camera pans to show the soldiers standing over the masked hostages. The soldiers are trying to get the hostages to speak by holding them out of the plane and aiming a gun at them at the same time. Throughout the scene there is non-diegetic music in the background to try and add to the action of the scene which increases in frequency and tempo as more action begins to unfold as well as handheld close ups and fast paced edits throughout the scene. Later on in this scene the music turns to chanting voices which is used repeatedly throughout the entire film. The chants mean ‘rise’ which is significant later on in the film when Batman is climbing out of the pit. There is a low angle looking up at the soldiers which shows who is the most dominant in that moment and tries to make the audience feel the same way in that moment. This is the high action beginning to this type of film that the audience would expect from this film as it immediately reinforces the idea of the type of film. Moreover the audience are introduced to the Villain first before the Superhero character which gives them their reputation and makes the audience fear them. The villain is as important as the hero in a superhero action film as without the villain the hero would have no one or thing to save.

The next scene then begins with different panning wide shots of Gotham with accompanying music that is slower and is a lot more peaceful. A voice over then begins and then it goes to an establishing shot of a grand house with people in front of it which then proceeds to zoom in on the scene. Whilst you see a man speaking and several tracks and pans of other people, it briefly shows a shadow high up on top of the building which leaves the audience uncertain as to if its ‘Mr Wayne’ or someone else. This scene makes clear the wealth of the Wayne foundation through the grand house as well as the costume that characters are wearing. Everyone in this scene is in smart dress and there is focus on certain characters who give the audience an idea of who will play a part in the storyline throughout the film. The audience would expect a brief period of calm after an opening scene of action to help set the scene for the film which is what this scene gives them. The audience will also expect to see their wealth as if they have watched previous films in this trilogy.

The film uses a range of conventions from several genres throughout. I think the most successful is a combination of camera angles including handheld cameras as well as close ups which make the film more effective and sound to make the film the best for the audience. Camera angles can help to increase action through a range of shots and increasing the frequency of different ones throughout, sound adds to this especially any soundtrack music that is used in scenes of high action which both makes the film more interesting and draws the audience in more.