the dark night rises analysis
The moments of the Dark Knight Rises primarily focuses on establishing the scene and building suspense for the upcoming narrative, using many conventions of the thriller genre. The establishing shot at the beginning of the scene sets the theme of isolation for the rest of the scene which is a key component of thriller movies. This let's the audience know that if something happens there would be no one around to help, which makes this is a dangerous situation and builds suspense for the audience. This is followed by a long shot of an agent. The agent’s clothes represent him as a weak and vulnerable character due to the innocence of the colour blue. However, this is a huge contrast from what is behind him because the armed guards represent him as a powerful character with a lot of authority because of the connotations of violence associated with guns. Then the camera slowly moves towards the agent during this section of the scene which makes him seem even more powerful.
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Near the beginning of the opening scene, the focus is placed on three characters. They are represented in a way that clearly indicates to the audience that one of these will be the villains of the movie. This section of the scene uses dark colours, and because dark colours have connotations of evil and threat, these characters are represented as villains. This follows the thriller generic convention of displaying the villain in low key lighting. Also the non diegetic music during the opening few seconds gradually builds – another typical thriller convention which builds suspense for when the mystery surrounding the three characters.
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Then the representation of power in the agent is once again reinforced, but this time shows the presupposed villains in the shot also. The theme of confinement and entrapment also come in to play and are dominant due to the small space inside the plane, raising the tension of the scene because it becomes more apparent there is no escape if something goes wrong. Themes of death and murder are emphasised in this section of the scene because the middle ground and foreground are used effectively to clearly represent the power imbalance between the villains and the agent, due to the villains being lower down in the shot. This imbalance makes the audience think of the themes death and murder because of the agent holding the gun which carries connotations of violence and death. Death and murder are typical thriller themes.
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Also the roles between Bane and the Government agent changes the previous representations of the characters. In this particular shot, for example, Bane is now shown at a lower camera angle and is the most dominant part of the shot, now representing him as a powerful character as opposed to the trapped one he was before. This follows the typical thriller narrative convention of deception because the audience were lead to believe that Bane was weak. Also the reveal of Bane’s face is slow which builds tension and suspense as the audience is left waiting for the mystery to be revealed. This emphasises how much fear Bane puts in people, because the slow movement of the agent could represent him as being scared of what is underneath the bag. Bane’s staring and tone of voice make him a significant character, especially when he reveals that he is going to crash the plane. The tone of Bane’s voice when he says this also represents him as a psychotic character which fits the conventional traits of a villain in thriller movies.
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Later on in the scene the audience can appreciate the risk everyone is in. The establishing shot represents the power Bane has over the situation, represented in the size difference between his plane compared to the other plane. It reaffirms the themes of death and destruction because of how real the situation is becoming. Also the non diegetic music changes to a faster pace and increased volume, with sharper notes played on violins. From this point onwards, very quick bursts of action are shown instead of long, drawn out monologues. When these two features of the scene are combined, the overall pace of the scene is increased, emphasising the action and therefore danger/risk of death within the scene.





