Research and anaylsis film The Dark Knight (partly done)

Research of the  trailer for the film The Dark Knight

 

Cast:
Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman
Heath Ledger as The Joker
Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two-Face
Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth
Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes
Gary Oldman as Lt. James Gordon
Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox
Monique Curnen as Det. Ramirez
Ron Dean as Det. Wuertz
Cillian Murphy as Dt. Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow
Chin Han as Lau
Nestor Carbonell as the Mayor
Eric Roberts as Salvatore Maroni
Ritchie Coster as The Chechen
Anthony Michael Hall as Mike Engel
Keith Szarabajka as Det. Stephens
Colin McFarlane as Commissioner Loeb
Michael Jai White as Gambol
Melinda Mcgraw as Barbara Gordon
Nathan Gamble as James Gordon Jr.
Joshua Harto as Reese

The Dark Knight was released in 2008.

It is a superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. It is based on the DC Comics character Batman. The film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins. 

In this sequel to Batman Begins, Batman played by Christian Bale comes face to face with his greatest nemesis - the dreaded ghoulish Joker, played by Heath Ledger.

As of 2010, five out of seven films Nolan directed are on the IMDB's top 250: The Dark Knight (2008), Batman Begins (2005), Memento (2000),The Prestige (2006), Inception (2010).

Director: Christopher Nolan reporting.

The director’s qotes:

 "Batman is a marvellously complex character-somebody who has absolute charm and then, just like that, can turn it into ice-cold ruthlessness. There are very few actors who can do that, and Christian is one of them."

We all wake up in the morning wanting to live our lives the way we know we should. But we usually don't, in small ways. That's what makes a character like Batman so fascinating. He plays out our conflicts on a much larger scale.

The Analysis to the Trailer of “The Dark Knight”

The trailer opens dramatically yet bleakly with Batman standing at the top of a building. It is a bird eye view shot as he jumps off a sky scraper. The top of the sky scrapers has a bluish-ting to them due to the extreme darkness of the surroundings. But the dozens of lights shining from the top of the skyscrapers and windows allows us to see the vague shape of Batman sitting perched on top of the skyscraper, like a bat perched on a tree. So there is that connective symbolism playing there, of him being batman. And then he jumps and gliding downwards, where we can see the back of his figure… its evident that it was done like this  purposefully, it wasn’t a full-on dive, like diving into the ocean as then all would have been able to see would be Batman’s shoes. Moreover, this dive stunt is done to make this shot sequence more visually aesthetic, and to awe / inspire the audience. This also reveals the spontaneity of Batman’s character, the essence of a person who will push the limits, to avenge and protect citizens of Gotham city. The mis-en-scene is filled with darkness and shadows as the sequence of shot is taken at night. This also adds a atmosphere of mysteriousness, as the night has a natural “magesticness”, which would not be present if it was shot in day-light.  The dark night setting also links to the character ‘The Dark Knight’ which also suggests this is the environment in which he is most comfortable. Additionally, darkness has the usual connotations of danger and threats and secrets. All of which clearly correlate to his character.

The buildings appear silvery grey in the artificial light of the night city lights. The sound effects added are sharp and dramatic and the camera swiftly cuts from one shot to the next for added tension. As the audience and fans of Batman, we are eager to get a close up to our superhero, but this doesn’t happen. Instead the directors cleverly engage our attention even more as Batman plunges off the sky rise building, seemingly free falling to the ground. We know he will be unharmed but for a moment the drama of the scene causes excitement and apprehension.

The logo of Warner Bros appears against a backdrop of misty clouds which part for the famous Batman and DC Comic logos, symbols which will be well known to the ‘diehard’ Batman fans. At the starting of the trailer you hear dramatic music. To create impact, dramatic music is employed which has an eerie and sharp beat. This is quite distinctive and engages the audience's attention immediately.

At 0.20 seconds into the trailer, there’s a tracking shot being done over the roof over a white quite modern but slightly tainted building… this could be a symbolic representation, of how society feels at the time.  Then there’s another tracking shot, (also known as a dolly shot or tracking shot) taken zooming slanted onto the birds-eye view of all these police standing in rows, dressed in pure black, so they stand out, but far enough so we don’t acknowledge who they are as it’s a long shot. While the jokers voice is saying ‘A year ago these cops and lawyers’ and this is what brings the connection of them men standing in the road being cops. It’s the power of suggestion. Then the joker continues saying ‘wouldn’t cross any of you,’ while, the camera cuts to a professional looking cop… with a moustache, and glasses - the stereotypical trait of a person who is thought to be smart. 

The trailer is filmed using a full variety of camera shots and angles against a backdrop of dramatic dialogues and intense music. The tempo created is upbeat and tension filled. The subgenres of the film: science-fiction-adventure, thriller, romance all feature in the trailer and therefore the trailer is successful in attracting a wide target audience of male and female aged 12 and above. The Dark Knight presents a twist from previous Batman movies as the title suggests that Batman has “darkness” within his character and implies that he is not a typical superhero with 100% positive traits. This intrigues and interests the modern day audience.