Camera Work: The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight rises was the 2012 DC comics blockbuster, bringing $1085 billion to the box office.

It was eight years that Batman had vanished into the Gotham darkness with nobody knowing of his whereabouts or reason, however, the sudden crimes of a mischievous 'cat woman' and her alliance called 'Bane' call the infamous 'Batman' out of the darkness.

The first seconds of the clip focus on a police

car, this is a tracking shot as the audience is following the police car. This gives the audience immediately a sense of danger, the speed of which the camera is moving at also compels the audience to feel excited. As we see the police car following men on motorbikes this suggests at what might be Batman's first appearance as he in the protagonist. The sense of danger created in the first few seconds conveys that Batman will be later coming into the scene to save the day. The camera then cuts to a close-up of two policemen in the car looking frantic, this is also hinting at the idea that Batman is needed to help them. The camera then returns to the police chase sequence, however, the focus on the camera has shifted to focus only on the darkness of the tunnel they are in has become suddenly very dark, again hinting at Batman's appearance. The camera quickly returns to the Policemen in the car again with a close-up. The next shot features the screen becoming dark for a brief second after the policemen says' you are in for a treat tonight son', after light returns to the screen we see one of the men running off the motorbike screaming, this mid shot gives us an idea that Batman may have just appeared in the darkness however it is not given away yet. A few seconds later a cloaked character comes out of nowhere incredibly quickly, it is then that a mid shot gives the audience there the first sighting of Batman's reappearance.

Batman is next shown in a close-up shot, here the audience can see his face. The fact that he is standing with his face taking up most of the screen suggests that he is an extremley important character, the entire scene has been leading up to his appearance. The next shot features Batman showing his power and authority over the law enforcement. Batman looks back towrads a policemen who is holding his gun directly at him, in this mid shot Batman has shown the ultimate power he holds over the city. However the next ten seconds make the audience question his authority as we watch a seris of shots that show the policemen coming into action to 'take batman down'.

This scene uses camera work to establish how the rest of film has been leading to the return of Batman, through the use of mid shots and close ups we are shown Batman's true identity, power and authority.