George Lancaster

Mr. Hill

5/18/15

Analysis of Editing Choices

        The scene that I am analyzing is from the 2008 film The Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan. This film stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Gary Oldman as James Gordon, Heath Ledger as The Joker, and Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent. This is the second film in Nolan’s Batman Trilogy and is about Batman’s fight against the Joker and the transformation from Harvey Dent to Two-Face and that subsequent battle. The individual scene that I will analyze is the final scene of the film where Batman saves Gordon and his son from Dent/Two-Face and the immediate aftermath where he takes the blame for the murders Dent committed so that he remains a symbol of hope for the city.

        One amazing element of the scene is its attention to visual design. One amazing element all throughout the movie is its attention to costume and makeup. This scene in particular, we see the amazing use of costumes. Batman's outfit is all black with a billowing cape to give him a menacing presence as the Caped Crusader. Two-Face on the other hand has a suit that on one half is clean and normal but the other half is charred and destroyed which shows the audience there are two sides to any person the moral upstanding Harvey Dent and the evil Two-Face. Another amazing aspect of visual design is the use of lighting. All throughout the movie the viewer sees very dark shots of Batman giving a dark mood. But as Batman drives away on his motorcycle we see a glimpse of brightness surrounding him almost giving him a halo effect to show the good in him.

        Another amazing thing this film has done is its great use of cinematography. In this scene the camera does many panning shots which gives the scene more excitement then if the camera had stayed still engaging the audience. Another thing that they did was the use of special effects. All throughout the film there were amazing special effects but the one that I want to focus on is the special effects used to create Harvey Dent they're excellent use of motion camera devices transformed a normal human face into the burned horrifying face that the audience sees in the film.

        This film is renowned for its editing and there's a very good reason for that. At the Academy Awards the film won the award for best sound editing and was also nominated for best film editing. One amazing element of editing in this scene is it uses music. The music really adds to Gordon's speech as Batman flees which really builds the emotional impact of the monologue. In the scene part word end is going to kill Gordon's son we see the camera linger which builds tension in the audience when there are long takes. It puts a tension in the air and chills the viewer.

        With all of these amazing elements it's no wonder why this film is so highly regarded. It’s no surprise that it won “Best Sound Editing” and was also nominated for “Best Art Direction,” “Best Cinematography,” “Best Sound Mixing,” “Best Visual Effects,” “Best Makeup,” and “Best Film Editing.” The only surprise is why it didn't win more of those words awards.