THE DARK KNIGHT RISES 7
Results : Analysis
Throughout our research , we were striving to examine the significance of this social media campaign , specifically in creating and sustaining fan communities around the movie . For the purpose of this analysis we have looked at a few key hashtags and teased out the themes and contexts that the hashtags were used in . The first hashtag that we discovered was # thefirerises . Beginning on May 20 , 2011 , it was revealed by a fan who noticed a mysterious chant on thedarkknightrises . com . Each tweet using this specific hashtag removed a pixel from an image . This image lead to the reveal of the villain in the movie , Bane . The idea of community was a significant theme in tweets which contain the hashtag # thefirerises . On May 20 , 2011 @ Wbpictures tweeted , “# DarkKnight fans !” ( Appendix B ). Tweeter , @ IndyCoverUrHart wrote , “ Pretty cool ... if you tweet # thefirerises you can help me fill in a secret pic on the new Dark Rises site . Tweet using the tag # thefirerises to have your twitter icon added to the first image of Bane !” ( Appendix B ). Numerous tweets such as this one were posted to encourage people to join the Dark Knight community and be a part of this epic Twitter campaign .
The hashtag # tdkr07202012 was first used on April 30 , 2012 to reveal international locations of graffiti . A strategic world-wide scavenger hunt was intended to promote the first trailer release . Fans were able to submit photos , along with the hashtag . For every photo that was sent in , a frame of the trailer was released on the website # tdkr07202012 . com . There was a community that was formed around tweeting pictures during the scavenger hunt . This community was formed through the process of fans encouraging people around the world to join in and help release the first trailer . A community was also formed through people taking photos of the graffiti and uploading it to Twitter to release pixels of Bane . The bulk of the tweets for these two hashtags occurred on the first day that they were released and we found that the most excitement was evident on these hashtag premier days . For example , @ tdkr07202012 tweeted , “ Found evidence at the Old North Church in # BOSTON . Got peeled on and run over a few times . # TDKR07202012 pic . twitter . com / ui2nsL4v ” ( Appendix C ). The first tier of this scavenger hunt campaign was to make the hunt known to people all over the world . Warner Bros ultimately used fan communities to promote this hunt . As this hashtag was used , more people became aware of this international campaign . The deeper meaning behind this is shown in the tweet , “ Continue submitting evidence for review , case # TDKR07202012 continues to be investigated ” ( Appendix C ). The idea of encouraging people to submit their photos and participate in this scavenger acts as a bond for people all around the world . The key in this scavenger hunt is to place graffiti in numerous international cities . This has allowed for the TDKR community to expanded to a global community .
The hashtag # thefirerises also brought forth a community of Bane enthusiasts . The character Bane increased enthusiasm around the movie , as well as for the character itself . Fans talked about the intensity of the character , ultimately creating a bond between fans and Bane . This bond began from the release of the hashtag and image and has been found to continue to current day . For example , on March 18 , 2013 , @ andyDsmithson tweeted , “ Class find by @ William _ Harris _ Bane is boss and always will be !” ( Appendix C ). A moderately current tweet ( noticed two people involved in it ) seem to have a bond with the villain character and tend to form a community around this bond .
The idea of creating a bond and community around different components of the movie were quite prominent in tweets containing the # tdkr2022012 hashtag . Fans believed that this campaign was extremely interesting and well constructed . Both hashtags were used by TDKR social media community members to make people aware of their positive opinion and excitement about the campaign . On May 20 , 2011 , @ MOguinick tweeted , “ Cool campaign I Love me some hashtag art ” ( Appendix C ). This is just one of the many examples that show enthusiasm for the craftsmanship of this campaign . Fans