6. The Dark Knight
• Genre - Super Hero Action
• Directed by Christopher Nolan
• The Cast - Christopher Bale, Michael Caine,
Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckheart, Maaggie
Gyllenhall, Morgan Freeman
• Target Audience? - Teenagers/young
adults/comic book fanatics/people who
have seen previous batman films
• Made (box office) $1,001,921,825+

7. Themes
• The Symbology of Batman
(Bruce Wayne’s powers to evil crime are
rather limited. As a man, he can be
corrupted, he can be killed, and ultimately,
he can be defeated. As a symbol he can
become far more, and at the end of The
Dark Knight, he becomes, to society, an
uncontainable force in very much the
same way the Joker was. e becomes
hunted, making people believe that he
cannot be controlled, that he has lost all
respect for societal norms and the rule of
law.)

8. The Triumph of Evil Over Good
“You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”
The Joker’s ability to destroy that which
Dent loves and turn him to the evil that
he becomes is sad in a way that can only
be experienced by seeing the film. But the
apparent relative ease with which Joker
does this is what makes the Dent storyline
strike so close to home: The film makes us
realize that we, as humans are limited,
and that our capacity to be good is subject
to the vagaries of fate and whatever the
hell else decides to destroy what we love.

9. The Terrible Logic of Human Nature
• What do people do when they are put in the worst of
situations? What would you do if you were given the ultimate
power over someone else? The movie touches upon these
questions of human nature.
• it’s evident when Batman gives Lucius Fox fee reign of the cell
phone hackery he has perpetrated upon all of Gotham. Fox
believes that one person should not have this power. People are
so easily corrupted that even an initial desire to do good can
ultimately lead to evil, the film seems to be saying.
• We also see it at the very end, when two separate sets of people
are given the ability to destroy each other. Given the lead-up to
the film’s climactic action scene, it’s a little bit strange that the
boat-bomb storyline ends in the way that it does: With both
criminals and everyday citizens concluding that they won’t
take another’s life just to preserve their own.

11. Beginning with a black screen and
continuing over footage of Batman in
various states of action and repose —
riding the Batpod, sitting alone in obvious
pain, looking out from a tall building etc.
the Joker taunts Batman: "You've changed
things. Forever. There's no going back. See,
to them you're just a freak ... like me!“
The very choice of words here is
important. "Freak," the Joker calls him. As
just about everybody knows, Batman is a
hero. But what of the people of Gotham?

12. Our first shot of the Joker, a long shot of him
standing alone in the city streets as we hear the
voiceover: "Like me!“
Very long shot

13. A huge explosion rocks a building, blowing it to
smithereens. Here, and in other explosion shots
throughout the trailer, we see nonspecific buildings,
nonspecific cars, etc. This is a very deliberate narrative
choice to give audiences the impression that there is no
method to the Joker's madness. This is a crucial part of
Ledger's portrayal. These explosions seem designed to
inflict the maximum amount of damage.

14. A deck of Joker cards burns as Ledger gives us
our first taste of the villain's maniacal laugh.
The laugh, has always been one of the most
terrifying aspects of the character. He is
sounding slightly schizophrenic and going on
for a little too long.

15. The camera pans past a rooftop sniper, aiming his gun at
a mass of protesters walking on the street below. We
know that rival mobs have begun fighting over Gotham.
We know that they turn to the Joker, a "man they don't
fully understand," to unite them. We know that violence
escalates because of Batman. This is the first taste we get
that the citizens of Gotham are turning against their
hero.

16. "Wadda we got?" an unnamed police man asks Gordon.
"Nothing," he responds. "No name. No other alias.
Clothing is custom. Nothing in his pocket but knives and
lint." The Joker is one of the most iconic villains of all
time. By pointing out what the Joker doesn't have, we
again see how he exists outside of society's rules. No
name. No wallet. No identification. No store-bought
clothing. No phone or money. Absolutely nothing that
could tie him to the world at large.

17. Pan up on the Joker behind bars, obviously in
custody. We have no idea when in the movie
this occurs, but we can reasonably assume it
happens early. He must, therefore, break out.

18. Shot of the Joker's knives. There appear to be too
many for one man to fit on his person.

19. Our first in-film look at how Nolan and team have
done the Joker's makeup. "Evening, Commissioner,"
he sneers. The "realistic" makeup is chilling, His
lips and cheeks are cut horizontally to give a
scarring appearance of a smile.
High angle, medium close up

20. The Joker grabs a man's face and screams his
early catchphrase: "Why so serious?!"
Two person shot

21. Another explosion rocks the city.
The Joker hangs dangerously outside a police
car window.

22. The Joker fires a bazooka into the city. A brief
moment. The Joker handles the weapon clumsily.
This is because the character, at heart, is something
of a gentleman criminal. The most "personal" way
to kill someone, after all, is by stabbing them. That
doesn't mean that he won't use whatever's most
readily available and likely to cause the most
damage.

23. Our first extended shot of Bruce Wayne begins
a montage. The billionaire playboy pleads with
Alfred ("What would you have me do?"), and
the butler's advice is intercut with scenes of
general mayhem. "You can beat the outcast,"
Alfred says. "You can make the choice that no
one else can face. The right choice. Gotham
needs you."

25. The overlay here also accomplishes two
simultaneous goals. It shows a weak Batman,
questioning his very existence. Should he go on
fighting crime, when doing so may actually
cause more crime? The scenes of chaos on the
streets also reinforce why Batman is indecisive
— because the people of the city are turning on
him. Even Gordon joins in, busting the Bat
Signal with an axe.

26. Our first shot of Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel
Dawes.
She’s wearing red, could connotate
love/passion/Bruce Wayne’s feelings towards her.

27. Rachel knees the Joker. "A little fight in you," he
says. "I like that." Ledger smacks his lips. It
would be terrifying enough if he just wanted to
kill her, but he seems to want something more.
This could be a plot point in the film.

28. Armed with a machine gun, the Joker walks down
the street. We see he's playing a high-stakes game of
chicken with Batman, who's racing down the alley
on his ‘Batpod’. ("C'mon! Hit me!" he taunts.)
Batman veers away and crashes his bike in a vicious
fall to avoid killing the Joker.

29. “Let's put a smile on that face!“
Last shot of the Joker, and fade.
The movie title at the end is white text on a black
background and I think this symbolises how Batman can
be seen as a hero AND a villain.

30. I really liked this trailer. It kept me on the
edge of my seat and was exciting,
exhilarating and fast paced. I think
Ledger's Joker is one of the most
frightening, smart and well-played
villains ever.
There are lots of explosions, weapons e.g.
knives, guns etc which indicates the
action genre. Obviously Batman is the
‘superhero.’