Research into a war opening scene

 

Dunkirk Opening scene:

 

This opening scene starts with 6 soldiers walking around what seems to be an abandoned village on the coast of France when they get shot at by German forces. All but one soldier gets shot when they start running away, and the camera follows this soldier’s journey throughout this scene to safety. He starts getting shot at by ally, French forces, who he then shouts that he is British and on the side. He then runs to where the French were shooting from to get to safety. Once he is safe, he finds he is very close to the beach, where it looks as if there are a load of boats ready to take him back. We can expect, since this is the beginning of a war film, that either this lad, along with possible offers are stuck in this town where they are in danger from the Germans and have to find a safe place to hide and not die. We can expect this film to be aimed at men in particular, but not exclusively. As the film is based on true events that happened in one of the most crucial moments in history that pretty much everyone has heard of, there won’t be a specific target audience for this film, but we can guess that it would appeal more to men.

 

 

We can tell that this film is a war film, as it starts with soldiers in the appropriate costume. They are then shot at by enemy forces who are also dressed in costume to look like soldiers. It also takes place in France where a very famous “miracle’ in WW2 occurred which is what this film is based on, but even if one hadn’t known that when watching the film, the mise-en-scene and the sound especially give connotations that this is a war film. In addition to this, at the end of the scene, we can see the character running towards a beach, where there is a load of green boats with soldiers getting into them, which we can assume are British boats taking soldiers away from the war.

 

 

As mentioned, there are multiple characters throughout this opening scene, but with a focus on just one. At the start there are 6 British soldiers that get shot at, and only one survives whilst under gunfire. When he escapes the German gunfire, he instantly gets shot at by the French, who after explaining that he is British, let him get to safety behind there barriers. Here we see another 6-7 characters focussing on the area that the main character came out of, to check if any Germans had followed. We then see this character running towards the beach, to try and catch a boat back to Britain. Although the scene focusses on one character in particular, it also emphasises that this is a war film with multiple other soldiers being used as a constant reminder that they are in war. The character that is focussed upon more greatly doesn’t come across as more important (as his clothing is the same as others, and he seems young and inexperienced), but we can tell that he has high relevance to the rest of the film, as he has had the majority of screen time in this opening scene.

 

 

The camera work in this opening scene is very impressive. For example, after the main character jumps over the gate, the shot after is a hand-held camera movement. This paired with the fact that the boy is under fire, and the fact that he is trying to un-jam his gun to fight back really builds up the tension.

 

The editing is very clever in this scene as well. At the start of the scene, when the soldiers are looking around the deserted street, the shots are long, and interrupted by information about the location, time and the situation that the soldiers are in. This doesn’t change at all when they become under fire from the enemy and start running away from gunshots, which suggests that battle, fear and oppression has become such a regular day to day situation for them that it seems normal. This emphasises again that not only are they in war, but the war is so hard and so long, that it has become normal for the soldiers. The sound is also effective in this opening scene. There is an array of diegetic and non-diegetic sound throughout the entire scene. For the most part it is diegetic ambient sound which again normalises the war. When the soldiers are under fire, there is use on diegetic sound effects to mimic the true loudness and harshness of a gunshot. At the start of the scene, there is a hint of a soundtrack, which intensifies the severity of the situation that soldiers are in, but at the end of the scene, there is a very faint bit of non-diegetic soundtrack, where a string plays a high note, which despite the fact that the soldier is in safety and behind ally barriers, keeps the audience tense and on edge.

 

 

In conclusion, I believe that this opening scene is effective. It emphasises that the film is a war film in every way, and it also emphasises right from the start that the good soldiers in the film are under attack, and in severe constant danger. There is also a clever juxtaposition at the end of the scene, where even though the soldier has made it to the beach and looks like he is going to be able to get on a boat and get back safely to England, there are tense strings in the non-diegetic soundtrack which contrast this. This foreshadows that the soldier isn’t going to get back safely on one of those boats, or perhaps isn’t even going to be able to get on a boat, which keeps the audience on edge for the rest of the film.