The Dark Knight - How does a Camera tell a story?
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2024
- Film is a unique medium as it's camera is probably one of the most important techniques in conveying it's story, but how does it do that? Today let's look at a scene from the Dark Knight to explore how close ups and zooms can convey who has more power than the other.
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Every frame a painting : / everyframeapainting
Now You See It
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1:37 you can also make the connection that The Joker is surrounded in darkness while Gordon is surrounded by light with black bars throughout the frame. The Joker is in total darkness giving the audience an already unsettled feeling associating him with the unknown and "evil". Gordon is in light symbolizing his inner goodness which is being imprisoned by the dark cage of society and his city's ulterior motives and malicious intentions. Just thought that was interesting
(forgot to mention this) Batman is then shrouded in light, also immediately associating Batman with "good" and justice. However, the difference between Gordon and Batman is that the bars of society are gone. The corrupt, but possibly necessary societal rules and expectations have disappeared. Batman is an unleashed force of justice and the ultimate foil (opposite) of The Joker who is supposed to be unleashed "evil" at this point in the film. Both The Joker and Batman are causing real change in the world, for better or worse. This is in direct contrast to Gordon who is restricted by the laws of the land and will ultimately cause no real change. Maybe I'm stretching here idk
Chrissia Victors Man, that's a really good analysis. Thanks for the words!
Marco Antônio Ribeiro de Toledo thank you!
Chrissia Victors When you really start to think about it, it gets more fucked up. In normal interrogations a person facing the light is probably the person who is not afraid to speak the truth. That person in this scene is the Joker. Gordon is the one facing darkness, implying that he fears truth deep within.
Saifuddin Makati so then batman is also in no fear?
threes some very strange mic distortion going on in this video, sounds bad in headphones
Richard Tongeman
Thought my earphones were broken
Richard Tongeman
Thought my earphones were broken
Yeah, it's true
true..even I thought it's my head phone problem
fuck, I just thought my new earphones were broken lol
Just FYI those "zooms" you mention are dolly shots, not zooms. Chris Nolan never uses zoom lenses.
"I don’t use zoom lenses, for example, so I don't reframe using the zoom. Instead, we always move the camera physically closer and put a different focal length on. Stylistically, something that runs through my films is the shot that walks into a room behind a character, because to me, that takes me inside the way that the character enters." - C. Nolan
+Jono Seneff Ahhh thank you, that's my bad! Sounds like Nolan to not use zooms - to methodical for that.
Jono Seneff yeah. Nolan is the type of guy to do that! Awesome
recently took up interest in cinematography.....i never knew there was so much depth and symbolism in the scenes. nice work mate. film making is something that will be there till the dooms day.
+Sarath krishna Thank you bud, it's actually overwhelming and inspiring how much storytelling is conveyed through small shots. If you ever post something mate I'd love to see it, and amen an art form that only seems to be growing!
Nicholas Dobbie Thank you. sure. Will post one day.
Awesome dude!
Keep making these videos man, I learn something every time
+Etienne Lasnaim Thank you so much mate, I'm glad you guys like it! I've got another exciting one on the way so hopefully it'll be just as good!
You added a whole new dimension to the movie. I'm gonna watch it again now.
Video essays always makes me question myself about how good I am to Understand A story fully like The Author or director wanted to Convey to Us.
Nice video analysis btw.
Exactly what i said after seeing the movie - "During interrogation Joker became the main character!" just wow thank you so much for this analysis!!!
I’ve loved this scene since the first viewing in theatre. Thank you for the technical explanation as to why this scene was so powerful.
An analisys about my favorite scene of all time, the like button liked itself without my help.
Great work Nicholas. You perfectly deconstruct every nuance of the shot. Love it. Keeping killing it.
+Riaz Hussein (RiazTV) Thank you so much mate! I've got another really cool video coming up for you guys!
also every frame a painting is an amazing channel 👌
And not created by a six yr old. Why would any film savvy adult listen to some lisping kids film analysis like he was fucking Walter Murch? The rule of thumb in film teaching is "No theatrically released features under your belt, No right to be teaching others how." A garbage exploitation film maker with one trashy slasher put out in theaters knows more about film than any ten thousand film school kids with theories about Kubrick on this site.
Thank you my film savvy adult friend!
Lol. "rule of thumb in film teaching". Now that is film savvy. Haha.
this has always been my favorite movie scene of all time
seriously, that was awesome! do more of this stuff! it is really inspiring!
+Kaneomatico Thank you so much mate, you guys make it worthwhile!!
Thank you for this video, I really enjoyed it. One tip, because that is personally speaking very important to me, at the end when you say that it is Nolan's lens when it is in fact the cinematographer (Wally Pfister) who set up the shots like that as well as the editor (Lee Smith) who composed this scene in the way that you perceived it. There are always more brains that collaborate on one movie and I think we, as critics, should always give everyone as much credit as possible. With film it is never just one single person doing all the work and that is what's beautiful about it.
