Week 1: Day 1 – THE DARK KNIGHT

[Lynn Vincentnathan]

Watch 1st time for:·

BASIC SCENE COMPONENTS:

SCENE ARC: shots of clown maskers entering into a complex bank job with many roles, including killing off a specific clown masker until only the Joker (who planned it all) is left getting away with all the loot.

SITUATION: bank hold up in a big city

CONFLICT: between clown maskers and bank staff, and among clown maskers, one banker head comes shooting so we don’t know then if he’ll foil the plot.

MOVING THE STORY FORWARD: each doing their part to make bank job a success re alarm, safe, escape bus, etc; pulling it off, killing people & clowns…

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: clown contradiction (clowns are for amusing kids, but they are lethal criminals here), fast-paced, well-organized & planned bank job plot, danger, fighting, killing, killing within criminal team

SETUPS/PAYOFFS: dissing Joker as not worthy of getting a share, planning to cut him out of it because he’s not participating in the job, but he is present to hear that and IS participating and gets the entire payoff after all other clowns are killed by other clowns or bank staff; greed driving clown maskers to kill other clown maskers to get a bigger cut (they are assigned by Joker to kill certain clowns once they’ve served their purpose) until only the Joker is left. When asked who the Joker is, they don’t know but a clown masker says the Joker (bank job leader) wears make-up, not a mask à we see the Joker with makeup AND a mask over that participating (tricking others).

INTRO TO WORLD — NOTICE THEY DIDN’T EXPLAIN THE WORLD, BUT PUT US INTO IT!

— big city bank, warning about it being mob money (asking for trouble), world of crime and killing well planned; weird clown-masker gang… to one left, the Joker, who is not only brazen enough to plan and pull off a big heist, but one of mob money. Total ruthlessness. Wondering how could it get worse than this? Bank guy laments how the criminals (the mob) used to believe in things, honor, respect. Joker takes off his mask…. He believes in whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stranger. ?? what does that mean??

LEAD CHARACTER INTRO.

— one clown-masker replies re who’s the Joker — he uses make-up, not a mask, war paint to scare people (not a clown to amuse kids!); we see a man on the street holding a mask with down-turned mouth, puts it on just before getting in the criminal gang car, so they & audience don’t know it’s the Joker joining them. Another clown-masker tells the Joker, who planned it, shouldn’t get any cut since he’s not doing the hard work of carrying it off — greedily suggesting they’d all get bigger cuts. ACTIONS–the Joker does participate and gets the entire payoff in the scene’s end. This implies he’s a great thinker/planner, exceedingly ruthless (but against greedy criminals), and dares to steal mob money. We wonder who is this guy????

Watch 2nd time for:·

CHALLENGING SITUATION

— greedy robbers out to get larger shares by eliminating each other; robbing a bank in a well-armed, alarmed, secure bank of mob money in a big and busy city.

INTRIGUE

— Will they pull it off (looks iffy); they wonder who the Joker is, then we wonder who the Joker is, esp at the end when he wins out over all others, why did he hit his mob bank, will the mob be after him (as a bank manager warned).

INTERESTING ACTION

— going by a high wire from one building to bank building roof, each doing a role to pull off bank job (like drilling into the really secure-looking safe), frightening bank customers and staffers, killing some, KILLING EACH OTHER, bus crashing thru building and the Joker getting away.

INTRIGUING DIALOGUE

— robbers wondering who Joker is; discussion/concern of (money split into) 5 shares, 6 with the planner Joker, and cutting the cutting him out.

TONE

— tense, negative (bad guys pulling it off, even tho it is a mob bank), weird with happy & sad masks. The Joker wears a sad mask — he’s sad for some reason??

LURES US INTO THE STORY

— high wire ride to the bank roof and other coordinated tactics, including planned killing off of robbers by robbers, as well as daring to hit a mob bank, makes us want to know who is this genius planner, the Joker, and why did he want to hit this mob bank beyond getting the loot. Does he have some plan with that loot?

TWIST AT CONCLUSION OF THE SCENE

— we are told the Joker is not participating (he wears makeup, they/we assume not a mask) and they are planning to cut him out of a share, but the Joker is participating and is the last man standing, escaping with ALL the loot.

What makes this scene great from a writing perspective:

— it has all the elements listed above, luring us into the story, wondering who this Joker is.

How I will improve my opening scene:

— I need to have more elements like this

[Karine Saint Jacques]

My Insights about the scene

Interesting villain introduction through action and dialogue that engages us. We learn through dialogue and action that he is clever, untrustworthy, dangerous, manipulative, crazy, backstabbing, calculating, and he’s always one step ahead from anyone else.

Interest technique #1 used: hidden identity. > Until the very end, we and the rest of the robbers have no idea that the Joker is among them, and the ruse is intensified with the dialogue as they talk about the Joker, he himself says bad things about the Joker.

The bank robbery is an interesting situation that is set up for conflicts, suspense, surprise, and more.

Interest technique #2 used: suspense > robbers killing each other.

