1. How characters develop and change: Their decisions, what influences them, motivations
1.1. Harvey
1.1.1. Harvey loses Rachel
1.1.1.1. Harvey, in his rage, turns evil. He is helped along by the Joker, convincing Harvey that it was Batman and Gordon that were responsible for Rachel's death.
1.1.1.1.1. Harvey Decides to find the dirty cops that betrayed Rachel and himself, and then he goes after Batman and Gordon.
1.1.1.1.2. Influenced by the death of Rachel and the Joker, Harvey turns from hero to villian
1.1.1.1.3. Harvey wants to make Batman and Gordon feel the loss that he felt when he lost Rachel
1.2. Batman/Bruce Wayne
1.2.1. Bruce Wayne becomes more and more impatient and rough as the movie progresses and as the Joker's plans unfold. He becomes increasingly ferocious and angry.
1.2.1.1. The main turning point and change in Bruce's character came with the death of Rachel, taking away his main cause for motivation. Also a big reason for change was Bruce seeing just how crazy the Joker was and how little control he had compared to how much he thought he had.
1.2.1.2. A production technique that emphasises Bruce's change is the high pitched sound which started of quiet and slowly grew into a loud chilling sound, it came at the times Bruce got a view of the Joker's true insanity, causing him to change slightly each time
1.2.1.3. With Bruce's new anger and desire to stop the joker this made him more powerful and more inspired to stop him, and this helped him defeat the Joker in the end.
1.3. The Joker
1.3.1. The Joker changes throughout the movie by not just becoming more insane but showing Gotham just how crazy he was, he deceived everyone to think he had values only to show them later that he had he did not care for anything that others did such as life, money etc. He just played his sort of teasing the Batman
1.3.1.1. There is no known for the Jokers motivation other than the enjoyment he gets from tormenting people.
1.3.1.2. When the Joker reveals a horrible part of his plan or exposes his true self the music turns into a growing high pitched noise.
1.3.1.3. The Joker was influenced by what terrifies others, therefore he planned to do it. he contradicted the societal "plan"
1.4. Rachel
1.4.1. Rachel is romantically involved with both Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne. Both of whom are symbols of hope for a city in desperate despair. Throughout the movie, Batman and Harvey Dent are applauded for their efforts, and the personal sacrifices that they make. However, Rachel is never noticed and ends up dying without anyone praising her for her efforts.
1.5. Alfred
2. Relationships that develop between characters
2.1. Batman and Harvey Dent
2.1.1. They work together to try to bring the Joker and the Mob to justice. Eventually they become enemies as Harvey is taken into madness by the Joker. He makes Harvey believe that Commissioner Gordon and Batman were responsible for the death of Rachel, and he is hell bent on revenge.
2.1.1.1. The lighting is almost always dark when Batman and Harvey Dent meet, symbolising the seriousness of their relationship. Their costumes show that they are different people, but their relationship shows that they are put in the same position.
2.2. Harvey and the Joker
2.2.1. After Rachel's death, Harvey 's relationship with the Joker is very negative. Harvey is enraged and wants revenge against the Joker. However, the Joker completely changes Harvey's attitude. Harvey turns evil and gains his vengeance on other's such as Gordon.
2.2.1.1. When Harvey and the Joker are talking at the hospital, you see Harvey's good side for the beginning of the conversation, then at the end when Harvey is convinced the camera angle changes to show Harvey's evil side as well.
2.3. The Joker and the Mob
2.3.1. In the beginning the Joker comes to the mob as a solution to their problem of having to hide from the batman. He wants to get paid a ridiculous amount of money for it though which keeps him in a power position in the relationship.
2.3.1.1. The Mob later comes to regret their partnership with him as they come to discover his insanity.
2.4. Batman and Gordon
2.4.1. The relationship begins as very trustworthy of each other, they each had the others back. They worked together for the common goal of justice
2.4.1.1. Towards the end of the movie when Gordon's family gets captured and he is trying to capture the Joker his patients wares thin and he no longer trusts batman to do the job, so he sends in a SWAT team along with batman and batman has to stop the SWAT team until they finally realised that the hostages weren't actually hostages. The trust between each other is once again reestablished when batman saves Gordon's son and sacrifices his reputation in order to uphold Harvey's
2.5. Bruce and Fox
2.5.1. Fox is Bruce's source of revolutionary gear for the Batman. Fox has known about Bruce being Batman practically from the start. He has helped him immensely along Batman's Journey.
2.5.1.1. This relationship isn't particularly enforced by production techniques. The relationship is a positive one, so the lighting is bright and camera angles are level, representing the characters are equals.
2.6. Alfred and Batman/Bruce Wayne
2.6.1. In the Dark Knight, the relationship between Alfred and Bruce is strong. Alfred believe that Gotham needs Batman. Even when Bruce says he is going to turn himself in, Alfred disagrees with him and want's him to reconsider his decision. Also, Alfred supports and guides Bruce. For example, when Bruce doesn't understand why the Joker does what he does, Alfred explains to him that 'some men just want to watch the world burn.'
3. Key Events/moments that develop the narrative
3.1. Rachel Dies
3.1.1. Harvey becomes evil, fuelled by his rage because of Rachel's death. Bruce becomes depressed as she was his only real reason to stop being the batman, also he upset that he fell for the Jokers trick of giving the wrong address.
3.1.1.1. When Harvey sees the coin on his bedside table he is sort of happy to see it, but when he turns it around and sees the burned side, he bursts into a fighting rage, and it is accented by the silence while watching. Bruce has a very gloomy response as well. He is shown in a grey room, sitting dejectedly, and there is sad music being played.
3.2. The Hospital Scene
3.2.1. The hospital scene is an initial introduction to the terror that is about to occur in Gotham city. We also find out the Harvey Dent has turned evil, therefore placing an enormous amount of extra responsibility on Batman.
3.2.1.1. The director has used a range of production techniques in this scene. The use of special effects for the explosion added to the intensity of the scene.
3.3. The Boat Situation
3.3.1. The Joker was trying to show gotham just how out of control and selfish they really were when faced with death
3.3.1.1. The boat scene is extremely similar to the social experiment that was conducted in the 1950s, "the prisoners dilemma." This human experiment explored the ideas of human relativism and utilitarianism. It is a refreshing moment in the film as, for the first time, it illustrates Gothams residents as morally sound human beings. To create tension in this scene, the director utilises darkness and silence. This combination produces an eerie feeling, sending shivers down the viewers spine.
3.4. Bank Robbery
3.4.1. Sets up the movie. The Joker steals the money from the mobs which causes conflict and issues
3.4.1.1. There is a lot of tension in the bank robbery scene. Much of this mood is created by the music and the how the sound level increases. The use of costumes also effects the mood. The clown masks make it creepy.