Production: Warner Bros., Syncopy, Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas
Distribution: Warner Bros. Pictures
Genre: War, action, drama, historical
Director: Christopher Nolan
Synopsis: During the Second World War, in 1940 (After the Phony War) Germany advanced into France, trapping Allied troops on the beaches of Dunkirk. Under air and ground cover from British and French forces, troops were slowly and methodically evacuated from the beach using every serviceable naval and civilian vessel that could be found. At the end of this heroic mission, 330,000 French, British, Belgian and Dutch soldiers were safely evacuated.
UK Poster: The Dunkirk theatrical poster is very consistent and within the confines of a war film poster, particularly World War 2 as the seeming protagonist solider stands amongst the midst and chaos and disorder ensuring around them, almost a profound, poignant realisation of where they are and how they will get out of such dire situations. The colour palette is limited to cold colours, recounting Dunkirk's setting; the cold damp contrasted with the fire, the open sense of death often felt by British soldiers; this creates an ambiguity around some characters; is death a welcoming thing after all they have faced, or do they feel hope enough to resist death in a world where resistance seems futile?
The body language of the protagonist of the poster acts as an Enigma Code to the audience as they cannot distinguish exactly who (promoting the film as a non-elitist/persona vehicle) it is, implying that perhaps so much is going on, they do not have an identity, have lost themselves or it may perhaps imply that the audience could be in their shoes (albeit not World War 2, but wars in general) . The vague, dulled action of the movie seems of great proportions to the juxtaposing, small solider in the rubble; a representation of the fear and dread other soldiers will have undeniably felt on the beaches, rendered helpless despite being so close to home, surrounded by other men. The protagonist also acts as the eyes of the viewer, looking on and seeing the monstrosity within the poster, conveying the ideology that the movie is promoted to be a simplistic, non-specialist history knowledge of the film; it leans more towards action/drama than a documentary, coinciding with contemporary wants.
The left hand side of the poster portrays men jumping off the ship, the small space they consume of the poster alludes to the inhumanity of war as they are deemed insignificant and fade into the misty background, a silhouette of the German aircraft is harsh and interrupting, their relentless bombing provides no hope for the British, and promotes the German as evil. The motion blur used for this manifests the rapid nature of how quickly death can claim soldiers. This promotes the fact it will be an entertaining film, as the audience feel adrenaline at the situation and the fate of the soldiers. In the under-exposed, almost hidden bottom third of the poster (our eyes with naturally discover this atrocity), the audience unveil an abundance of British soldiers, their proximity implying that they are an easy target for German Air Forces as they are all clumped together, but regardless they unite. This darker bottom third also makes us effectively clueless as to the fate of some certain characters, emulating a sense of suspense; whilst the battle of Dunkirk is a real historical event, specific characters audiences get attached to heightens the drama; will they die on the beach or will they be rescued?
The inclusion of Christopher Nolan's prior work adds a superiority to the poster due to his notoriety of directing and producing good movies, letting the audience know that due to the familiarisaion of him being a household name (an appeal for the Mainstreamer), this will be a good, high-production value, well-acted movie that is enjoyable and sensationalist. This is promoted due to the action going on in the poster, something that is always realistic in Nolan films due to his very public distaste of CGI. This authenticity may appeal to an Aspirer who enjoys the gritty appearence of the package rather than it's contents. This poster relates more to a British audience as the word 'Home' connotes Dunkirk as a British pride movie, the prevelance of the 'Dunkirk spirit' offering hope to the audience in what seems to be a dark movie and a tumultuous yet signifacnt part of our history.
French Poster:
Confinements of the background include smoke, fire, explosions and water, and whilst these are all associated with some aspect of war, henceforth supporting the genre, it also allows room for Binary Oppositions of man and nature, war and peace, etc as these soldiers are up against the natural elements as a barrier to their goal. This shows how war isn't as clear cut as one may think; the moral divide (another Binary Opposition, morality and corruption) is strenuous and is subsequently mirrored in the title's text; the idillic landscape that points towards the comforts of England (or, as this is the French poster, somewhere other than the war zone), it is a Semantic Code for perhaps the end of the war, this particular battle or the end of a characters life. Whilst this has English words on it, it is the alternative UK poster and the one of the only French posters used, and I think this is down to the universally acessible theme of unification which does not need familiarisation with British characters to understand, and therefore appeals to that wider global audience.
The men on the poster are the main characters, signified by their prominence on the poster, their costumes supporting the war genre as they are evidentially soldiers, and their expressions that show clear signs of struggle and act as a Symbolic Code for the physical hardships of life in war, and possibly that it will be sad.
The use of Nolan's name suggests he’s a USP, however the fact that it’s small can give the impression that attention is desired to be drawn elsewhere, towards the arm that is held out. However whilst this is perhaps alluding to a danger that lies ahead, it also adds hope that these character's will not meet their fate in this way. The cast we see are all pictured in the midst of an explosion in the water, suggestive of the fact they will be involved in some action sequences, and due to the fact that Harry Styles is pictured, a younger, female, inherited audience, contrary to the common audiences for war movies is targeted. The limited, bland, bleak and dark colour scheme connotes to a target audience that is older people as it’s rather dull, and stereotypically aimed at men. This event will be something older audiences will have known about since they were children through recountations of stories of the war.
The poster evidentially steers clear of the anonymity of soldiers the UK marketing uses, a Semantic Code of 'it could be you' and 'this effects everyone'' as this doesn't have as much importance to a French audience. However, the use of the aforementioned Harry Styles creates a positive impression on the film as expectations are highered, and due to the notoriously public display of distaste for CGI, we can assume that Nolan will be creating a movie full of authenticity and realism, something that may attract an Aspirer audience who care about the movie's look rather than the actual content.
There is a standard poster feature of a tagline, however it’s very small which suggests the characters and the story are more important, which also links to how there are no reviews, alluding to how this isn't a film about popularity, it's about telling a story. There's something very traditionalistic about this, a reference to the historical impact of Dunkirk.
Website: https://www.warnerbros.com/dunkirk
Navigational features of the website are essential to an easy, accessible site, so this is displayed clearly on a web page by arrows to flick through a photo gallery of the Dunkirk set, this enabling an older audience being Prosumers to be able to use this without technological qualms. The page's web banner is very consistent with a cold, stoical colours used for the rest of the marketing, effectively attracting an audience and indicating the content. This is very minimalistic as they do not want the movie about war to become sensationalist and a sell-out. This can also be done throughmultimedia features such as the image selection, which are serious and action-packed, giving little teasers about the movie and on-set documentations, effectively making the content more entertaining.
To incorporate a sense of interactivity for younger audiences, Flash elements allow videos to be watched, etc, though this is only available on some web browsers (Chrome have announced they are withdrawing from supporting Chrome), and so many websites are instead utilising platform neutral technologies to lessen the pertinence of Flash plug-ins.
Whilst this website does not have any, advertisements help generate revenue from site visits, though for this movie there may be some integrity lost so it was left out. This further connotes the respect paid in tribute to lose who lost their lives, but also from an industry stance, alludes to how they do not need extra revenue.
The drop-down 'internal' web links direct users to another page on the same website which encourages interactivity and is simplistic to use, alluding to how easy older audiences will find it.
Christopher Nolan (dir.) on Film4's Youtube culture segment discussing Dunkirk:
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