Batman Camera Angles

Smoke billows out from a Manhattan skyscraper, damaged by a fiery explosion. This could easily be a scene from 9/11, however we see Batman looking grimly on as a poster advertises the film will be released soon. Clearly this film plays on the fears of terrorism. As depicted in The Dark Knight, the Joker plays the terrorist, while Gotham’s leadership struggles to contain him. The film departs from the superhero ideals of pure good versus pure evil, showing a murky world where moral decisions have to be made in order to stop evil. Because of this, The Dark Knight seems to be an allegory for the War on Terrorism. This paper will look at how the Joker represents terrorism, while Batman represents George Bush and his administration’s War on

The Dark Knight Rises demonstrates this blurred line that exists between a hero and villain through the visual design of the film, which the troubles of

Bruce Wayne is a very complicated individual due to his hero archetype with wide range persona and visible shadow that presents itself through Batman. The scene that captures overall personality is the scene that shows Alfred and Bruce talking after Rachel Dawes’ death, 1:38:00-1:39:15. The scene opens up with Bruce Wayne sitting in the apartment, in Batman armour, rationalizing the situation and facing the damage that has been caused over his pursuit of the Joker. Bruce Wayne feels as though Gotham city needs a true hero and Batman does not seem to cut it anymore. As he states himself, “Gotham needs its true hero and I let that murdering psychopath blow him half to hell” (Nolan 2008). Bruce sees that he is no longer able to control the situation

The Dark Knight (2008), directed by Christopher Nolan, demonstrates the idea of good versus evil. Batman is known as the protagonist, and Joker is known as the ultimate villain. The representation of crime in the film is seen from the actions of both characters. The film essentially depicts the act of deviance meaning, “behaviour that violates social norms, including laws”. In normality the government would have the greatest amount of power, but in the Gotham city, power is complex. There is minimal structure of law and order in Gotham city due to powerful people like Batman and the Joker. Citizens of Gotham city can no longer fight for themselves in a world filled with supernatural powers. Therefore, the only hope that citizens have rest in the hands of Batman. Although Batman attempts to save Gotham city from Joker’s criminal intentions. Batman, however, also plays a role in deviant activity while attempting to catch the Joker. Realistically, Batman violates the moral code due to destructive behaviour, and putting the lives of citizens at harm. He does not care for social norms, nor whether his acts are of legality. He is devoted to combat organized crime with Harvey Dent, a district attorney in Gotham city. Batman is in fact, the definition of crime, he understands but does not abide to individual rights and social contracts which make up the rule of law. In addition, the man behind Batman, Bruce Wayne also portrays a form of deviance by disguising himself as Batman.

Through his films, such as The Dark Knight Trilogy, Interstellar, Memento, and The Prestige, he investigates the human mind and the disparate configurations it can exhibit by using sociology. The Joker is a psychotic anarchist and embodies Nolan’s interpretation of the lowest form of a person. Nolan never tells the audience what the Joker’s true background is, however, the Joker reveal various false stories about his childhood. Although his stories are not verifiable, it gives the audience a clear picture that he faced hardships in his childhood and lived according to the lower-class society standards. The Joker’s goal is to force the citizens of Gotham down to his level by abandoning their beliefs about being protected by the Batman and the police force, therefore, they can visualize how no one protects and cares for the lower-class individuals.

The black, white and orange colour theme creates a strong contrast and the combination represents danger, but also shows how the emotions are drained out of the poster. As we can see, batman is in front of the white light. Since the white light is associated with innocence and purity, we can deduce that it metaphorically represents the innocent people of Gotham. This long shot of Batman, spreading his wings in front of the light and covering it gives a sense of ‘protection’ and shielding the people of Gotham. Alternatively, his direct mode of address also suggests a threatening attitude as if the audience is the

Cinematography is used to show the dominance of characters, Batman is always being shot from further back and lower perspectives revealing his dominance over the Joker. When Batman stops his physical dominance over the Joker and engages him in conversation the camera angles begin to level out highlighting the equality between the characters. The inconsistent cuts between angles creates an uneasy feeling for the viewer which compliments the uneasy and chaotic characteristics of the joker who is controlling the scene now. Joker being shot in high angles and Batman being shot from low angles has the implication that Batman is dominant in the scene and Joker is inferior. The actions in this scene are contradictory proving that although Batman is in control physically Joker is mentally in control of the situation.

