Dunkirk is a period drama released in 2017, in the film we see its targeted at an age range of 18-50, the age range is mass due to the young recognisable actors such as Harry Styles but older ages are also attracted due to the nature of the film and the mature themes. The target audience is mainly male due to the violence which stereotypically attracts male viewers, this being an idea relating to hypermasculine (Earp & Katz 1999), alongside this women would also be attracted to the film due to it having recognisable actors in such as Harry Styles. To create meaning throughout the film specific mise-en-scene, camerawork and editing have been placed.
In the film we see scenes with very intense non-digetic and digetic sound, this production technique is placed to create verisimilitude and tension for many parts of the film. An example featuring this is when Tommy, the main protagonist is swimming through water containing oil as a fighter jet is about to release a bomb. This tense scene is emphasised to the audience by non-digetic sounds such as very fast tempo drum beating this mimicking a racing heartbeat and connoting the sense of urgency but along with the drums its also later paired with a repeated ringing alarm this once again connoting to the viewer of danger and panic these non-digetic sounds are placed alongside digetic sounds of other soldiers shouting and screaming and Tommy's swimming as a whole the sound accompanying the scene heighten the actions seen visually by the audience and connote danger and survival these being common themes seen throughout the film.
The production team have worked so hard to create the tense atmosphere to create visceral pleasures (Altman 1999) for the audience, the tense scene leaves the audience anxious and apprehensive for the next actions to follow as this demonstrates the unpredictability of the film.
The mise-en-scene of the film is seen in the location and setting of Dunkirk and is shown throughout the film, the location of the film creates connotations of isolation that the soldiers feel. We see far stretching open land and sea allowing the audience to fully understand the enigma the soldiers face to get back home and this creates empathy in the audience. The open beach shown also demonstrates the barren environment that the soldiers have to face with and this is placed very purposely to allow the audience to really understand the desperation the soldiers feel to board the ships and this being crucial as many viewers would question the soldiers for getting on the ships if they knew the risk of it getting bombed however with the beach included we can quickly see the despair of the soldiers in line on the beach.
Lighting in scenes can be very varied to demonstrate different soldiers scenarios, for example in the scene where Tommy is trying to swim to a nearby ship he is shown in the shade and in low lit lighting this connoting the danger he is in and the uncertainty of if he is going to live however this is opposed by Collins who is safely on the boat watching the events unfold, Collins is lit in sunlight and in very high key lighting and at points has to shade his eyes and squint, the binary opposition (Claude Levi Strauss 1988) shown here demonstrates well the varying safety of soldiers. The lighting is very key in scenes such as this as it allows the audience to understand the fast paced action contained in the film.
Camera movement is especially key in Dunkirk as this allows the viewers to decipher the power status of characters, an example demonstrating this point is where all the soldiers on the beach are shown in a very steep high angle, all soldiers are on lying on their front as a fighter plane is bombing the beach and the angle demonstrates the extreme vulnerability and show the little power they have over situations this is opposed by the eye-level camera angle with Commander Bolton as this demonstrates even though hes not dominant over the situation as he cant control the German army he is still safe and he still holds the most power on the beach, the varying angles allow the audience to immediately denote the characters powers and statuses allowing hem to predict their safety throughout the film.
In the film we see scenes with very intense non-digetic and digetic sound, this production technique is placed to create verisimilitude and tension for many parts of the film. An example featuring this is when Tommy, the main protagonist is swimming through water containing oil as a fighter jet is about to release a bomb. This tense scene is emphasised to the audience by non-digetic sounds such as very fast tempo drum beating this mimicking a racing heartbeat and connoting the sense of urgency but along with the drums its also later paired with a repeated ringing alarm this once again connoting to the viewer of danger and panic these non-digetic sounds are placed alongside digetic sounds of other soldiers shouting and screaming and Tommy's swimming as a whole the sound accompanying the scene heighten the actions seen visually by the audience and connote danger and survival these being common themes seen throughout the film.
The production team have worked so hard to create the tense atmosphere to create visceral pleasures (Altman 1999) for the audience, the tense scene leaves the audience anxious and apprehensive for the next actions to follow as this demonstrates the unpredictability of the film.
The mise-en-scene of the film is seen in the location and setting of Dunkirk and is shown throughout the film, the location of the film creates connotations of isolation that the soldiers feel. We see far stretching open land and sea allowing the audience to fully understand the enigma the soldiers face to get back home and this creates empathy in the audience. The open beach shown also demonstrates the barren environment that the soldiers have to face with and this is placed very purposely to allow the audience to really understand the desperation the soldiers feel to board the ships and this being crucial as many viewers would question the soldiers for getting on the ships if they knew the risk of it getting bombed however with the beach included we can quickly see the despair of the soldiers in line on the beach.
Lighting in scenes can be very varied to demonstrate different soldiers scenarios, for example in the scene where Tommy is trying to swim to a nearby ship he is shown in the shade and in low lit lighting this connoting the danger he is in and the uncertainty of if he is going to live however this is opposed by Collins who is safely on the boat watching the events unfold, Collins is lit in sunlight and in very high key lighting and at points has to shade his eyes and squint, the binary opposition (Claude Levi Strauss 1988) shown here demonstrates well the varying safety of soldiers. The lighting is very key in scenes such as this as it allows the audience to understand the fast paced action contained in the film.
Camera movement is especially key in Dunkirk as this allows the viewers to decipher the power status of characters, an example demonstrating this point is where all the soldiers on the beach are shown in a very steep high angle, all soldiers are on lying on their front as a fighter plane is bombing the beach and the angle demonstrates the extreme vulnerability and show the little power they have over situations this is opposed by the eye-level camera angle with Commander Bolton as this demonstrates even though hes not dominant over the situation as he cant control the German army he is still safe and he still holds the most power on the beach, the varying angles allow the audience to immediately denote the characters powers and statuses allowing hem to predict their safety throughout the film.
