Even though it’s been months since Warner Bros. revealed it, I remain in awe of the studio’s adaptation and usage of music for its trailers for The Batman, creating an identity for the film.

A Look at the Evolution of a Music Sequence in The Batman Trailers

The teaser for The Batman, released in Aug. 2020, featured the song Something in the Way by Nirvana. The song begins at 0:21 and the music sequence from the song that I talk about in this commentary runs from 2:06 to 2:15.

I didn’t like it. I found both the song and the trailer to be dull.

Check out the Teaser to see what I’m talking about below

However, when that sequence, which is light and mild in the song, is brought out in roaring full force through a different medium midway through the main trailer for The Batman (the one released this past October), I was completely riveted and have thought about it several times since. (Let alone how strange it is that I had such a different reaction to the song and a sequence from it.)

Running from 1:23 to 1:38, 1:50 to 2:08, and 2:22 to 2:35, the trailer picks up when the sequence begins and the sequence accompanies the action and the appearance of the film’s logo at the trailer’s end.

This The Batman Trailer is EVERYTHING!

But what about The Cat and The Bat?

While the sequence plays in the trailer that was released in late December, called The Bat and The Cat, it’s only at the end of the trailer that it is in most force – and arguably is the most impacting. I didn’t even notice that the sequence appears in places other than the end until reviewing the trailer for this article – and I watched the trailer several times before then. And it’s at the trailer’s end when it invokes that roaring music that really gets the October trailer going.

That span of time is quite brief – it runs from just 2:34 to 2:37:

The Batman': Catwoman Zoe Kravitz, Robert Pattinson dueled on Day 1
Zoe Kravitz and Robert Pattinson as Catwoman and Batman, respectively, in The Batman. (photo credit: Warner Bros.)

Impacts of the Music Thread in The Batman Teaser and Trailers

I tip my hat to Warner Bros. for marketing the film this way. Besides really creating an identity for The Batman, the studio excellently fostered an emotional connection to it.

(And now, I view Something in the Way fondly – not just as a commentary on my favorite superhero, but the song in general.)

I don’t know how often a film studio has evolved music across a film’s teasers and trailers, much less used music in one form (like from a rock band) in a teaser and then converted that music into other forms of music in trailers released later.

For more on The Batman, check back to That Hashtag Show.

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