The Dark Knight Opening

The film 'The Dark Night' starts on a false sense of normalcy with high key lighting on a long shot of a New York skyscraper. The camera slowly zooms in on a window, building anticipation and then suddenly the window shatters, the sense of calm is broken and the action begins. 

From then on the camera angles change rapidly and there is frequent crosscutting, which gives the scenes a fast paced feeling. This is added to by the music used which has a constant and fast beat that increases tension and makes the viewer focus on the action by creating an urgent mood. And by the, perhaps over exaggeratedly loud, diegetic sounds such as the gunshots and glass breaking.

The viewer is also made to feel as though they are at the centre of the action as the cameras stay very close to the men at all times and follow them, in a smooth rolling motion, every time they move. So that when the men enter the car, cross over the building on a zip wire, and enter the bank the camera stays right with them so it is as if the viewer is among them. 

The opening is also made exciting and tense by the use of foreshadowing. Such as weighting being used to draw attention to one of the men by placing him in the top half of the screen on the left. The attention drawn to him casts him in a suspicious light as he is standing just behind another man watching him. Due to the weighting the viewer becomes aware and wary of his presence just before he shoots the other man.

The consistent close ups also increase the drama as they keep the viewer immersed in the action and make it a significant change when at the end of the scene the camera changes to a mid shot then a wide shot to reveal the bus crashing into the building.