What is the ‘narrative’ of the campaign?

The narrative of the campaign was to liberate Gotham city from crime and corruption by electing Harvey Dent and showing support for him. However there was a twist as the Joker took over the website and vandalised it. It then turned into manhunt for Joker clues as they were planted in cities all around the world.

What role does the audience play?

The audience were upgraded from a passive role to a more active one as the campaign required a certain degree of engagement and effort. The audience was required to find clues through the website they were given. Without audience participation the campaign would have been a failure. The enthusiasm shown by the audience helped made this campaign a massive success as producers were able to create hype for the film which made it the biggest grossing film for 2008.

How was the idea of the ‘remix’ and the ‘database’ employed here?

‘Remix’ can be found in this campaign as the picture and trailers that the audience were provided with have been tampered with. This “jokerification” of this work gives the audience an insight into the deranged mind of the Joker as the smiley faces on the character’s faces as well as the “Haha” graffiti were testament to his twisted sense of humor. In terms of ‘database’ producers of the game took full advantage of the open nature of the web as a medium their websites kept evolving and changing with the initial Harvey Dent support posters and ending with the vandalised version of it. This also allowed for other mediums to be linked to the game as it linked audio to images to give a variety of clues to the participants.

Make a list of as many artefacts/objects/’bits’ of the campaign as you can.

• Harvey Dent Posters
• Harvey Dent recorded speech
• Joker Harvey Dent Posters
• Joker graffiti of various paintings
• Gotham Newspaper
• Gotham websites
• Voice mail and text messages by the Joker
• Rallys for either Harvey Dent or Joker
• Batman logo
• Batman logo vandalised

What role does each ‘bit’ play in the overall narrative?

• Harvey Dent Posters – these posters establish a sense of reality for the audience participating in the game.
• Harvey Dent recorded speech – this adds further realism as he talks about needing the audiences support to save Gotham.
• Joker Harvey Dent Posters – The audience is introduced into the deranged mind of the Joker as he vandalises the campaign posters and announces his own vision for Gotham.
• Joker graffiti of various paintings – The Joker tampers with even more paintings claiming his intent to be bigger, which prompts a scavenger hunt for more clues.
• Gotham Newspaper – The newspaper informs the audience what their actions led to in Gotham city. This also has various clues such a websites and hidden messages.
• Gotham websites – Several Gotham public websites include recording and hidden messages which help those participating.
• Voice mail and text messages by the Joker – This is the most immersive aspect of the game as the audience is actively interacting with the Joker as he leads them to even more hint and clues.
• Rallys for either Harvey Dent or Joker – Gathering crowds support their chosen leader as they take to the streets in support. This is a sign of an impending climax in the narrative of the game.
• Batman logo – The Batman logo, a symbol of hope for the people of Gotham appears in front of those that called themselves “citizens of Gotham City”. They were sent there by the clues from the game. All of a sudden the Batman logo is defaced with the Joker graffiti along with every website that was part of the game leaving a trail of chaos. This is so the audience can see the conclusion once they see the film.

How do you think the team went about planning this? Think logistics.

The website was simple enough as they would have has graphic artists make the props for the Harvey Dent campaign. They would have had Aaron Eckhart and Heath Ledger record their lines in addition to having they pose for additional promotional material. The fact that they need to go out a hide tangible objects in various cities had to require people to either travel or have people that live in the area to be actively communicating with the people in charge of managing this project. They would have had to carefully map out the schedule of the introduction of each bit as it required numerous steps in a specific order for the whole campaign to progress its narrative.

How does this campaign fit into the narrative of the film?

The campaign fits into the character motivations of the film as Harvey Dent intends to clean up the city of Gotham while Joker desires chaos and anarchy. The posters with Dent wanting his city to change for the better is testament to his desire to improve the city that he loves and wishes to protect as for the majority of the film that is a one of his biggest ambitions. The Joker vandalising the Batman logo and the line about breaking his one rule is his attempt to corrupt the Dark Knight as well as shatter the public’s perception of him. That is the motivation of the Joker in the film as his obsession with Batman’s rigid rules prompts him to try and make Batman submit to chaos. The fact that Batman was so absent from the campaign makes the game feel like setting up the film, as Batman will fix the problems raised by the game.