Ben Sundock - Lighting Assignment

Film Title: The Dark Night (2008)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cinematographer: Wally Pfister

Logline: During this scene, the Gotham Police has just arrested The Joker and put in him a holding cell at the police station. Commissioner James Gordon is set to receive a promotion for his efforts and mockingly, the Joker claps. The scene also includes Commissioner Gordon returning home to his family in a dimly lit apartment complex.

Form: "The Dark Knight" and the Batman trilogy as a whole does a great job using low key light and shadowing. The Joker's face is partly shadowed throughout the movie to further express how evil and crazy he truly is. The movie as a whole is filmed with lots of shadows and low light as Gotham City is a depressing city with lots of bad things always happening to the people. Plus, the sun never really comes out, so the cinematographer, Wally Pfister, does a good job of using gray and dark lighting to reflect that.