The Dark Knight Film Poster Analysis

The main colour used in this poster are black/dark blue, orange/red and white. The darker colours represent Batman as the 'Dark Knight'. It makes you question whether he is actually the hero or whether he is evil in this film. The dark surrounding also sets the setting, with the white lights you can tell that he is in a tunnel. It also shows a sense of movement as the lights are slightly blurred. The orange and red colours represent the explosion that is in front. There are sparks from this explosion that move along the 'batmobile' also adding to the movement effect. The audience would need foreknowledge of Batman to understand the symbols in this poster such as the cape, helmet, logo as they are all signifiers of Batman.
The main objects in this poster are Batman's bike and the weapons that are pointing forward. Also the explosion in the near bottom corner of the image is also a main part of the poster as it is the only bit of dramatic colour in the poster and most eye catching. Around the explosion there are objects also flying around, which suggests that this picture is a still taken from the film. I think the editors would have used Photoshop still on this image for enhancement and adjustment.
The messages in this poster are mainly visual as there is not much text involved. As it is a teaser poster it shows the action and makes it eye-catching to draw you in from the very beginning. This is an early poster so there isn't much information written on or any reviews/comments included. from this poster I would think that the audience intended would be for males, or previous Batman fans.
As this film is an action/thriller, they use genre conventions such as explosions and fast vehicles which are big give away factors. The use of the tunnel shows that it is in an urban setting and modern.
The main selling points of this poster are the cast names, as the fans would look out for that as it is the only bit of information on the poster; and the information that states that it is being shown in IMAX theatres.
You can tell that you are going to get thrills and excitement from this film. The poster makes you feel as if you are going to have 'on the edge of your seats' moments as things get really tense and the most important parts in the film are most exciting.
Overall I think this is a good poster because even though it has little information written on it, it is still exciting enough to sell the film and make people want to go and see it. It may be a poster but it gives you the same feeling you have when you've just watched a cliff hanger, wanting to know more, see what happens next and find out as soon as possible. It communicates effectively with the intended audience as all the codes and signifiers are enough for the Batman fans to know that this is going to be a big film, and the genre conventions used are good enough to draw in the males.

  
DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN

467,784 IMDb users have given a weighted average vote of 8.9 / 10

Demographic breakdowns are shown below.

Votes	Percentage	Rating
246,928	52.8%	10
93,891	20.1%	9
58,453	12.5%	8
27,394	5.9%	7
11,093	2.4%	6
5,794	1.2%	5
2,969	0.6%	4
2,519	0.5%	3
2,523	0.5%	2
16,220	3.5%	1

Arithmetic mean = 8.8.  Median = 10
Ranked #11 in the top 250


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/ratings