Creating the Image of a Supervillain in Six Minutes
Superhero films are expected to offer an explosion of action, and starting the film with an action scene sets the viewers’ expectations high. The initial scene of Christopher Nolan’s “Batman: The Dark Knight” gives viewers an adrenaline rush, which makes them feel even more excited about the rest of the film. However, in this film, the initial scene has an even more important function because it introduces the film’s antagonist, the Joker. The film relies on viewers’ prior knowledge of the character in order to reveal the main antagonist of the film in this scene. Even though the plot does not make it clear that the Joker is Batman’s main antagonist in this film, the audience is most likely already familiar with the character. The viewers therefore know more in this scene than the rest of the characters, which creates a feeling of anticipation. They expect the Joker to rise up to their expectations and to appear as a terrible villain, who none but Barman could bring down. In the initial scene, the filmmaker uses non-diegetic music and editing in order to construct a fierce image of the antagonist, thus establishing him as a worthy adversary for Batman.
The editing of the film also has two functions, creating a dynamic action scene, and also establishing the antagonist’s image as a fierce villain. The cross-cuts are extensively used by the director in order to create the impression of intense activity. The fast cross-cuts between the two teams of thieves at the beginning create a feeling of anticipation, suggesting the rapidity with which the events occur. Because they are fast and precise, the villains seem to be true professionals. There is also acontinuity between the cross- cuts, which suggests that the two teams act together. For example, after the scene at the window, the director cuts to the image of a man’s back, as he is holding a mask. The camera focuses on the mask and slowly approaches it, in order to emphasize its resemblance to the masks worn by the first two characters. A car then stops and the man puts his mask and enters the car thus suggesting that whatever the masked men are planning is already happening. Then the director uses a cross-cut to return to the men in the building, following them while crossing to the top of the opposite building with the help of a rope. Therefore, there is a parallel construction between these scenes, suggesting the synchronization necessary for the execution of the plan. However, within the building, the director uses cross –cuts in order to move among the scenes of the thieves in action, and the bank manager, who seems to have an opposite attitude, as he remains calm and moves slowly. While the viewers cannot know what he will do, it is clear from his attitude that he is significant in this scene.
While cross-cuts are used in order to create an intense action scene, worthy of any superhero film, they are also used in order to establish the Joker’s image. Thus, in the sequence when the groups of thieves discuss about the Joker, the cross cuts create a synchronization between their speculations. In the car, the character in focus claims “I know why they’re calling him the Joker”. The image then rapidly cuts to the men on the roof, as one of them asks, “So why are they calling him the Joker”. This both gives information about the main antagonist in the film, whose name the audiences are likely to be familiar with, and creates mystery surrounding him, because none of the men, all of whom wear Joker masks, actually know him. This also suggests that none of them is Joker, despite the masks.
Apart from cross cuts, the movement of the camera also helps to establish the mood of the film, and to give audiences clues regarding the main antagonist. For example, the director uses a tracking shot as the villains move though the bank. Following them allows the audiences to feel that they are part of the events, while the movement of the villains as they slide down on the rope is followed by means of an eagle eye shot, which intensifies the feeling of danger, because it emphasizes the distance. Most importantly, close-ups allow the viewers to focus on the Joker, and even to anticipate that one of the characters is the absent antagonist. The director provides close-ups of the masks, in order to allow them to make the difference between different villains. The Joker is the villain who seems to display the strangest behavior from the beginning of the action. For example, when one villain asks him, “his out, right?”, concerning the number of bullets in the bank manager’s shot gun, the villain who turns out to be the Joker, says nothing but silently nods. When it turns out that the manager still had a bullet, the other villain is shot, and the Joker comes out and shots the manager. At this point, the filmmaker brings the camera very close to his mask again. While the mask does not differentiate him from other villains, the attitude does. As he slowly turns his head to look at the man lying on the ground, and then silently contemplates his partner who accuses him of having mistaken the number, his strange behavior causes viewers to suspect that he is the Joker. The camera helps the viewers to identify the Joker because the director uses close-ups to makes the viewers focus on his behavior. By the end of the scene, the camera focuses entirely on the Joker, as he is the last villain standing, after the others have shot each other at the order of the “boss”.
Using close-ups and angle shots, the director emphasizes the fact that, even though the members of the team are professional villains, and the bank manager is in fact part of the mafia, the Joker is smarter and more powerful than they are. His degree of intelligence is constantly challenged throughout the scene, but particularly by the end. First, the last remaining villain states that, if the Joker was smart, he would have brought a bigger car. A few seconds after this remark, the school bus is brought in, thus revealing that the Joker is indeed smart. Moreover, the manager also accuses the Joker of not being smart, because the man who hired him will kill him as well. A few seconds after this, the revelation that the last villain is Joker is made. At this point, the director brings the camera close to the villains face, as he removes the mask. Using an extreme-close up, the terrifying face of the Joker appears to the viewers as close as it must have seemed to the character lying on the ground. At this moment, the filmmaker also uses angle shots to suggest the power relation which exists between the bank manager, a powerful, and previously self-confident member of the mafia, and the Joker. A low angle is used when the camera moves towards the manager who is on the ground, to suggest the Joker’s power, and then, a high angle shot is used as the manager looks up at the Joker. This suggests his defeat and weakness, and establishes the Joker as the ultimate villain.
The initial scene in Batman: The Dark Knight using non-diegetic sounds is essential in the film because it establishes the intensity of the narrative line, and it also constructs the image of the Joker as the ultimate villain. By using non-diegetic sound and edition, the filmmaker successfully manages to create an atmosphere of extreme tension and creates dynamism. Even more importantly, the director constructs the Joker as a mysterious character, who is more powerful and smarter than all the other characters in the film. As the quintessence of evil, the Joker kills almost everyone else, and establishes his supremacy in the world of villains by humiliating the representative of the mafia.
Works Cited
Batman: The Dark Knight. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Perf. Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart. Warner Bros. Pictures. 2008. Film.
