"Heart of Steel", Part One, Act Two (Part Three)

This is a posting of pages 20 through 34.

(B26) We start with a slow-pan-down-shot  of the Gotham City Skyline, seen from the aerie of Wayne Enterprises.

(B27) Cut inside to a long shot of Bruce’s office. In the far distance we can barely make out Bruce, back to camera, looking down at the cityscape (take my word for it), retroactively revealing B26 to be Bruce’s POV. 

Bruce is flanked on either side by his servitors, Lucius Fox and Commissioner Gordon. As in royal tableau, this composition highlights Wayne’s power and political position. 

The BG drawing is a reduced-size xerox of the stock BG, designed by either the co-producer, Eric Radomski, or the lead BG stylist, Ted Blackman.

(B28 & B29) are mirror shots echoing B27’s symmetric nature; both servitors stand at attention, gazing o.s. at their master

(B30) Only do we cut to a close-up single shot of Bruce, back to camera. As he speaks, he turns, looks at camera (not off camera at either Fox or Gordon).

(B33)We rejoin the trio in a long shot; the servitors track with Bruce as he leaves desk, steps toward stairs. 

(“Heart of Steel” , Parts One and Two) introduces Barbara Gordon. Part of the project of this two parter was to convincingly establish a character who could conceivably become Batgirl. We only give a taste of it in Part One (stay tuned).

(B38 onward)— an old dictum is, if you show a gun in Act One, you have to fire it by Act Three. In this case, we have a Teddy Bear, “Wooby”. And you can believe this sucker will shoot. Right from the top, the stuffed doll serves as a character bit for Gordon, showing the depths of his love for Barbara and his ambivalence about letting her go. (Bravo for the writer, Brynne Stevens.) The bit where the father and daughter  leave Wooby behind and Gordon returns for him was a gas to draw.