Batman: The Dark Knight opening deconstruction

Batman: The Dark Knight deconstruction of opening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OYBEquZ_j0

Opening shot of the city

• Establishing shot of the city, it's clear to the audience that wherever this scene is shot is a built up area, one full of sky scrapers with people working within them. This make it clear to the audience that the film won't take place in just one place, it's a city and the film will take part within it. 
• A wide angle lens has been used which captures a broad area, the city in this case and it makes it appear very 3D to us, as though the building are continuous and we gather an understanding of the depth of the city. 
• The movement of the camera is zoom, the camera zooms in on one of the buildings that we see at the beginning of the shot, it's as if the audience have to wait for something to happen, and then one of the windows is shot through and the audience have been given what they were waiting for.
• There's diegetic sound of traffic and car horns which just adds to the audience's understanding of the place that this shot is taking place in, and that it's a busy city yet it's about to be terrorized by a gang. 
• There's also non-diegetic sound played throughout the zoom. Sounds like a timer counting down or a clock ticking, something indicating that time is passing which suggest to the audience that they're supposed to be waiting for something to happen, and then that something does happen when the window is shot through within the first couple of seconds which induces shock as well as understanding to the audience. 
• As the window is shot through, the shot switches to one of the character who just shot through the window, the character is an anonymous one wearing a mask and holding what seems to be a 
• Guns connoting danger and crime
• Masks, in this case, connoting crime and hidden identity

Men zipwiring across 

• Non-diegetic sound, low notes which sound like something played on a string instrument, accompanies by sudden gun shot sounds which again signal that something negative is about to happen, as the characters we've seen have all been partaking in activity that seems illegal and suspicious. 
• Birds-eye view camera angle is used to show how high the characters are, high as if they're avoiding the people on the ground, the people that would see them and wonder what they're doing, but from the birds-eye view it seems that there are now people down below, just cars so people won't suspect them. 
• Both zip-wiring characters are wearing masks, this creates connection among the masked characters that we have seen within the first few shots of the opening scene as they're all wearing masks that hide their identity whilst they seem to be hijacking a city. 
• This scene conforms to an action film, it's extreme action that would definitely not happen in every day life. 

Scene inside the bank

• The diegetic sound of the masked men talking allows the audience to understand that the place is being raided but because we can't see the mouths moving of the masked characters, as the audience we cannot sense who's talking and demanding for actions to be made and this makes us feel the confusion that the other innocent characters in the shot are feeling. 
• The shot used is again an establishing one, it shows us the building that the raid is taking place in and that it's a bank and helps the audience understand that the characters are raiding a bank. 
• Cross-cutting is used to show what is going on elsewhere as part of the raid and how the other masked characters are working outside to help with the raid. 
• The full shot of the character who gets shot by one of the masked character adds to the crime of the situation, which is what you expect from an action film, a crime scene and murders, conforming to the conventions of an action film. 
• During the medium shot of one of the masked men (3:57), the background is blurred indicating that is was most likely filmed using a telephoto lens, and also makes him the dominant of the shot. We can see that he is dressed in a suit, just like the other masked men and just like the other characters that we see in the scene, which may suggest that this group of masked men are just like normal people that have decided to individualize themselves from others with the masks, hide their identity for criminal reasons. 

Within the safe

• Throughout the opening scene we see the masked characters kill eachother off, this subverts to the conventions as it's usually good vs evil in action films like Batman, but during this scene it's evil working with evil yet they kill eachother off. 
• Non-diegetic sound of the atmospheric music continues throughout the scene acting as a bridge within all the scenes, relating them all to one another. The ticking is still continuing as though the counting down has not come to an end which keeps the audience's attention as it suggests the worst is still yet to happen. 
• The eye-level shot of this point within the opening scene makes us as the audience feel as though we're watching what he's doing, from our point of view, as if we are standing within the door way of the safe watching this criminal action take place. Because of the use of the masks within the beginning, the audience have created a connection with clowns and crime within the film, and later on, even if you did not have a previous understanding of Batman, you would understand that the Joker has a permanent clown face painted on him, and he is the evil within the film.