Textual analysis – The Dark Knight

By Will Craven

The Dark knight (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXeTwQWrcwY)

• Genre – Super hero action • The dark knight, released in 2008, is an action

movie featuring the likes of Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Morgan Freeman and Cillian Murphy.

• Directed by Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight is critically acclaimed and scores a rating of 9 on IMDB.

Close ups

There a number of close ups used throughout the Dark Knight’s film trailer, the close ups I have decided to pick out are the ones focused on the face of a character. The reasons for this camera choice on a characters face is because it shows how they are feeling at that particular moment, which is very important in a movie as it could tell you a lot about what is going to happen next. For example, the Joker looks menacing and intimidating in the close up shot, you could argue that perhaps this foreshadows the destruction he is about to cause in later scenes.

Long shots This long shot I picked out from the Dark Knight trailer is a prefect example of how effective a long shot can be. From this shot we can see everything that is taking place in this particular scene. This shot really puts the viewer in a position where they can engage in the scene from having a good perspective, it make us, the viewer feel as if we are standing there watching the action unfold as the truck is tipped over. I have included another picture where a long shot has been used, from this shot we can see the scramble of people which again gives the viewer a good perspective on what’s happening in the scene.

Editing One of the editing techniques I have focused on is at the start of the trailer when the scenes of batman slowly fade to black. I feel as if the fade builds anticipation as we wait to see what happens next, I have included a screenshot of the editing mid – fade. This an effect I would consider using on my final piece as it is easy to do and works effectively in creating suspense and leaving the view in anticipation of what’s going to happen next. Towards the end of the trailer, we see quick transitions which are in synchronization with the fast paced music, this again creates suspense and leaves us on the edge of our seat in anticipation, I would be looking to create a similar affect on my movie trailer.

Overview

Personally, I think the Dark Knight trailer worked really effectively in building up anticipation for the film. They did this well through methods such as camera shots, editing and the music. The music worked incredibly well with the editing of the trailer which is something I want to try and replicate for my final product, I think my ambitions to do this are fairly realistic as none of these methods should be too difficult to do. My experience at GCSE in IMovie learnt me vital skills in editing and therefore puts me in a good position prior to the creation of my final product.