The Dark Knight - Thriller Analysis + Themes

From watching the first 3 minutes of The Dark Knight I have gathered inspiration for the thriller movie we are filming. The Dark Knight is a thriller/superhero film written and produced by Christopher Nolan.

At the start of the film the establishing shot is a camera zooming in quickly to a window on a highrise block. It cuts into the window it has been zooming in once it is broken. I think this shot is a very good establishing shot, as it shows exactly were the action is starting. It leaves the viewer knowing that some type of illegal activity is happening once the glass breaks. It cuts in to the men wearing a clown mask firing some type of rapel gun out of the broken window, the clown mask is a later motif for the next scene.

In the next scene it shows a lower body shot from behind showing a man on a street curb with a clown mask in his hand, the clown mask showing he is from the same organisation/gang as the men in the last scene. At this point the non-diegetic music crescendos which gives a fast paced feeling of suspense. In my thriller we are planning on using the lower body shot from behind to show our 'bad-guy', I think this shot adds mystery as you can only see the lower half of the character, as well as showing that the character is facing the subject/object of the film.

The 'bad-guy' then gets in the car which has 2 other men inside, the camera shot is in the back seat of the 4x4 vehicle which disguises who the men are. This gives a feeling of secrecy. The camera then jump shots to a close up of the man in the front passenger seat, which reveals that the other two men are wearing clown costumes, this shows that they are all part of the same group/gang and that they are going to do an illegal activity as they are hiding their identity. I also find it sort of perplexing how calm the men in the front seats of the car as they have a small chat about the cut of the profits, which leads the audience to believe they are stealing something.