A2 media coursework

1. THE DARK KNIGHT
TRAILER ANALYSIS
By Nathan Incles

2. The trailer in which I have opted to analyze, is ‘The Dark Knight’ (2008).
The highly anticipated film is an action, crime drama starring the
prominent actor, Christian Bale, who plays the leading protagonist.
This being the iconic superhero, Batman, in which throughout the
duration of the film, he encounters various fights and confrontations,
stopping evil villains from destroying/taking over the city of Gotham.
The trailer, like most action trailers, obtains a lot of fast pace editing
alongside the conventional match on action editing. Analyzing this
would help further develop my knowledge and understanding of how
me and my group can create our film trailer, as well as potentially
taking some elements from this trailer and implementing them into our
own production.

3. As the extract commences, the audience is confronted with a distinct aerial shot of
Batman, the protagonist, jumping off a skyscraper. Accompanied by a non diegetic
soundtrack, this can connote a number of ideas that center around the well known
character. The first being that Batman is evidently portrayed as being fearless and
courageous, but at the same time possibly quite a nervous and apprehensive figure. This
is demonstrated through the heart beat sound effects that are implemented within the
non diegetic sound track, connoting the uneasiness and uncertainty about the situation
he is in. However, it could also have been added in order to emphasize the tension and
strain.
From the low key lighting, we can presume that this particular scene is set at night. This
is evident from the dark toned colours, that contrast the lights on the building.
0:06–0:14 – Aerial shot, Establishing shot, Fades

4. 0:17 – Production Companies
Shortly after Batman jumps off the sky scrapper, the production companies involved with
the film are then presented to the audience. This is accompanied by the iconic Batman
soundtrack alongside the transition of an explosion. From my research, it is evident that
production companies are commonly one of the key reasoning's that capture the
audiences attention and therefore making them want to watch the film. The Warner Bros
being one of the big six means the audience knows that there is a high production value
involved with the making of the film and that they are a major organization involved with
the production of film. We know this because their logo was presented foremost, where
as the others follow on. The logo is deliberately positioned in the center of the frame,
which implies to me, that it is meant to capture the audiences attention.
There are then two further companies, the Legendary Pictures and DC Universe to show
that this film is part of the comic franchise, which helps to bring more attraction towards
the film.

5. 0:22 – Voice over, Fast Cuts, Props
Throughout the first half of the trailer, a voice over is used, helping to inform the audience on hopefully
what is going to transpire. Its unknown to audience for the first half as to who the voice over is, right
until the scene of where the voice is identified revealing our antagonist ‘The Joker’. Throughout,
continuative fast paced editing is used to cut from one scene to another, resulting in fast transitions
helping to develop the trailer by building up the suspense. The effect of which, helps to keep the
audience engaged.
Moreover, the audience is shown the first prop within the trailer, that being the bat mobile (car). Cars
are an iconic prop in action films and they often reflect a persons wealth and status. Notice how the
bat mobile is much bigger than the other cars above and connoting that Batman obtains more power
than those of normal civilians. We see the bat mobile making a dramatic entrance breaking down the
wall to emphasize that his arrival. This will without doubt make the audience want to watch the film, as
they can assume that its going to be action packed, something they relish.

6. 0:37 – CGI, Crane shot
Within this part of the trailer the audience is greeted with a CGI which seemingly
appears to be of an explosion, something that is conventional to the action
genre. A CGI being a computer generated image.
The action is presented to the audience through a crane shot, as opposed to
something like a medium close up, because it allows for the audience to
consume and take in everything that is happening within conforms of the
Hospital (That is being blown up). Whereas a MCU, would only allow the
audience to see part of the action, therefore using a crane shot gives the
audience a more in depth insight as to what is happening.

7. 0:50-0:59 – Montage of
scenes
The trailer goes to showcase various scenes that feature within the film,
showing the audience what the film may be about and how it develops. Aside
from showcasing the action side of things, it also shows a little bit about the
drama side of the film with Bruce Wayne and his ex-girlfriend. Adding on from
this ,we are also given another prop, the Bat-bike, which can shoot missiles out
of it. Foley sounds were likely used to create the sound effect.
Throughout the montage, the soundtrack is progressively getting louder hinting
at the tension building up even more.

8. 1:06-1:12 – Sound Effect, Sound Motif
Within this part of the trailer, a variety of sound techniques are clearly
demonstrated to the audience. The first being the sound effects that occur in
both scenes above. When Batman lands on top of the car, breaking the glass, a
sound effect is implemented in the form of the windows shattering. This is
likely to have been done, in order to emphasis the damage that has been
caused. Moving onto the Jokers scene, we have a Sound motif and this is when
he triggers the gun, with the soundtrack beginning to play again. Guns are a
stereotypical prop in action films and knowing that he is our villain, the gun
connotes crime and violence. As well as this, violence is often conventionally
linked to males rather than females. This is because females are typically
viewed as being powerless and defenseless, with males being a contrast to
this.

9. 1:14 – Hand held camera
Here, the audience witnesses the hostage scene that occurs within the trailer.
Notice, how there are a lot of POV, hand held shots within this particular part.
By using the hand held camera, it helps emphasis the dramatic situation in
which the director aims to achieve. The reasoning behind this, is because it
allows the audience to view the situation on behalf of the character. Therefore,
emphasizing the realism, as if its like the audience is in in the situation the
charcter is in.

10. 1:36 – Music tempo increases and soundtrack is getting louder, more
montage of scenes
At this point of the trailer we are nearing towards the end. It all became
apparent from when our main antagonist, The Joker, said “go”. From this
point, the trailer gets significantly more melodramatic, in which the
soundtrack’s tempo increases and the dynamics were getting a lot more louder
in the trailer. Within this part, the audience is presented with one of the more
iconic scenes that you would expect to see in action films, and that is fighting.
Batman and The Joker are shown battling it out. It is evident that a heavy usage
of CGI have been implemented, with buildings breaking, a vast amount of
explosions and guns being fired.

11. 2:14 – Title of the Film
The title of the film is revealed to the audience as "The Dark Knight”. It is
presented to the audience through a fade transition, fading into the centre of
the frame and then shortly fading out. It may not be completely evident but,
The Batman logo is discretely placed behind the title. Furthermore, I have
identified that the typography used is similar to previous films of the batman
series, one of them being ‘Batman begins’ (2005). This is likely to have been
done, in order to create some similarity between them, as well as being easily
recognizable.

12. 2:28 – Release date, credits
The date featured above is when the film is expected to be publically released.
It is often deliberately placed at the end of the trailer, so that the date is fresh in
the audiences mind. Below the release date, is the featured website of the
movie, allowing for the audience to be informed on updates, extras and
information about the film. At the bottom we see the production companies
again, who was involved; Legendary Pictures, DC, Warner Bros. etc.

13. What can we takeaway?
When creating a trailer with my group; we must keep the following in mind:
 To use a variety of different shots and angles so that it can show different
perspectives and take advantage of the genre that our film is based on (action)
 To use a range of editing techniques to make our production piece interesting and
to conform the genre of action e.g. fast pace editing, cuts, CGI
 Make sure that we have the appropriate sound at the correct scenes and they sync
well so it’s 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 lot
 Have 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