Teaser Trailer Analysis The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight Trailer Analysis

The trailer that I will be analyzing is The Dark Knight (2008). The film is a action, crime drama film starring Christian Bale who is the protagonist and plays the iconic superhero Batman in which he fights crime and stops villains in order to protect the city of Gotham. The trailer, like most action trailers has a lot of fast pace editing. Having other members also analyze trailers, I specifically chose The Dark Knight because it has a range of camera techniques ranging from different angles and also has various lighting that was used in order to create the scene, not to forgot CGI creating muzzle flashes for guns and explosions. Analyzing this would further increase my knowledge of how me and my group can shoot our film trailer and I can take some elements from this trailer and implement them into my groups action trailer.

Immediately as the trailer starts it grabs my attention through the use of non-digetic sound. From that instance we are then presented with an aerial shot with Batman standing at the top of the building looking at this already shows that our protagonist has a lot of status. Following up Batman then jumps off building and what seems to be an establishing shot and a birds eye view of Gotham city. The use of techniques to start off the trailer is a style that I like and is something that I may play around with when filming my trailer. 0:060:14 aerial shot, establishing shot, fades

0:17 Production CompaniesProduction companies are then presented after Batman had jumped off and to present the companies we have the iconic Batman soundtrack playing in the background along with a transition which uses an explosion. Production companies are one of the main things that capture the audiences attention because Warner Bros is one of the big six companies so the audience knows that there is a high production value involved when making the film. After we are also shown another company legendary pictures and also DC universe to show that this film part of the comic franchise bringing more attraction towards the film.

0:22 Voice over, Fast Cuts, PropsA voice over was used as narration for the trailer which leads from several scenes into the scene where the voice is identified; it reveals our antagonist The Joker. Throughout those several scenes fast paced editing was used to cut from scene to scene which resulted in fast transitions which helps develop trailer as it builds up the suspense. Moreover we are also given our first prop in this trailer which it the batmobile (car) cars are an iconic prop in action films and they often connote chase scenes but in this particular scene we see the batmobile making a dramatic entrance breaking down the wall to emphasize that Batman has arrived. This will without doubt attract the audience towards the trailer.

0:37 CGI, Crane shot, At this part of the trailer we are given our first real scene of CGI which seems to be an explosion with the use of an explosion it conforms the conventions that you would see in an action trailer. Furthermore in this scene to help show the explosion it is presented with a crane shot which gives a good view for the audience to see the hospital blowing up. I like the use of these two put together because it really helps the audience understand what is happening within the scene.

0:50-0:59 Montage of scenesThe trailer goes to show various scenes which are within the film, showing the audience what the film may be about and how it develops. Other than showing the action side of things it also shows a little bit about the drama side of film with Bruce Wayne and his ex-girlfriend. In addition to these scenes we are also given another prop the Bat-bike which can shoot missiles out of it. Foley sounds were probably used to create the sound effect. Throughout the montage the soundtrack is progressively getting louder which hints the tension building up even more.

1:06-1:12 Sound Effect, Sound Motif, PropAt this part of the trailer we are given a variety of sound techniques used. First we have the sound effects at both scenes above. Batman landing on top of a car and breaking as we have an effect of the car being crushed and the windows shattering, not to mention the soundtrack stops when he lands on the car. Moving on at Jokers scene we have a Sound motif and this is when he shot the gun and the soundtrack then begins to play again. In Jokers scene we also have a new prop a gun. Guns are a stereotypical prop in an action film and knowing that he is our villain the gun connotes crime and violence.

1:14 Hand held cameraAt this part of the trailer it was a hostage scene situation. By using the hand held camera it made the scene dramatic by the fact that the people in the scene were a lot nervous and scared and by using this camera technique it allowed the scene to fend of that expression towards the audience as hand held the shot would to be a little more shaky rather than keeping it still and steady.

1:36 Music tempo increases and soundtrack is getting louder, more montage of scenesAt this point of the trailer we are nearing towards the end. It all started when the Joker in the scene said go from this point the entire trailer got a lot more melodramatic in which the soundtracks tempo was going faster and the dynamics were getting a lot more louder in the trailer. In addition to that we have one of the most iconic scenes that you would see in action film, and that is fighting. It was a range of scenes of the Batman and Joker battling out and there was heavy usage of CGI as buildings were breaking, a lot more explosions and guns being fired.

2:10 TrackingThis last scene of Batman gliding and also tracking him with the camera. In addition to that what you can notice is that it relates back to the start of the scene when he jumped off the building the two scene links together. Again with Batman in the air above the city, it comes to show that he has the most status in this film.

2:14 Title of the FilmThe title of the film is revealed to the audience The Dark Knight and how it is presented to the audience is by the title fading into the frame and then fading out. In addition to this the Bat logo is in the background of the title behind it. Furthermore the typography used is similar to the previous film of the batman series which is Batman begins (2005)

2:28 Release date, creditsThe date in which the film will be releasing, this informs the audience and the people watching the trailer when the film be out in movie theatres. Also below the release date is the website of the movie which can allow the audience and fans to go on in order to get more information about the film. At the bottom you can also see production companies again, who was involved; Legendary Pictures, DC, Warner Bros. etc.

What can I takeaway?All in all I thought that it was a very interesting film trailer and has a lot of key codes and conventions that I can pick out and indulge them into my own film trailer project. I will use this analysis as a guide as to what I can do in order to make my trailer as attractive as this one.When creating a teaser trailer with my group; we must keep some things in mind such as:A variety of different shots and angles so that it can show different perspectives and take advantage of the genre my film is based on (action)Range of editing techniques to make scene interesting and to conform the genre action e.g. fast pace editing, cuts, CGIMake sure that we have the right sounds at the right scenes and they sync well so its professional despite being on a low budget e.g. soundtracks, sound effects, voice overs, diegetic/non-diegetic sound etc. Include credits have transitions of production companies as many mainstream films do this a lotHave montages because like this film it was able to show many scenes without revealing the plot too much Maybe like The Dark Knight have a scene at the beginning which will link to a scene near the end