Harry Buckle - Thriller analysis - The Dark Knight

As the scene starts, some dialogue is exchanged to establish some storyline and the name "The Joker" comes up as the man that these Bank Robbers are working for. This establishes the antagonist, but a protagonist is still unseen or heard from.
The characters seen in this five minute clip, although turn out to die by the end of this scene, establish what half the entire movie is based around; How "bad" The Joker is.This would normal be strange in a Thriller,as the opening usually focuses on the protagonist has done or, at least, shows the Set-up to the movie, but as this is a sequel to Christopher Nolan's 2005 "Batman Begins", these things have already been established by this point and don't need to be reinforced.
The Narrative in this opening helps, as previously stated, the spectator understand who is the antagonist and what he is doing that makes him so apparently unlawful. Although they are robbing a bank and killing one another to get a "bigger cut", there is a certain Tarantino-esque feel to the whole clip, as they talk causally with one another about the robbery, as if the were friends talking about something they saw on television. The sudden reveal of The Joker's signature face is surprising because the bank robbers talk as if he wasn't there with them
The editing of this scene is very well done, as it tracks all the major characters of the scene and differs them well enough that the spectator doesn't need to keep track of anything themselves. the shots are quick and different enough that it helps emphasise the adrenal feeling of robbing a bank that all the Bank robbers are sure to be feeling.
The Mise en scene in the clip helps the spectator distance themselves with the robbers, as they are all wearing clown masks. This also helps establish that they are all working for or have been hired by The Joker, as it is fairly common knowledge that the joker has a clown theme in whatever he does. This contrasts the act of breaking the law because clowns are associated with laughter and happiness, rather than what most people associated with doing something illegal.
The Music in this opening is what you would expect from a bank robbery and is pretty much the same all the way though the scene. As for diegetic sound, it stays very strictly to just matching what we see. As far as we know, the sounds were probably recorded with the scene.

In conclusion, this scene helps establish that the antagonist, The Joker, is evil and cunning enough to hire henchmen to help him steal a large amount of money, kill each other of with promises of more money and then have all the money to himself and no one to pay. This also shows us that Christopher Nolan doesn't feel that he needs to set-up anything for the protagonist or the story and, therefore, plunges straight into the disruption.