Textual Analysis in The Dark Knight
In a pair we chose a scene from “The Dark Knight” 2008 to analyse, my duo chosethe hospital scene as it was our mutual faveourite as well as there being a lot to write about. This scene explores the Joker’s character development with its use of Mise-en-Scene and Cinematography.
(click to see work)
This shot from gone girl uses symmetry to show the object for best effect, Jeff Cronenweth places her in the middle of the mid shot so she is the audiences main focus, leaving enough lead space to show her direction. The low contrast and dark tones show the morality in this scene.
The Ultimate Villain
What makes The Joker such an “evil” villain?
-The Joker is impowered by his mortality, he does not fear death, he even embrases the prospect of death. When he realises Batman can not morally kill him, he uses it to his advantage.
-His phsycopathic tendancies help him from caring about physical and moral wants, I.e: money, fame or love.
-He is unpredictable, each move he makes does not make sense in relation together. Each individual crime is done to help him win the Soul of Gotham but is not predictable.
-There is no logic behind what the Joker does, he does not care what the effect is,”He just wants to watch the world burn.” The Joker is not looking for money, and he can not be reasoned with.
-He creates crime for no other reason than chaos, there is no structure or reason behind his crimes.
So why is he such a good antagonist?
-He is the exact counter-part to his protagonist, he has no special ability or super power he is just mad.
-He challenges Batman’s morals, he knows that Batman will never kill so he uses that against him.
-Batman grows wiser from his antics, with the help from Alfred Batman learns that there is no reasoning with the Joker.
-The Joker VS Batman story has no resolution, there is no final point. This is because he turned the whole city of Gotham against Batman, this could be seen as a win however the Joker was imprisoned.
-The Joker competes for the same prize as Batman does which adds competition, this increases the Jokers power against Batman because it’s not the stereotypical world domination but the Soul of Gotham.
The Dark Knight Narrative Analysis
Batman’s hero’s journey does not conform to the conventional narrative arc of the hero’s journey. he follows the arc until the “Treasure” (Rachel) dies, this starts the Subversion to the conventions. After this the typical arc changes, there is more chaos and Batman is called to action once more to stop Harvey Dent. Once more, there is no resolution to his story, there is no determining trophee or prize at the end because he runs away. His story continues without a conclusion and we are moved to the perspective of James Gordon and Alfred Pennyworth and the city of Gotham.
The Kuleshov Effect
“The Kuleshov effect is a film editing effect demonstrated by Soviet filmmaker Lev Kuleshov in the 1910s and 1920s. It is a mental phenomenon by which viewers derive more meaning from the interaction of two sequential shots than from a single shot in isolation.”
(Explination and the effect at work^)
(My attempt of the Kuleshov Effect^)
Batman Representation
“A darker hero for a darker time” is how Batman devolped as a charecter due to the war on terrorism, an important factor in American film making. This developed the iconic figure, a well known hero, into a crime fighting superhero that took justice into his own hands. This charecter development is what makes the Batman trilogy so different to other superhero films.
Using Siegfried Kracauer’s concept of film mirroring society at the time, we see how the impact of terror attacts like 9/11 has had on film. Films became a way for Americans to step away from their society and see an alternative, a society that faces the same threats but with an underlining messages. These alternative realities ranged from atmospheric referneces to replicating events, and pro-war themes. This gave Americans hope and a feeling of justice as film became a coping device for terrorism.
Batman Genre Analysis
Conforming to the Superhero Genre:
-Special vehicles and weaponry
-Secret lair
-Guy in the chair/The tech guy
-No parents/Sad origin story
-Super villain
-Secret identity/dual indetities
-Love interest
-city location
Suversions From the Superhero Genre:
-No sidekick
-No superpowers/supernatural elements
-Dark/gritty tone
-Corruption (theme)
-Runs away from danger
-Girl dies/Doesn’t chose him in the end
-Villain has no clear motive
-Superhero is not necessarily good
Conventions of Superheros
| The Corpus →
The Repertoire of Elements↓ |
Film1: Superman (1978) Donner | Film 2: Spider-man (2002) Raimi | Film 3: Wonder Woman (2017) Jenkins |
| Typical Locations | New York, mythical places, big cities, urban location, usually America… or space. | ||
| Characters / Groups | Typical hero with ‘powers’, group of heroes in conflict, dead family members, orphans, extremists, antagonist, sidekick – tech guys, love interest – the damsel in distress | ||
| Conflicts & Themes | Good overcoming evil, overcoming adversity, origin story, internal conflict, | ||
| Filmic Technique | Kaboom, CGI, big action sequences, cars chase, flashbacks, training montage, explosions, special effects, aerial shots, voiceovers, the costume reveal | ||
| Iconography / Mise-en-Scene | Cityscape, primary coloured superhero suits, vehicles, specific weapons, power prop, superpower, | ||
| Shape of the story | Opening action setting – origin story explained – characters introduced | Superhero is put in challenging situations – their arch nemesis tries to destroy the world. Achilles heel is tested | Superhero wins / saves the world – and the girl |
Foley Sound
Sound is important for film because of how viewers react to it. Certain sounds are important for naturalism and for continuity of the film. Foley is the reproduction of everyday sound effects that are added to films, videos, and other media in post-production to enhance audio quality. This can be anything from rustling leaves to explosions.
My Foley attempt was to make the silent film “Spooky House” into a immersive short with sound, to do this I recorded my own Foley and edited the clip and audio in Adobe audition.
(Foley Sound Page)
Pan’s Labyrinth Final Essay Feedback
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQT3lvvhTlZcglSm0ReHfaAnIQSkcQsfxOTPoSviGN-iK-xMAZ6KdVae-cxdXDP3CqJpTYCaTJ9Xg-f/pub
(Link to final Pan’s Labyrinth Essay)
Targets:
-Use more technical terms such as “proxemics”
-Develop my use of words, with a variety of words and adjectives. Try to not use the word show but connotes and or symbolises to vary my work as well as develop my description and suggestions to the context of the film.
-Use more film keywords to describe micro and macro features.
Lighting
-High-key lighting – Reduces the contrast between the darker tones and lighter tones by reducing the lighting ratio.
-Low-key lighting – Greater ratio between the dark and light areas with the majority of the scene in shadows.
-Expressive colour – When an artist or director makes a decision to portray an image with an “unrealistic” colour
Lighting for Meaning
A game of chess in which you use lighting & cinematography to create the feeling of a dangerous game, where the stakes are high.
As a group we were tasked to film a chess game which would convey danger through its use of lighting and camera shots, then as individuals edit the shots to make a sequence that shows the creative intention.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BKhWWSVLz4
(IAR page on lighting)
Basic movement
(Basic Movement Camera Reel)
(IAR Page For Basic Movement)
