What's your favourite "iconic" moment?

Started by The Laughing Fish, Sun, 3 May 2015, 13:56

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For me, I never get tired of watching the Batwing rising up in the sky as it hovers in front of the moon for a quick second, before diving towards the streets of Gotham City again. I used to press "Pause" on this moment a lot when I was younger.



A nice little bit of foreshadowing to the Batsignal.  8)

I wonder if film theorists would identify this example as mise-en-scène?

Quote
Mise-en-scène (French pronunciation: ​[mizɑ̃sɛn] "placing on stage") is an expression used to describe the design aspects of a theatre or film production, which essentially means "visual theme" or "telling a story"—both in visually artful ways through storyboarding, cinematography and stage design, and in poetically artful ways through direction. It is also commonly used to refer to multiple single scenes within the film to represent the film. Mise-en-scène has been called film criticism's "grand undefined term".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_en_sc%C3%A8ne
QuoteJonathan Nolan: He [Batman] has this one rule, as the Joker says in The Dark Knight. But he does wind up breaking it. Does he break it in the third film?

Christopher Nolan: He breaks it in...

Jonathan Nolan: ...the first two.

Source: http://books.google.com.au/books?id=uwV8rddtKRgC&pg=PR8&dq=But+he+does+wind+up+breaking+it.&hl=en&sa=X&ei

Man. There are so many. After all this is why this particular Batman movie will forever (hear that, FOREVER! so there naysayers! lol) be the greatest one. It's insanely hard to choose...

I'm going to say the very last scene. Vicki and the crowds looking up at the Batsignal, blazing across the night sky for the very first time before Alfred drives her away. No mucking about here with daft ass realism. Just a good, classic, comic book style Batsignal. Then of course the camera panning up, up, up and up to see a tiny Batman standing against it. And then, great big thundering bells (perhaps from a repaired Gotham Cathedral?) clanging away to signal the closing of the movie. They mingle in rather brilliantly with Danny Elfman's single greatest cue next to the title theme. A piece of music like that is simply unbeatable.

No Batman movie has ever ended in such a spine tingling triumphant way. Both for a sense of the character's accomplishments in the story and the filmmaker's exceptional work of pulling off putting the magic onto the big screen in the first place. It's a moment that I sincerely hope the American audiences (known for their tendency to talk back to the screen) stood up and cheered at frankly. If they didn't then why on Earth? A feeling of leaving you on such a high, of having a great time watching the movie and a sense of looking to the future for Batman's next adventures. They have tried once, tried again, several more times in fact and then another time to come up with a better, perfect ending for a Bat film...and they always, ALWAYS fail.

You can even add to that the end titles. This is where it usually gets boring. Unless your a daft film buff like me who actually reads them and wishes to listen to further closing music? Here though the credits are a sparkling yellow on a black background. The color of this Batman movie (remember even the Hot Toys boxes adopted it!). I find it all rather warm and cozy in feel. It's feels as classy as an Academy Award ceremony and you can almost sense the statuette itself coming to the filmmakers in the (then) not too distant future. It's synonymous with the yellow of Batman's shield logo and belt and the unforgettable golden sparkling poster that advertised the movie. After another helping of the thundering Elfman title march you get the music of Prince's "Scandalous" to round the final image off. An unusually calm, romantic song for such a thrill packed summer feature that also sells a suggestion of bitter sweetness about everything. It needed that sense of gently "pushing the boat" out as Ridley Scott describes the ending music of a film like "Alien". It has that similar feel to me. It all couldn't be more perfect.




The descent into mystery.



As a youngster, this really captured my imagination in a big way. It's probably my most watched sequence from any Batman movie.

It's powerful, mysterious - ha, fancy that, and gorgeous to look at.

Elfman's cue elevates this sequence into something truly special.

Quote from: The Dark Knight on Mon,  4 May  2015, 04:48
The descent into mystery.



As a youngster, this really captured my imagination in a big way. It's probably my most watched sequence from any Batman movie.

It's powerful, mysterious - ha, fancy that, and gorgeous to look at.

Elfman's cue elevates this sequence into something truly special.

Wow I was going to say this same part. That actual scene your pic is from where the car blasts past the camera and then it shows it driving off into the night. So totally freaking cool.

Everything about the scene is perfect. A completely black landscape, with the yellow headlights the only form of colour. The leaves flicking up behind the vehicle. Those tall trees on the side of the road are almost unearthly for some reason. They're shot from a medium height and we never see the leaves, with the trunks sprouting up into darkness.

This place in general has a mystical feeling. It really does feel like a secret road only Batman has access to. During the scene Batman doesn't say a word. Vicki asks "where are we going?" and he 'replies' by stepping on the gas, driving even faster. He looks straight ahead, focused on his goal and giving nothing away. This section personifies a lot of what I like about Keaton's Batman. He's a mysterious and romantic figure of the night.

Bruce visiting the spot where his parents died and placing the two roses comes to mind. It's short, but the music and Keaton's facial expression really impresses me.
At the risk of stealing another poster's line, it helps when you're not playing the character, but you are the character.  :)

Quote from: Edd Grayson on Sun,  7 Jun  2015, 23:46
Bruce visiting the spot where his parents died and placing the two roses comes to mind. It's short, but the music and Keaton's facial expression really impresses me.
At the risk of stealing another poster's line, it helps when you're not playing the character, but you are the character.  :)

Totally this, or well maybe the final battle between Batman and Joker, but really the scene where he visits the alley and places the roses, man, the feels!


the batwing/joker parade. Far more epic than anything Nolan came up with

As you can see on the 2:03 mark, the latest Tom & Jerry trailer pays tribute to the iconic shot of the Batwing. Very nice.  8)

QuoteJonathan Nolan: He [Batman] has this one rule, as the Joker says in The Dark Knight. But he does wind up breaking it. Does he break it in the third film?

Christopher Nolan: He breaks it in...

Jonathan Nolan: ...the first two.

Source: http://books.google.com.au/books?id=uwV8rddtKRgC&pg=PR8&dq=But+he+does+wind+up+breaking+it.&hl=en&sa=X&ei

Quote from: Edd Grayson on Sun,  7 Jun  2015, 23:46
At the risk of stealing another poster's line, it helps when you're not playing the character, but you are the character.  :)
No other Batman has moved like the way he does in 89.

For example, this:


Nobody is around to see him do the cape swish, but he still does it. He's completely in character and moving like an otherworldly being. Nearly everything he does has a flourish of some kind. Just love it.