Zettler Clay Explains Sequential Elements in Dark Knight Trailer

Dark Knight, one of the greatest movies of the decade and the second-highest grossing (domestic) film ever, was ushered into the summer of 2008 with much hype. This trailer was a big reason why. It built anxiety, suspense, drama and action in just under two minutes and 30 seconds.



Starting at the 14 second mark, there are two consecutive wide shots followed by a medium shot (ending at the 18 second mark). The trailer wouldn't show a close shot until the 28 second mark, when the Joker was introduced. This will become a familiar pattern throughout the video. I thought this was very effective because the audience was anticipating the arrival of the new character and the production team of Dark Knight capitalized on that by saving its close shot for the late Heath Ledger's appearance.

This trailer would go on to use close shots sparingly, set up by a barrage of wide-to-wide-to-wide-to-medium sequences before sprinkling in a close shot. The production team also seemed focused to limit its close-ups on the Joker and Harvey Dent/Two-Face, the antagonists of the film.

In fact, every shot of the Joker is a close-to-medium shot. Batman/Bruce Wayne, on the other hand, was displayed with more dimensions (which, when you think about it, is fully in line with how Batman is). The whole video is spliced with this consistency, but a special sequence best encapsulates the sequential elements we discussed in class:

1:33 - 1:48: It begins with a close up of the Joker and ends, fittingly, with a close up of Harvey Dent's metamorphosis into Two-Face. In between, there was 15 rapid scenes. 10 of them were close ups, three of them were wide shots and two were medium. At one section (between 1:36 and 1:39), there were four straight close shots, immediately followed by two wide shots and a medium shot. For the remaining seven scenes in this sequence, there was only one wide shot, sandwiched between two consecutive close shots and four consecutive close shots. These shots and the speed with which they were put together was executed effectively to emphasize the crescendo of the trailer.

With over $1 billion in the bank, it's safe to say that it might have worked.