the dark knight trailer analysis

2. What is the PURPOSE of a trailer?
The key purpose of a trailer is to promote
and spread the word of a film before its
release in cinemas worldwide.
Its more defined purpose is to inform a
specific target audience of what the film is
all about and then hopefully attract
potential viewers.

3. The genre of the film is very much shown in the trailer.
This action/thriller film is indicated through the
different shots used and the type of intense music that’s
used frequently throughout the trailer.
The pictures show the amount of explosions that are
shown solely within the trailer, and this alone indicates
the idea that destruction etc. is clearly going to be
involved within the film.
The story isn't being given away, but the genre definitely
is due to the explosions, the dialogue that’s included
throughout the trailer and also the fast paced jumps to
each new clip from the film. The fast paced-ness
indicates its action, but the destruction also could
hinder us to think that it’s slightly a thriller, alongside
the dark, ominous lighting that’s shown constantly
throughout.

4. What makes a thriller?
A thriller usually consists of a battle between a
protagonist and an antagonist (clearly indicated in this
trailer with The Batman and The Joker), once a
disruption takes place the film gets going and this
disruption takes it away from the initial equilibrium.
• Chiaroscuro lighting
• Quick cuts/edits
• Tension-building
music
Characters:
1) The hero (seeks
something)
2) The villain (opposes
the hero)
3) The donor (helps the
hero by providing a
magic object
4) The dispatcher (sends
the hero on his way)
5) The false hero (falsely
assuming the role of
hero)
6) The helper (gives
support to the hero)
7) The princess (the
reward for the hero but
also needs to be
protected from the
villain)
8) Her father

5. The titles appear at the very end of the trailer and only
once throughout, this could be because the Batman films
are well known and the emblem would be easily
recognisable for first time viewers, or long-time fans to
pick up on. Therefore meaning the title of the film only
has to be announced to the audience at the end of the
trailer.
The titles appear on a black background, which
immediately sets a dark, ominous atmosphere for the
audience.
Firstly, the words appear in blue, gradually getting
lighter towards the centre of the text. This creates a
big contrast between the dark background, which
could mirror and reinforce the hero/villain aspect of
the film through the communication of colours.
Screenshot from the trailer
Alongside all of this, the text moves. Although
it is simplistic in the way that its only text on
the screen with nothing else creating a
distraction, some of the text fades in and out
as it gradually gets bigger on the screen. This
creates more to the image and creates an
immense contrast between the whole of
trailer, which includes explosions and fast
moving images to enhance the action aspect.

6. These three logos also appear at the beginning section of the trailer each in turn at
the centre of the screen. All of the companies and their logos are well known so
therefore easily recognisable.
We then trust the film will be a hit because of the films that have been produced by
these companies in the past.
Throughout the trailer the light blue colour is maintained to enhance the contrast
between good and evil. This also makes it look a lot more professional by sticking to
one colour scheme. The logos have been slightly adapted by whoever created the
trailer to maintain the colour scheme throughout.
Each appears with an explosion behind it, this makes the simple logo stand out more
and makes it stick out to the reader, although each one was only on screen for about
a second each.

7. This screenshot below is the final thing that
appears on the screen at the end of the trailer.
These are the most important informative
features that the audience needs to know if
they’re interested in the film.
The key information of the film is established
in a visible hierarchy of order. At the top the
date of release is specified to inform the
watchers, followed by a web address to allow
the audience to investigate further into the
film if they want to.
This final image is also very simple and basic, just like the titles that are shown prior to this.
There’s the plain, black background with the simple sans serif font. The pattern of the blue
text on a black background enables the binary oppositions to be set (which are later
discovered in the film), and also allows this vital information to be easy to read and take in.

8. Within the trailer, the
characters play a key role in
creating an interest for the
audience. They are established
well as the hero and the
villain. These are binary
oppositions (theory proposed
by Levi-Strauss), and also fit in
well with the Proppian
character types (Vladimir
Propp) which are strongly
associated with this genre of
action/thriller.
The characters are conventional
in the idea that they are well
known and easily recognisable.
The two characters that feature
the most are the hero and villain
– Christian Bale and Heath Ledger.
Both well known actors.