What an brilliant observation and will forever change how I look at movies.
Well done, i have just started to learn about cinematography these types of video are really beneficial.
Also the whole section where Batman has Joker on the ground with his fists in foreground is 10 seconds of the 180* rule being broken. Batman and Joker both face screen left, a supposedly distracting edit. And I never noticed.
pretty great detail that should've been spoken about!
Marwen machat The fact that no one mentions it is what makes it so awesome.
Could you elaborate on this more? I don't completely get it.
Seriously one of my favorites scenes of all time. I've analyzed it and seen many videos on it. Such a masterpiece
Holy shit, this was probably one of the best film analysis of The Dark Knight for me. It's up there with "TDK--Creating the Ultimate Antagonist". This was beautifully said and put together, great job! :)
What a great video! Im a filmmaker, and this is a lot of help for me! Thanks!
Blimey that was interesting ! As a viewer you just don't always appreciate the thought that goes into every second and every image in a good quality film... food for thought
Fantastic, just earned yourself another sub
Welcome buddy!
Really, REALLY good analysis. Thanks!
Great videos, as for me the greatest scene is at joker and batman final battle where batman capture joker from falling and the screen rotates. that moment is the most glorious piece of camera story i have ever seen
wonderful analysis
Thanks Nick ... very interesting. Nice that you gave a shout out to the other channels.
Thank you mate! They make great content so it's only fair to give em a little shout out!
Awesome video now I want to watch the movie again
I already would give this scene a 10/10 but now i would give it a 1000000000000/10
Nice video! Something else that I thought was kind of interesting was how in the beginning only the Joker's face is lit. I liked your comment about how this shows he is detached from society. I also felt like it was reminiscent of the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. Visually, it reminds me of when the cat first appears before Alice, you can only see his huge grin and eyes. But also, Gordon and Alice were seeking for something, but in the end they got toyed with and teased.
Hi Nicholas! I really enjoyed watching your video. However, I think that your idea of the frames is a little far-fetched. In my opinion, the Joker is simply framed in darkness, because Batman was hiding behind him (and it shouldn't be obvious -> the moment of revelation is more powerful, when changing abruptly from darkness/black to brightness/white) and not Gordon. That's why their frames are different. But I totally get you! It's kind of fun to guess the artist's intention :D I mean, I could give you a whole backstory and interpretation of two dots on a napkin.
That the DP and director tried to cause chaos by changing the screen direction is a valid point, though!
+UkjACk300 Oh yeah definitely! It's kind of an interpretation thing I guess, but the reveal point is just as valid - it's just personally I think that the film makers would have planned that shot with meaning! But it is all interpretation! Thanks for commenting mate!
Many of the decisions on set about the framing and lighting are taken by D.P. not director. They certainly talk about it but this notion that Nolan did this Nolan did that is far from reality of the set.
DPs are way more influential that most people give them credit for but the problem is people outside the film world don't know it. Wally Pfister DP of Batman series won an Oscar for Inception and I bet he had a lot to say about framing and all that.
Thanks for sharing your views Nicholas but to be honest you are looking at filmmaking from outside and in my view your video is more of a self expression than a real case study.
+Amir I know mate, I'm aware the director of photography is essentially in charge of framing and lighting - but Nolan would have had plenty of say in his films. The two would have been collaborative, so both made the final product what it is, I realize I didn't give him much credit!
I'm really unsure what you mean outside the film world? To what world are you referring?
Yes that is what I am saying, You did not give him any credit, DP's role is super important and most probably Pfister made most of these decisions.
BTW I am not a DP, I am a Director.
Hey, you're right, DPs need more credir than they have and Wally Pfister should be mention here. However, if you are a director and you are not behind these ideas in your film, you're letting your DP make part of your work. And that's OK since they should have an input too, and I know sometimes directors work like that, but you cannot say that particularly Nolan didn't had these ideas. Ideas and decisions about film language are what a director has to make.
one of the very best analyses of all time. two thumbs way up!
Oh my god you deserve so much more than what you’re getting now!! This is so incredibly well put together! Loved the analysis dude
This movie is just artistic as heck. Great analysis 😃
But this was honestly so cool to watch!!! Good job!!
+Meera Sharma Why thank Meera Sharma!
you can see the camera perfectly in the reflection at 4:45, never noticed that
Excellent video, you just earned yourself another sub :)
Did nobody notice that you can clearly see the Camera the Cameraman and a nother Person in the Right Mirror when Batman tossed Joker against the Wall at 4:45 (if you cant See it just start playing the clip in 0.25 at second 4:44)
I have a new found respect for this scene.
