Genre specific film opening analysis- The dark knight rises

At the beginning of the film, the idents appear on screen. The idents in which we have seen before, are not done in colour. This creates a creepy and sinister feel, as the screen is rather dark. It immediately informs the audience of what type of film this is, an action thriller. It also sparks some enigma within the audience, they think that this is not a typical superhero film. The music also builds suspense and a sense of fear. The transitions between idents, emphasize the genre and further give a sense of doubt. The short period in which its a black screen, it builds a sense of uncertainty and also gives the audience time to anticipate what's going to happen next.
Slowly, the Batman logo/symbol appears. There is ice cracking, which begins to form the symbol.  This perhaps informs the audience of an event in the film which involves coldness and winter. The connotations of ice are unwelcoming and inhospitable. This further suggests that an event will occur which cause the characters to feel this way. There is a diegetic sound of the ice breaking, its a lot louder than the music. As this shot continues, the music goes slightly quieter and a voice over begins of a man. The cracking of the ice occasionally interrupts the male character perhaps suggesting that this character is not taken seriously or is ignored.
The shot goes dark quickly then goes to the shot of the man, It zooms out. The audience understand that as the shot appears, who the character Harvey Dent is. In addition, we understand by the way the character is talking (past tense), that this character has died. This character obviously had a real significance in previous films. The flags in the background signify that he maybe fought for the country or was a very significant influence.

As the character leaves the stand, the shot fades out.
The shot of the car is very low and wide. The car enters the shot, this shot emphasises the speed at which the car/truck is going. A track shot is used.  
Immediately, in the next shot we see three men who we presume have been caught. They have been blind folded, it gives a sense of mystery. It is a point of view shot (POV), which builds a rapport with the audience as it makes them feel as if they are there in the car. It gets the audience involved with the film.

It then goes on to the next shot of men in a plane, in which we see them about to through out a man. The mise en scene in the film ranges a lot within these first few shots. The characters at the beginning are seen in business attire whereas in the next shot the characters are in Army gear. The opposite in costumes implies that these set of characters will not get on.
The low angle shot makes the men standing, appear to have more power and control. They appear more dominant and threatening, making the man on the floor look weak and overpowered. However, the man then lowers himself to be at eye level with the character kneeling. This suggests that the man on the floor may overpower him in some way, he has already managed to lower him physically. The character is wearing black and looks at lot larger in comparison to the other man. Black has connotations of death and evil. The man in the pale blue shirt implies innocence and purity. These two juxtapose and suggests a clash.

The next shot is an establishing shot, it simply clarifies that they are in a plane. Now, the character who appeared to be overpowered is above the other character, the high over the shoulder shot makes the other character look very vulnerable, the shot is unsteady making the audience feel as though they are there. It builds a rapport with the audience. The low angle shot of the man with the mask (Bane), fits in with the thriller conventions. The character is presented as even more menacing. As the character talks the shot cuts to a wide shot (aerial shot) and shows that a much larger plane is close to the other plane that we assume they are in. The size of the plane shows that whoever owns it has a lot more power and money. This continues with the theory of the masked character overthrowing the other male. The shots vary from low angle shots of the plane to high angled shots to show that it is above the other plane.

We see the large white plane actually end up sabotaging the smaller plane, it is a wide shot and remains at eyelevel. It cuts to a side shot of the smaller plane, this once again brings the audience in. It is very actioned pact with quickly cutting from one shot to another.
Once again there is a low level shot, the masked character is very dominant and shows that he does have a lot of power. He is in complete control, we realise this quite late as does the other character. It is too late for them to act. This masked character is very muscly and is much larger in comparison to the other character so he has a physical strength over him. The worms eye view is a very sinister and provides the sense of fear, yet also gives a point of view.

The next number of shots contain a lot of action which builds suspense and tension, of not knowing what is going to happen. It contains a number of point of view shots making the audience feel like they are apart of the action. It is very shaky making it more real, a modern audience want films to be very realistic.
So much has happened within the first five minutes of the film, we immediately know who the protagonist is despite the fact we haven't been introduced to him yet. We also assume that Bane is the antagonist.