9. Christian Bale plays the Proppian hero ‘The Batman’.
This well known character is played also by a very well
known actor. His performance in the film alone will
attract people to come and watch it in the cinema,
which is initially the primary aim of the trailer.
By using a famous actor and staring him in a famous
franchise of film, the combination creates a good
attraction for the audience.
Within the trailer we see different images of the
batman, both when he is in the height of the action
and also when he’s sat down rethinking life.

10. Heath Ledger plays the Proppian villain ‘The Joker’, which he later
went on to win many awards for. He stars frequently throughout
the trailer and due to his death before the film was released
meant that more advertising and attraction was drawn towards
the film.
He is clearly the villain, and we can see this through the images
below which are all shown in the trailer. He’s got a gun, is burning
things and through his diegetic dialogue from the film that
they’ve placed within the trailer, we also see his dark ways.

11. The location of the trailer is Gotham City. We see
this through the high rise buildings and massive use
of technology.
The colours/filters throughout the trailer are all
dark and this reinforces the mystery throughout.
There are some ideas of binary oppositions
throughout with the majority of the scenes being at
night, with the artificial light and massive explosions
occurring throughout the trailer.

12. The shots are all short clips from the film. This is
because it enables the producers to excite the
audience, without giving too much of the film away to
them. This is vital because they have to find a good
balance between what they do and don’t show to the
audience. The shots that are shown to be in the trailer
are interesting shots, with the majority being of action
that takes place, which links to the ‘action-thriller’
genre and directs to the target audience. Each shot is
only a few seconds long, which again allows not too
much to be given away.
The style of each shot shows a mass diversity in angle
and the general mise-en-scene. This shows that a lot
goes on in the film, which links to the general plot of a
film – of an equilibrium, a destruction and a resolution.
All the images used in this powerpoint are from the
trailer
The pace of the edits are fast, which links to the genre of an action superhero film. The reason
for the choice of this is to create excitement for the audience and allow them to get a clear
indication for what they should expect from the film if and when they go and see it.

13. The Diegetic sound is prominently just voice overs of the characters in the film.
Although for the majority it links what’s happening on the screen, sometimes the
dialogue has been moved around to overlap over different scenes. This is merely
to make the trailer look good and work well as an advertising feature. The quotes
that are mentioned throughout are some of the most memorable quotes from
the film, ‘you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the
villain’ etc.
Alongside spoken words that are taken from the film, there’s also the sound
effects that go alongside the explosions in the trailer. This allows the genre of the
film to be reinforced to the audience and heightens the excitement within the
trailer. This consequently acts as a persuasive device for attracting the target
audience.
The non diegetic sound that accompanies the rest of the film is loud, intense
music. This is to create a dramatic overall trailer. The intense music heightens the
whole of the trailers appeal because without it, there’d just be the odd spoken
dialogue from the film and alternative sound effects like explosions and car
engines driving fast.
The music creates a quick pace and fast tempo to link to the short clips from the
film, which aim to do the same.

14. The audience wasn’t only targeted to attract young boys, who fantasise about superhero’s
and are excited by the action, but also long-time fans of this genre- reaching back to their
childhood and even more specifically maybe their love of this specific superhero.
The film was given a 12a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification.
This enabled the production to have a huge range of audiences and allows them to
widen the audience further for example if young boys want to go and see the film,
they have to take a parent with them, selling more tickets in the box office.
The films large promotion of online computer
games, a website, and advertisements ranging
from the trailer, to the internet and also to the
front cover of Empire magazine allowed more of
an audience to be drawn into the film and made
more and more people become aware that the
second in the trilogy was being released.

15. Does this trailer work in
attracting the audience?
I think this trailer is really effective and
attracts the audience because already
there’s a strong attraction to these films,
because it’s part of a trilogy, but
secondly it’s a well-known franchise
with a well-known superhero. Therefore
there will be an initial attraction for
some people. Secondly, the trailer in
itself is definitely attractive to watch,
because it initial sets its target audience
of young boys, but also long-time fans,
and so it gears the images shown to this
audience to heighten the appeal.
This film made over $348million, therefore
this is proof alone that the trailer worked.
Alongside this, the profits may have been
boosted because of Heath Ledgers death
closely falling around the time of finishing
filming.