Interest technique #3 used: surprise & twist > the reveal of the Joker.

Interest technique #4 used: curiosity > The scene is built in a way that we’re always engaged as we ask ourselves questions after questions like:

Why did he kill his partner? Who is he?

Who are they?

Are they going to get caught?

Will they get stopped? Will they succeed? How?

Subtext in the dialogue > the robbers talk bad about their boss, the Joker, and make fun of him while the Joker is among them and even him says bad things about himself.

Challenging situation > I would say that the Joker actually creates a challenging situation for everyone else in the scene.

[Huey Williams]

What I Learned: The power it adds to a scene when you use important dialogue and action simultaniously, how it moves the story in a big way.

All Characters stand out, perform their task, deliver their lines with information that engage the audience deeper into the story.

The Joker orders them to kill each other after they have performed their jobs, they are unaware that he is part of the crew, he kills the last of them, (the bus driver), then reveals himself to the bank manager before driving away with the money on the bus.

The sequence is very violent, the situation is dire, the conflict with in the crew, the dialogue, set ups, and disregard of human life engages you.

The Joker is the ultimate antagonist he sets the tone that lures us into the story, and he does it in away that’s never been seen before.

The writing for all of the scenes in this movie are extremely great and it would be very hard to duplicate I’m intrigued.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by  Huey Williams.

[Huey Williams]

FAD IN:

EXT. DOWNTOWN – DAY

TWO MEN wearing ski masks parashut to the top of a building, secure their shuts.

ONE of them disables the security system, after he’s done.

His partner kills him, grabes his duffule bag and heads to main floor of bank.

INT. CAR OUTSIDE BANK – DAY

TWO OTHER MEN sit in a car waiting for the rest of the Crew to arrive.

MAN ONE

This GREEKO Mobster, he’s suppose to

the most feared man in the underworld.

MAN TWO

Yes, and no one has ever laid eyes on him,

He’s a ghost, who cares, as long as I get my cut.

EXT. OUTSIDE BANK – DAY

The other car pulls up, TWO MORE OF THE CREW jump out of their car, the men

waiting join them and they rush into the Bank guns out.

INT. BANK – DAY

The Crew catches everybody by surprise, shouting orders, throwing people around,

taking SECURITY out, they beat ONE MAN to put the fear of God in all the OTHER

PATRONS who are now on the floor.

TWO OF THE CREW go straight to the safe, MAN ONE goe’s to work opening it, MAN TWO

watches from behind gun pointed at his back.

MAN OPENING SAFE

Looks like a big payoff, this underworld mobster

Greeko won’t know if we take a cut off the top,

how’s he gunna know.

He opens the safe and they both are stairing at stacks of money in the vault.

MAN TWO

I’ve heard he’s not the type of person you double cross,

he has eyes and ears everywhere.

Man Two shoots safe opener, run into vault and starts loading cash into duffle bags.

After scuffle there’s only two left in the crew, they make their way out of the Bank

carring to large duffle bag of cash, they jump into a mini van and drive away.

INT. MINI VAN – DAY

PASSENGER OF CREW

Pull over somewhere, I’m taking my cut off the top, to

hell with Greeko, he won’t know what’s missing!

The Driver of the Crew pulls a gun, point it at the Passenger, then reveals herself,

a beautiful but deadly Woman.

THE DRIVER

I am Greeko, with a job this big, decided to be a part of it.

Trust is something I don’t believe in. No one double crosses

Greeko!

Greeko shoots him twice, pushes him out on the side of the road and drivers away.

FADE OUT:

[Colleen Patrick]

Observations:

Who’s bad?

Who’s badder?

Sure, The Joker is bad. But is the capitalist Bank Manager badder?

Thoughtless, putting his customers in jeopardy from flashing his illegal weapon of mass destruction to protect his money; accidentally blowing human lives away without protecting his customers.

Meanwhile – E Pluribus Unum – out of many, one. As a fleet of lookalikes perform necessary tasks to set up a massive bank robbery, each masked robber/pawn is eliminated until there is only one survivor – The Joker.

While each greedy pawn who does the dirty work believes he is masked to conceal his identity, The Joker uses them to confuse witnesses during the robbery, since he rips off his mask at the end, letting everyone know he doesn’t hide his identity, he is proud of his achievement, he multiplies his win with every dead body left in his wake .. including the Bank Manager, who believed he could challenge the robbers with his huge 10-gauge sawed off shotgun, actually Illegal in the US.

The Joker believes himself to be untouchable, uncatchable, and even more filthy rich.

Symbols like the school bus shows he’s teaching the bank, law enforcement et al how to succeed. And that he’s taking his booty for a ride. Literally, he’s in the driver’s seat.

The impacting visuals prevent viewers from analyzing anything, just being thumped with visuals, impact after impact, which push the audience to go along for the ride; to be thrilled by what they’ve seen and experienced.

Where the viewer might dislike The Joker robber, this one has earned our respect – even admiration in some horrible, really disdainful way.

