In the film “Dunkirk ‘’ Christopher Nolan uses many film techniques to make the audience feel emotion as they are watching the film. He is wanting to generate emotions throughout the film that the soldiers felt like anxiety, tension and wondering if they would make it out alive. The techniques used were a ticking of a clock and sheppard tone, The clicking of a clock adds the theme that time is running out and the have to beat the clock, Shepard tone is used to create the anxiety as it creates a feeling of constant rising and falling. This is why Christopher Nolan has used them to really get the audience to think that they dont have alot of time to flee off Dunkirk, to fly, and to boat before they all die. A good example of this is the scene where Farrier, a spitfire pilot, is having to make a massive decision on whether to sacrifice his own life or the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Christopher Nolan uses effective non verbal and verbal in this scene, Farrier chooses to go to Dunkirk beach knowing his fuel will run out and he will crash land or leave him stranded. Christopher noaln uses such a surreal feeling to this scene because he added shepherd tone, imagery and nondiegetic sound to add emotional tension in the audience. This adds a theme of self sacrifice as Farrier chooses to help the stranded soldiers over himself knowing he would not return home.
The film “Dunkirk” is based on WW2 in 1940, Dunkikr is a small island on the coast of france, This was the scene of massive military camps during WW2, The british soldiers were important because if they were all captured and killed britain would have no trained soldiers and it would end their country as they would have no defence and they would get taken over by other soldiers.
In the scene where Farrier (spit fire pilot) must make a decision the audience can see Farrier is in the middle of the ocean with wide open spaces no land to be seen anywhere, He had no other pilots as they all got shot down, He was alone, Farrier had to battle other spitfires on his own, There is non diegetic sounds, These are sounds the audience can hear but the soldiers can’t, The non diegetic sounds in the background are the ticking of a clock which shows there is not a lot of time for Farrier, This adds tension in the audience because he has to fight, fly, and make a huge decision in an hour before his fuel will run out. This draws the audience in and commands their attention to find out what he chooses and if he dies or makes it home.
In the background of this scene the audience can hear non diegetic sounds of a ticking of a clock and sheppard tone, An example of these are the ticking of the watch is heard while Farrier is making the decision and what to do does he go to Dunkirk beach or does he go home before his fuel runs out, An example of shepard tone is when all the spitfires are flying and Farrier is shooting them down and having a combat, Shepard tone is created hans zimmer and it successfully creates tension in the audience. Christopher nolan has manipulated the use of time very well by non diegetic sounds and sheppard tone in this scene. The use of shepard tone and clicking of a clock is to make the audience feel as though they are there and feel as Farrier felt in the moment. This links back to the question of what film techniques were used and how they make the audience feel emotion.
This scene has many camera angles as Farriers making his decision, Such as close up shot of his face where you can see his concentration and stress of making his choice, Close up shot of the broken fuel gauge to add the effect that his fuel will run out quick and he needs to make his decision fast, and shots of how alone he is out in the big wide spaces of the ocean. These camera shots add tension because it shows he’s all alone and has to make such a big call that will decide whether he lives or dies, the fuel gauge close up shows he doesn’t have much time, and the closeup on his face shows that he doesn’t know what to do, This adds a surreal feeling as it brings the audience along with him and his thoughts.
The tension on this scene plays out on the scene where Farrier flys over Dunkirk beach with all the fleeing soldiers boarding the ships to escape as they all look up at him confused as to why he came so far out, They know he will not make it home and they know he did it to save them. This is the last thing Farrier will see before crash landing and being captured by the enemy team.
The tension throughout the film was so strong and Farriers decision scene was an amazing example of this as it plays out in many other scenes, and has many non diegetic sounds, shepard tone and a clicking of a clock, The audience felt a great deal of anxiety and tension whilst watching this suspenseful film.