The Dark Knight

 

The Dark Knight

In this opening scene, the audience can clearly identify that the genre of the film is an action because of the conventions which are met. These conventions are explosions, gun shots and later on in the opening scene the audience is shown a fight scene and stunts. These are all things that an audience would expect to see in an action film.

The sound of this opening is mainly non-diegetic as the music in the background can only be heard by the audience. The music is there to build up tension throughout the chase scene and fighting. There is some narrative in the opening when the antagonists are talking between each other. They communicate very little as they are being secretive which might engage the audience more as they will want to know what is going on.

Some camera shots in this opening include close ups, medium shots and birds-eye view. These are a suitable range for the opening of an action because they will tell the audience more about certain characters and also more about the setting of the film. The birds-eye view is used to show the antagonists going down a zip wire which shows stunts and also the city which is beneath them. This is shown as a busy setting so it makes the audience feel like it is a modern setting, another one of the conventions of an action film. The close ups are on the antagonists masks. This is common in an action film as the antagonist is never usually revealed until much later on in the film. The camera used a medium shot as this makes the audience understand the characters and what they are like by things like body language and the way they dress.

Some props that were used in this opening scene were mainly weapons which suggest that the film is an action as it will contain fighting with these weapons at some point. There are also some things which help them with stunts such as the tables in the bank as this will help them jump over things and hide from certain people.

The main character isn't introduced in the opening scene until a later point which engages the audience as they will want to know who the protagonist is and what they are like. From most action films, the protagonist is usually a muscular man who is very masculine at everything he does. The antagonist is usually a feminine and he will leave all the fighting and drama to his fellow side-kicks. This will engage the audience as they will want to know why the antagonist is scared and fearful of the protagonist. The protagonist is usually very smartly dressed at the beginning of the film and then by the end, his clothes are scruffy and dirty.