[Colleen Patrick]

Scenes rewritten (not sure how to make Movie Magic work here):

INT. BANK LOBBY – MORNING

The BARREL of a 10 gauge shotgun shines as it is flashed by

the BANK MANAGER, laughing.

BANK MANAGER

Fucking Joker thinks he’s going to

hit my bank? Security plus. We’re

ready. Ready to bury you.. asshole

clown.

EXT. BUILDING ROOF – MORNING

HUMPTY CLOWN and DUMPTY CLOWN, wearing Joker masks and large

back packs, zip line from a 20th floor window down across a

street, landing on the 13th floor roof, giddy from the

adrenaline infused trip. They run toward a door.

HUMPTY CLOWN

Fun. Next stop, bank vault!

DUMPTY CLOWN

Twelve million dollars.

HUMPTY CLOWN

Split six ways – two million each.

Yee-ha!

DUMPTY CLOWN

Two point four mill each.

HUMPTY CLOWN

Huh?

DUMPTY CLOWN

Just five of us.

Dumpty shoots a shocked Humpty. Dumpty rips Humpty’s mask

off, revealing a dead naked face.

Dumpty grabs Humpty’s back pack and rushes through the door.

INT. BANK LOBBY – MORNING

AMONG THE CUSTOMERS, TWO MEN SLAP ON JOKER MASKS. DOPEY AND

GRUMPY CLOWN, brandish guns as they throw large empty plastic

bags to customers.

DOPEY CLOWN

GET DOWN OR GET DEAD!

Dopey fires his gun in the air, accidentally striking a

MAGNIFICENT CHANDELIER that crashes to the floor, scaring

everyone, striking several people, including Dopey and Grumpy,

who strongly react.

2.

GRUMPY CLOWN

(recovering)

PHONES, WATCHES, WALLETS, PURSES IN

THE BAGS!

Customers rush to obey.

TWO MORE JOKER MASKED MEN dash through the front door,

unarmed, swiftly collecting the filled green bags.

The Bank Manager pulls out his 10-gauge, firing at Dopey,

killing him. Grumpy dives for cover, then rises to shoot

the Manager – the Manager is faster. Bang. Grumpy’s gone.

The BAGMEN race to pull the GREEN BAGS toward the door, when

a SCHOOL BUS BACKS INTO THE LOBBY. The capped, MASKED DRIVER

opens the back gate.

The Manager shoots BAGMAN #1, who slumps over a full bag.

Behind the Manager:

DUMPTY CLOWN (V.O.)

You missed someone.

As the Manager turns toward the voice behind him-

DUMPTY CLOWN

10-gaugers are illegal. Big bang,

not effective. Like my little twenty

two.

Dumpty shoots the Manager in the forehead with his small

gun. As the Manager falls, his 10-gauge fires, accidentally

killing BAGMAN #2.

Dumpty pulls FULL GREEN BAGS with one hand toward the open

doors at the back of the school bus and throws them in as

the Driver pulls them in.

Inside the bus, ready to close the gate, Dumpty removes his

mask. He’s The Joker, the real thing.

JOKER

(laughing)

You tell Batman to have a nicer day.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by  Colleen Patrick.

[Ann Marie]

This is one of the most fast paced introductions I have seen and have no wonder why it launched a billion dollar franchise. It opens with dramatic action which doesn’t stop for a breath right up until the final shot of the scene, it’s what you might call, explosive.

A set up intro to the main character, Joker, has everyone talking about him as they perform the bank heist – doubling up on the action, not a milisecond of screentime wasted here. They all look like jokers (clowns), but he’s the one who wears make-up.

The plan is audacious, unscrupulous, dastardly clever -he has his crew killing each other – they’re all greedy mercenaries with no loyalty so they in turn die, an interesting morality – and he turns out to be amongst them at the raid – a clever joker who is way ahead of everyone else and takes no prisoners.

the dialogue is intriguing- the clowns talking about this joker, trying to undercut him, thinks he’s not so clever, (how wrong they are) the bank manager remembering a time when criminals were ‘honest’ – ha ha. it’s tongue in cheek in a brutal way and from the opening frame to the final ‘bomb in the mouth’ – promises to be a roller coaster of non-stop, dastardly clever entertainment. This joker is unstoppable, a worthy opponent to the great BatMan. What a scene and who wouldn’t want to blow up a banker with a grenade in the mouth, if it comes to that. No civilian died, only the greedy clowns and the bank manager protecting his loot, as he delivers a warning that the joker has no idea who he’s dealing with. (we guess he does tho and living into the future, we’re sure as heck going to keep watching to find out).

This scene is crammed with character revealing action and dialogue, twisted morality, non-stop action, explosive entertainment, intrigue as to who this joker is and what is he up to, imaginative pranks, all taking place in the opening minutes. who wouldn’t want to continue watching. What a masterly action scene.

What I learned – for an action film, it has to be top grade because that’s what audiences are used to. Same with drama, comedy, horror – – you have to be top of your game to play this tune.