Excellent video man, you earned yourself a subscriber. Keep up the good work
oh man please do a part 2 with the end scene with the two boats and batman catching joker / joker hanging "upside down"
I WANT MORE OF IT PLEASE
This was pretty interesting never thought of the camera angles to mean anything
if camera angles means nothing why is there a director ?
Great video. Really enjoyed it.
hey nick, someone translated this video into Chinese and gave me the chance to see this.You’ve made a great film analysis video.I really like it and i really like the director Nolan.And i see you’ve not uploaded more film this years.What happened?Hoping you can make more videos for us!
This breakdown was amazing! I will definitely incorporate these techniques in my next short film which has a very similar scene! Thank you for making this video!
0:42 that's trippy asf
Awesome analysis!
+prufrock1977 Thank you Prufrock!
Anyone else notice for the first time the Joker prepares to have his head slammed before being touched?
awsome analysis
Great stuff!
+Ethan Lane Thank you!!
i think it's also important that while batman has the joker by the shirt it actually looks and feels like the joker is standing above batman looking down on him.
Yo that shit u just spoke is real af. Left to right. Now i have to watch movies again 😂🤣😂🤣
Well done.
Love it...gonna used this for my english essay!😀
You won a subscriber. Awesome video. Cheers from Colombia.
I like this better when it was done to Silence of the Lambs on "who wins the scene". Good video though!
Great video! ! !
thank you for this video a helluva lotta fun watching bro thank you my favorite movie, director and performance.
Overthinking : the musical.
GREAT video 👍🎬💯
THIS IS FRICKIN INSANE!!
Man this was entertainment in educational
I loved the video so much. And I learned a lot about screen work and the way that movies are made
+The Greatest Thank you so much mate!!!! That was the main goal! Like once you become aware of this stuff you start seeing it alot!
Great video. There seemed to be no mention of the actual cinematographer though. Just the director and the video is about the films cinematography. It seems that some credit is owed? Or did I miss you saying something about Pfister?
+Dan Hasson No I definitely shafted him, thats something I would definitely change if I could!
Thanks for this video, dad.
I just looked at the camera breaking editing rules as Joker explaining that he and Batman are 2 sides of the same coin (obviously a common motif throughout this movie). They're both considered useful freaks that the mob/police are using temporarily in a desperate situation, then they'll cast them out when they don't need them
One of my favourite scenes in all of cinema!
also ma man with the There Will Be Blood!
Reported.
+Tom Lear There will be blood just for you!
This video was awesome
Great Channel and interesting analysis! Only criticism is that the audio 'crackled' every now and again but it could've just been my headphones. Looking forward to new videos!
Yeah that was on my side! Still trying to up the production values on these things! Thanks for the criticism though mate, helps me make these things better.
*Great* video
You've just earned a new subscriber.
+Angèle Nguyen Welcome buddy! Thank you so much!
Awesome work, it is much appreciated!
Now this is an example of why Nolan is one of the greatest directors of our time.
brilliant video
+Seni İlgilendirmez Thank you mate!
Nolan doesn't think about camera shit,, he just shot this goddamn scene and it became masterpiece. simple
director who doesn't think about camera ? in which world are you living in ?
Lmao that’s why film school exists right?
Tarek Legrand .. at least not that much as video uploader explains.
Kdream's Cosmos hartzog.org/j/mementogeneralstructure.html
It’s the narrative structure of Christopher Nolan’s “Momento”
If a shot isn’t saying something, then it’s a useless shot and will get cut
chrisgotem1990 bro. Read my comment carefully i am talking about *this* scene. And i am not saying this shot doesn't mean anything.. what i am saying is he just shot the scene the way he does. as we know he is genius.
Well thought out!
This us my favourite movie scene ever
Batman is the darkness.
Great video.. keep them coming
This was very interesting. Thanks!
I LOVED IT. WOW
+shreyas wannere Why thank you Shreyas!
correct me if I'm wrong, but did Nolan break the 180-degree rule? every time the camera is on the left, the joker has the upper hand and vice versa.
WTF! Mind Blown!
nice one! thanks
that is some serious stuff man !
God Damn it brother! you said it MAN!
2:13 The camera isn't really looking down at the Joker. It's at horizontal eye-level.
"Who did you leave him with? Your people?.. Assuming they are still your people.. not Maronis."
you blow my mind...i owe you
Great work man!
Noise! Good analysis! Id only suggest taking care of the audio!
Phew I thought I blew my speaker. Its not you, its the video
This is amazing man, respect
the camera is like another character in the film
Just found this out! Got a sub! Loved it!
or some people just see what they want to see. (just jokong, great video)
How did you portray it so well through the whole thing
This is awesome thank you so much!
+From Elio's Lens No thank you, for watching!