Question number: 2
Christopher Nolans ‘Dunkirk’ uses a variety of film techniques in order to create tension and uncertainty within the audience. These techniques include the Ticking watch, Shepard tone, Lighting, and a variety of unfamiliar characters. All of these features create a constant tension within the audience and make up the film as a whole.
‘Dunkirk’ is based on the beaches of Dunkirk, France during WW2. 400,000 British and French soldiers were trapped on the beaches by the advancing Germans. Their only hope is a dock called ‘The Mole’ which is the only place their military and hospital ships can dock as the beach was too shallow. This film is taken in the perspectives of troops from the land, the air and some citizens that gamble their lives to save the soldiers.
Nolan uses the ticking watch as a symbol of time running out and creates tension. The ticking watch is heard throughout the film and most prominently during scenes of dangers. This is to resemble that their lives are running out of time during these scenes. Another thing about the ticking watch is that it resembles a higher power and makes their lives all about the chance that they might die. They have no control over the war and their life in it. Some scenes that include the ticking watch is when Farrier, A spitfire pilot, has a broken fuel gauge. This creates tension as the audience doesn’t know how much time he has left and the ticking watch reinforces that idea. Another scene is where Tommy and Alex, Two British land soldiers, are drowning in the hull of a torpedoed Destroyer. This links to their time running out. Nolan used this technique regularly to create suspense and uncertainty within the audience.
Nolan also used throughout his film a verbal technique called Shepard tone. This technique was heard almost in all scenes to create suspense and tension. This technique is constructed like an orchestra pitching higher every second but in reality it is the same noise, just a verbal illusion to trick the audience into a climax that would never happen. The only change in music was the loudness of it as it increased during dangerous scenes. For example ‘The Mole’, A piece constructed by Hanz zimmer was used during the bombers attacks on the waiting troops. It consisted of certain high pitched instruments to create more suspense. Nolan used Hanz zimmer’s music perfectly in his film to create underlying tension.
Different lighting techniques are also used by Nolan as a way to express a mood. Nolan used lighting as a way to portray emotion. During the first minutes of the film, Tommy ran from out of the town and onto the beach where he looked in horror as he saw countless men all waiting in lines to board boats. During this scene Nolan made the screen gray and bleak in order to create an emotion of sadness and hopelessness within the audience. During the end of the film when Alex and Tommy are on board a train home the light has changed to a bright glow to symbolize joy and relief that they are out of danger and are safe. Nolan used this at different times to create relief and sadness.
One of Nolan’s favorite techniques was to create a variety of characters and not allow the audience to get too close. This was so that the audience couldn’t assume a main character due to the fact there were so many. This made the audience question their survival and worry for them creating Tension and suspense. Eventually some of these characters that may have thought to have lived but died during the start making the audience feel disconnected and have lost hope. This links to the lighting used and time running out. Nolan also used characters like the shivering soldier and Gibson, Land troops, who throughout the film are concerned for what is to come and are shocked from previous events. As example the shivering soldier tried to persuade Mr Dawson, A civilian who sailed from Britain to save soldiers, to turn around and sail to britain. This scene from the start made the audience concerned for the other characters who remained on the beaches of dunkirk. Nolan used this technique to perfectly describe the war from different perspectives and to disconnect the audience to the characters.
In conclusion Christopher Nolan used several techniques to describe the events of dunkirk with merciless detail. Throughout the film we have seen the ticking watch, Shepard tone, lighting techniques, and a variety of different characters with their own stories and parts to play. The use of non diegetic sound to create suspense and tension within the audience and to symbolize many objects with time running out all make the film one of the most intense movies to date.
