Harrison Lisle

Professor Phillips 

03/06/2016

English 101

The Dark Knight Rises

Images are present throughout our society and humans have used them since the days of our cave dwelling ancestors to convey messages. Whether it be a simple picture of a flower or an incredibly complex painting each image has a specific meaning they are trying to convey through the image they create. These underlying meanings that the artists include in their work are exactly what the artists use to try to push for what they want by eliciting certain emotions and reactions such as The Dark Knight Rises poster that I choose to use. Through the use of various artistic aspects such as color, contrast, texture, symbols, and perspective a certain message is conveyed in this image by the artist without any kind of description or story. All of these artistic aspects play a role in capturing the interest of the viewer so they are drawn into the image and become interested in the message that the artist is trying to get across. Through the exploration of these artistic aspects in The Dark Knight Rises reader can see two kinds of messages that are being conveyed. First the artistic aspects are used in the poster to show all the action that will happen in the movie and catch the interest of people who are fans of action movies so they want to go see the movie. Second the artistic aspects are used in the poster to provide insight into the actual story of the movie while giving some basic idea of what may happen.  

Color or lack of it can convey so many messages to the audience who is viewing an image while at the same time draw focus to certain parts of an image. In The Dark Knight Rises poster there is very little color that the artist added in so the image is left mainly in shades of black, gray, and white. This alone leads the audience to the conclusion that this movie will most likely have a serious story due to the fact that society tends to associate lack of color with serious occasions such as funerals or formal business meeting. The artist uses these colors in certain patterns to paint an image of a city in distress that is falling apart on the poster. This serves to also foreshadow another major plot point of the movie's story. At the same time this image of the city falling apart serves to draw attention of the audience to the poster and make them interested enough to go see the movie. Using colors the artists behind The Dark Knight Rises poster conveyed managed to convey both their message of getting people interested in the movie and giving some insight into the story.

Contrast can be used by the artist in two ways to convey a message, actual color contrast or the use of color contrast to create detail, these two uses of contrast by the artist in the poster draw attention to key points on the poster. The first big contrast that is used by the artist is one that uses color contrast to draw viewer interest to a certain portion of the poster. This brings people in to see the movie due to the fact that their attention was drawn towards the color contrasted bat that makes people want to see more. This color contrasted bat at the top of the poster also serves to push the second point that the artists are trying to foreshadow about the story of The Dark Knight Rises. The white bat contrasted against the dark back ground foreshadows how Batman is really the only good fighting for the city and stands out among the dark city that is crumbling to pieces around him. The second big use of contrast by the artist is on the crumbling buildings where the use of contrasting light and dark colors create details for the buildings and the surrounding rubble that is coming off them. These detailed buildings serve to further both points the artist is trying to make due to the fact that they both draw attention and gives an insight into the story of the movie. The buildings draw attention to the poster due to the fact that you are able to see the contrast that highlights large pieces falling away from the buildings. This can easily draw and interest an audience for the image portrayed in The Dark Knight Rises poster due to the fact that people are going to want to know things pictured in the poster such as why the city is falling apart. The contrast detailing the buildings also hints ahead to when the actual city of Gotham is torn apart in the movie. Contrast in both color and detail is used by the artist of The Dark Knight Rises to draw focus to the major points of the poster which they want to use to convey their messages.

         Texture is used by the artist of the poster in two major areas. The first example of this texture ties into the previous point that was made about contrast being used to create detail. The same contrast that creates the detail creates texture for the buildings making them seem more lifelike and drawing more attention to the poster. These more lifelike details for the buildings make the poster more interesting to look at so it draws in a larger audience and hints towards the realistic action many audience members will be seeking from this kind of movie. Giving detailed texture to the buildings also serves to provide a more in depth image that the audience can use to picture that city and story of The Dark Knight Rises. This sets an actual back ground for viewers to picture all of the other story parts that the image in the poster has provided to them therefore adding to the story itself. The second example of texture that was included by the artist is the texture of the clouds that make up the white bat at the top of the poster. This texture for the clouds serves pretty much the exact same purpose as the texture for the building when it comes to pushing the artist's first point. However the way that these clouds have texture gives a whole different insight into the story of the movie. Instead of the bat being made up of all clear skies it is made up instead of clouds which implies that even though Batman is the good hero in a corrupt city he still is not entirely free of evil. This comes into play in the movie when Batman must struggle against the evil in himself just as the artist hinted in the poster. Without the texture that has been included by the artist the poster would not be nearly as interesting to the viewer.  

    There is primarily one main symbol that the artist uses in the poster and that is the bat symbol at the very top of the poster. The bat symbol is known by a very large portion of viewers even if they have never seen anything with Batman in it and due to this fact this symbol becomes the perfect tool to draw people in to see The Dark Knight Rises. Even knowing nothing about the franchise of Batman people are still drawn to the bat symbol just due to the fact that it is so well known and this is why the artist used it in a central area on their poster to draw viewers. The bat symbol also serves to push the very obvious point that this movie obviously will involve Batman and that the city will need to be saved by him in some way. Despite the fact that there is only one symbol in the poster the one symbol present is arguably one of the most important aspects of the poster when it comes to pushing the artist's points.

Perspective is the final artistic aspect used in the image and serves mainly to emphasize other artistic aspects in the image. The main example of perspective is the way the view of the image is created. Due to perspective in the poster it makes it seem that the audience is looking upwards from the ground at the symbol of a bat in the sky. This draws audience focus towards the bat symbol so they are drawn in by it and then become interested in the poster. This perspective really serves to try and quickly grab the attention of the audience so that they want to come see The Dark Knight Rises. Perspective also has a unique way of developing the audiences view on the plot of the movie. The perspective of the poster looking up at the bat symbol is very much like the citizens of Gotham looking up to Batman to help them. This shows the viewers that the story is going to involve Batman saving the people of Gotham.

    By using symbols, contrast, perspective, color, and texture the artist tells an entire story with just an image. You can easily see things like the conflict Batman faces within himself and how hard it will be for him to save the city. Images create whole worlds without words or any kind of explanation and this statement definitely holds true for this poster. I felt as if I got caught up in what the artist was trying to convey while I was looking at the poster and can say that The Dark Knight Rises poster definitely conveys both of the points that were being made by the artist.  

Warner Brothers. Http://www.warnerbros.com/. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2016.
