How does the film “The Dark Knight Rises” use certain conventions within the film to fit the superhero/action genre?

 

 The film 'The Dark Knight Rises' is the last instalment in the trilogy of the batman films 'Batman Begins' and 'The Dark Knight'. The film made by major Hollywood studios Warner Bros features the A-list stars 'Tom Hardy', 'Christian Bale', 'Anne Hathaway', 'Morgan Freeman' and 'Joseph Gordon-Levitt'. The opening sequence enters the stereotypical superhero genre as it introduces all the major characters and is jam packed with action. It entails major action throughout from aeroplane fight scenes to 'Catwoman' stealing 'Batman’s' finger prints and jumping out of a window. The plot straightway suggests the genre of action as the aeroplane scene is packed with quick cuts and wide shots to show that action taking place. The non-diegetic sound at the start is quite ominous and threating; it suggests the genre style as it sounds like chanting. This is foreshadowing what happens later on in the film when Batman is in the prison and the prisoner’s folk law is that they chant when someone is trying to escape the prison. This indicates that it could be a soundtrack to the film as it’s used frequently from then on throughout the film. The pitch and volume both increase adding to the importance and also acts as the incidental music and acts as a marker to show when action is taking place. The music used fits the genre as its incidental and dramatic which implies the significance of the scene that its being played over. This convention portrays the action/superhero genre as the music is quite fluent throughout and even though some pitches are softer than other it’s still keeps its mysterious feel.

  The starting scene shows a medium wide shot of three men in the back of a car with sacks on their heads, the mise-en-scene suggests that they are covering their identify and maybe they have done something wrong as they also have their hands tied, this prop implies they are bound and therefore have limitations. The costumes are army attire suggesting the theme of violence and fighting, this links with the action convention as fight starts to irrupt once they are in the sky. The editing during the plane scene is continuity editing, the edits are quick but fluid which helps contrast the action on action plot. The dialogue used is very high volume as they are all shouting each other. This adds further to the action genre as its shows the emotion the characters are feeling such as anger and it reciprocates when they all start to fight. The fight scenes are very realistic which is a convention of a superhero film as it shows the strength and agility the characters have and that some involved are just ordinary people.

 The aerial tracking and pans of the plane shows the special effects used such as CGI, these computer camera angle helps the audience with the understanding of the setting by showing the surroundings. The dialogue of the character 'Bane' is very scary and mysterious. The tone doesn’t seem friendly so therefore the audience feel like they can’t relate to him and therefore doesn’t know who he is. The fact he has a sack on his head adds the suspense and mystery of whom the person is and what he looks like. The medium close up of the reveal of the sack suggests the importance of this character of 'Bane' as the shot focuses just on him. The focus pull gets all the attention on the man in the sack portraying his significance and how important it is for the audience to see the reveal. The reveal is very slow which builds suspense and almost fear amongst the audience as we don’t know what’s going to be under the sack especially with his sinister voice. This convention indicates that 'The Dark Knight Rises' is a superhero/action genre as most superhero films are filled with mystery as to who the characters are and who are stereotyped the “goodies” and “baddies”, so the sacks add to the unknown. There is a wide shot of the sky showing the plane 'Bane' is on and another bigger one above it. The size of the plane is taking up most of the shot which suggests the importance of it, and maybe it’s going to have to do with something that happens next which we soon find out that it hijacks the other plane. Once the scene breaks out into violence it shows a wide shot of various characters fighting even though the main focus is 'Bane' and another man fighting the wide shots shows that there isn’t just one fight broke out there is various. This is a convention used in an superhero/action film as it suggests that fighting and violence is apparent with all the characters in the scene. The prop of the blood used when 'Bane' takes blood off of the

Doctor and transfers it into another man’s body that appears dead. This is a convention of an action/superhero film as blood can represent death and violence that does take place within this certain genre.  The aerial shot shows the wreckage of the plane falling downwards and also reveal to the audience which characters have died.  There is then a wide shot to show the bigger plane that we learn Bane owns as he was the one who hijacked the other plane falling to the ground. The bigger plane then fly’s away, with the two characters of 'Bane' and the Doctor which could symbolise the importance of these characters.

    This then cuts to a new scene where it pans to show a city setting which sets the location of 'Gotham' which is a CGI. It cuts and pans to show the location and also familiarise the audience with the characters there and indicate what sort of event it is. The mise-en-scene costumes are formal suggesting it’s a black tie event, the setting is dark as its night time which can be considered a convention to the superhero/action films as it is a mysterious time, as anyone could we lurking about portraying the unknown. There is dialogue that can be heard whilst the camera pans, which  helps the audience understand that its quite a “chit chatty” tone indicating its quite a laid back formal event. Then a wide shot is shown of a man standing on a podium with the people gathered around. Then there is a high angle shot used which suggests the man’s superiority to the others it implies he is the dominant character. His costume is very formal adding to the importance of this man. Once he starts speaking his dialogue suggests he is very well educated and what he is saying has relevance to the event.  There is than a subjective view point of a women waitress, the males voice is transferred into the background suggesting he still plays an important role however the main focus now is this lady it suggests her significance to others around her and that she is different from them. The camera then tracks her into the kitchen; her movement is quick and fluid implying she may have a hectic schedule to get through. Once she takes the key off the butler she travels upstairs to put a tray onto a table. The pans of the room she enters shows the big size of the room and the furniture and accessories it’s filled with.  The subjective view point is used again so the audience see what she sees through her eyes, the movement is very quick and edgy, we could interpret this to be in reference to her cat like characteristics as her vision is very clear cut. It then focus pulls as she then picks up a photo of a man and a woman indicating these characters are going to have significance to the film. Most of the objects in the room are covered over with white sheets, indicating they don’t want to be shown or seen. The colour white is very drab and neutral indicating that these dull covers could be hiding something interesting underneath but has lost its interest. The women starts searching through items however she isn’t frantically searching suggesting to the audience as to what type of characters she is. It suggests the persona of quite a calm exterior and how she is confident enough to search through someone’s belongs. In addition, it also implies she may know what she is looking for. The prop of the archery is used to break her search; it suggests the skill of the man who fires it. Once the male is shown, we see a man who has a walking stick and dressed in informal clothing, which doesn’t really fit the formal exterior of the room. As the scene moves on a two shot is shown of the man who we know as 'Batman' and the women we find out to be 'Catwoman' it is used to show the close proximity between the two characters, it can be used to foreshadow future events as we find out later that they become an item. Even though the scene isn’t very long it shows the dramatic change in both of the characters as 'Catwoman' starts off to be quite innocent but the prop of the stolen pearls is used as marker to show her change in character as she knocks 'Batman' to the ground and jumps out of the window. 'Batman' is portrayed as a cripple in this scene indicating he couldn’t have been a superhero but we soon see the change in him when starts to return back to 'Batman'. This portrays the convention of a superhero film as it shows that character’s change from being normal people into strong individuals knows as superheroes.

 

 The use of camera angles, sound, mes-en-scene and editing are all used to portray 'The Dark Knight Rises' to be a superhero/action film as the scenes are filled with wide shots to show all the action alongside the mysterious music to create the scene of the unknown as to who the heroes in this film actually are.