Film Trailer Analysis: The Dark Knight

 The scene is accompanied by a voiceover stating that "you changed things....forever", it helps add emphasis on the relationship between the two characters as they seem to be familiar with eachother in some way. At the beginning of the trailer we ares shown that warner bros studios, Dc comics and legendary pictures were involved in the movie and so from the get go people may be intrigued to look into the trailer more. The first scene shown begins with a shot of a motorbike moving through some sort of city, the character is shown in a fully black suit which may represent some sort of power or authority amongst other people. The character is highlighted slightly by the lights of the tunnel which may suggests to the audience that he is the protagonist of the movie as he is shown straight away in the trailer.

The scene shifts to an establishing shot of the protagonist as he overlooks a city, this suggests that he may be a protector of the city, as he is 'looking over them'. The voiceover continues along with some dramatic non-diagetic music which helps add tension to the trailer early on which is typical of an action movie trailer. The voiceover states that the protagonist is a 'freak' before the narrator states "like me". This statement is accompanied by sharp cut and then we are presented to the supposed antagonist through the use of a long shot. We assume that he is the antagonist as he is surrounded in darkness, we can also relate him to some sort of madness in the film as when we see him, we see an explosion straight after. This may be a suggestion of what he plans on doing to the city, the shot is prolonged as to add effect to the explosion whilst the extremity of the explosion is contrasted by the almost childish like appearance of a deck of cards. More specifically the camera focuses on the Joker card, which fans of the Batman series would understand a s a direct reference to the series of stories Batman is involved in. The card is shown to be burning which may infer of the Joker's slipping sanity as you can hear a maniacal laugh in the background.

The scene shifts to a birds-eye view of the city to once again reiterate the desire of the Joker and this is contrasted by the appearance of Heath Ledger as his character is first shown properly in a cage surrounded by armed guards. This connotes the danger he is to the audience and helps add emphasis on him being the antagonist, as the camera pans upwards on the Joker we can see that he is carrying an assortment of knifes which may act as a direct link to the comic books. This may act to persuade some of the audience into wanting to watch the film as they may of been a fan of one of the other Batman films. As the scene develops we hear the Joker say "evening commissioner"in which there is a sudden rise in volume of the non-diagetic sound. This is then cut abruptly as we see a close up of the Joker, we can tell through his appearance that he is the bad guy as he seems to stand out against the bright wall behind him. Although he seems relatively calm during this closeup, we see him directly afterwards threatening a person with a knife which further shows his madness as he seems to have two sides to him.

Afterwards the trailer begins to gather pace as we are introduced to some dramatic music set between the various short clips shown. Throughout the clips we are shown constant imagery between the Batman and the Joker as they act as the opposite to one another. The joker seems almost psychotic as we see him shooting a rocket launcher, the Batman on the contrary is shown to look intimidating and somewhat masculine as we see him through a low angle shot to help showcase his power and authority over Gotham which you would expect from an action movie hero. The constant contrast between the two characters helps engage the audience into thee trailer and can act to persuade them into watching it.

The scene continues and we get to see a conversation between Bale's character and Caine's character in which we can empathise with the characters as they talk on the fate of Gotham and Batman's role in it whilst we can see the trouble being caused and the difference between Bruce Wayne and the Batman. Their conversation acts as a voiceover which helps adds effect onto the scenes behind it, whilst also showing the audience a more personal thought on the characters. It seems that with every scene the Joker is placed in there is some sort of explosion following it as well as the music getting louder its almost as if it is signifying what to expect in the film when the Joker is involved.

The trailer has an extensive use of destruction used whether that be explosions or buildings, this is mainly used to appeal to the target audience they are aiming for as the action movie genre is generally filled with this. This increase in pace and tension gets more adept as the interchanging scenes carry on we see that the damage gradually gets worse including a truck getting flipped over as the music stops suddenly. The Jokers character is shown through a medium shot in which he is surrounded in a darkened and seemingly abandoned city shooting, helping to highlight the individual aspects of the Joker's personality. The trailer ends with another voiceover in hich Ledger states "lets put a smile on that face" during a close up before the screen cuts to black and all we can hear is he's laughing before being shown the title. This is used to help emphasise the key points of the movie which in this case was the contrast between Batman and the Joker as the trailer was unexpected and had some unique elements which can appeal to the audience more then some other movies in the same genre.