Batman: The Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan is non-stop action thriller that continually did the unexpected. The film is based off of the original Batman comic book but additionally changes the perception of the everyday world as good to naturally bad. Throughout the movie, Batman stands for honesty and goodness while the Joker is a symbolism of chaos and evil. Both sides are forced to make quick-witted decisions in order to stop the opposing vigilante from doing his desired work. The citizens of Gotham are put in the heart of this circumstance and feel obligated to go against their values to stop the chaos. Numerous people habitually pursue their dreams and values but often become blinded from their

In the low angle image above, one Mr. Patrick Bateman is shown before he murders the prostitute who he calls Christie. Who, recently has been running away from him because, she knows what he does and sees he is in a dark place. Therefore, it make sense that the surrounding are tight, dirty and shadowy, conveying that nothing good is going to happen. Reflecting, on Giannetti words that in low angle scene, directors minimized the environment in order to focus on the people. Another, important part of a low angle is showing height, but Harron doesn’t make Mr.Bateman taller, just looming.

Bruce Wayne uses all of the strength he possesses in order to keep Batman from being free despite his relentless struggles to break free from the chains that keep him. The usage of dramatic lines the author uses and the constant shadows creates the imagery of captivity and the innermost thoughts and struggles that Bruce Wayne possesses deep inside. Cell bars represent the windows on the panels of this

In the film, The Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan, The Joker, one of Batman's most dangerous enemies whose aim is too push Batman to his ultimate limits, to break his personal rules and strict moral code. This, being the Jokers only reason to live, he has no fear of death and pain. The Joker is characterised as a calculating and logical criminal, a rebel with minimal empathy or moral and a nemesis who commits purposeless crime. Together these characteristics are developed through specific and appropriate use of technical aspects, such as, camera movement, camera angles, props and dialogue. Together these techniques create a character who is an extraordinary to watch, as he causes chaos in Gotham City, all to get

There is a shaky-camera shot of the batman brutally beating up the joker which is morally wrong, but Batman is sticking to his morals about not ever killing a human being, no matter how sick and psycho they are. The shaky-camera shot was used extremely well in this scene as it shows us how batman was feeling, he would've been terrified and nervous and he probably wanted to murder the Joker. The shaky-camera acts as if someone was standing there and recording while shaking because they were so scared. The complexity of morality is also shown in this scene by lighting. In this scene, the lights turn off and it becomes pitch black, then out of nowhere batman appears from the shadows.

Batman's a whole other story. The filmmakers have worked out the mask problems from the previous film; Bale fills the suit with grace and danger. His voice is disguised as well - it's now a bass-heavy synthesized whisper. The character seems more than ever an extension of his high-tech toys (like the neat-o Bat-scooter that pops out of the Batmobile at one point, ecstatically rearing up like the Lone Ranger's Silver). He represents a citizen's darkest urges, though, and it eats at him. He's Dirty Harry crossed with Hamlet.

At this point the camera angle switches and is positioned behind the Joker which gives the sense that the Joker has won, because the audience also gets to see the commissioner leave the room after not getting any answers from the Joker. However, as Commissioner Gordon exits the lights turn on revealing Batman standing behind the Joker. Batman makes his presence known by slamming the Joker’s head on the table, and towering over the Joker, so at this point the power has shifted and we are led to believe that Batman is in control of the situation. After asserting himself, Batman takes a seat at the table and is at eyelevel with the Joker, during this scene they are looking at each other face to face and are shown to be equal, despite Batman considering himself to be a vigilante and the Joker being a villain. Here a clear difference is shown in how the Joker was talking to the commissioner and how he talks to Batman, while talking to the commissioner the Joker was disinterested sitting laid back and speaking in a monotone voice, but when speaking to Batman he is

Throughout the whole scene the sound of cello is playing on a high note it starts at a slow pace and is silent and as the scene goes on we hear the cello increasing tempo and volume almost as there's a fly around your ear you can't get rid of this makes the audience feel as something big is going to happen. The next shot shows us a man patiently waiting at an intersection holding a mask that appears to look like a circus clowns face and a duffle bag in his hand, Although the man's face is not revealed it is guaranteed that its the joker. the camera fast zooms into the man's back as its being zoomed the tempo increases in volume almost like a Nuclear Radiation Detector in this case the more dangerous the man the higher it increases and is cut off when the car approached to pick him up. Chicago was the primary location Nolan has chosen for the Dark Knight this was the ideal location as it brought the fictional Gotham City from the comic books to life in a realistic and relatable way that few Batman movies had. This Gotham City wasn't just background, it was also a character and one of the most important aspects of the