Opening scenes of films

The Dark Knight

From the very beginning of the film the themes are introduced. It starts by the alteration of the Warner Brothers sign, it is usually gold with a sky blue cloudy background however it is now blue/black with a dark cloudy background. By doing this it has set the scene to imply the themes of evil that are central the film. After there are flashes of the "Joker's" face and body. The joker's face is meant to create fear in the viewer. There are smoke explosions showing mystery as its the unknown, through the smoke the shape of a bat appears however it is distorted and the clouds disappear around it to make it more vivid. The film goes straight into an action shot with tense music creating the on edge atmosphere, giving the feeling that something dangerous is about to happen. The camera starts with a wide shot narrowing down to where the action is about to begin, scaring the viewer by the loud sound and smashing glass by the villain.

I think this is very effective as the viewer knows what to expect. The film is an action film and it is established from the first scene.