Dark Knight - The Relationship Between Producers and Audiences

The interest in public opinion began in 1920’s and 30’s when Americans began to observe the reactions of their audience relating their product. But it wasn’t until 1940’s when the producers started to use experimental measures of viewer response. A good example that shows an in depth relationship between producers and the audience can be seen by the film The Dark Knight. The marketing of the film began with numerous websites which allowed the audience to have a small glimpse at what might be shown in the movie, telling the people to vote for Harvey Dent just like they would be citizens of Gotham City and they were a part of the conflict that was going on between the criminals and the politicians. The next websites showed a hacked version of the original articles but destroyed by Joker which added few Joker smiles to the pictures and black hollow eyes, as well changing the text showing that he is more superior than the law. When the viewer subscribed to the original website they might have received promotional packs which encouraged voting for Harvey Dent. On the Joker side, a website was made to rent a clown and the audience could have sent their picture of them wearing Joker like make-up so that it would be put on there and others would be able to see it. This engaged the viewer into the film even more as could already see a conflict rising, which meant that the film began to show its context even before it was released.

But apart from websites, the producers developed their relationship with the audience by producing merchandise. One example could be shown by Burger King which made a special meal called Dark Whooper which was sold as an advertisement of the film. Later on they also produced advertisements showing their customers doing bad things and saying ‘bring out your dark side’ which greatly related to the film. They have also produced a line of advertisement for children. This meant that they have received a free toy with the meal that they have ordered to further promote the movie and build a stronger relationship with a wide age range of audience. Other merchandise was produced in line with Warner Bros and the items ranged from mugs, phone cases, costumes and clothing which allowed a wide variety of audience choose what kind of items is mostly suitable for them and buy it.

Varied media was sending the audience on scavenger hunts, to take photographs in certain places and upload them to the websites which revealed parts of pictures which either shown a photograph of Joker when fully revealed or led them to other websites which shown them different views that might be a concern on the film or allowed them to participate even more in the project which gave them a satisfaction that they can be a part of it and the relationship between the producers and the audience grew even stronger.

The real target audience for this film would be the hardcore comic book fans which were also taken on a trip in  Jokers world as in San Diego during the comic con they were sent on an interactive chase. This chase made them look for clues that were around the city and at the end of the clues a fan was kidnapped by the Joker. Later at the con the fans were given a Gotham City newspaper which said ‘See you in December’ and showed the fan dead with the Jokers card in his hand.

Another interesting way that the producers used to build a strong relationship with the audience were the posters shown as they features the logo of the production and the main characters, which not only makes the audience interested in the production but is also eye catching which might bring new viewers to the film as they might feel that they like the way that the poster was created and decide to watch the film. The main characters also, showed up on the covers of magazines like Total Film or Empire which might have brought new viewers to the film and strengthened the relationship with the old ones.

The film premiere was changed because of the death of Heath Ledger, the actor that played Joker, in his memory the carpet instead of red was black and the actors dressed accordingly in dark colours as well, promoting the movie at the same time but also showing that they lost someone from their crew. Later on the orchestra played extracts from the movie and there was a show which featured the iconic Batmobile.

After the premiere of the film, it received a score of 9.0 points on IMDB and 94% on Rotten Tomatoes which are very high scores showing that the film was successful and encouraging the people who weren’t really that interested in it to watch it.