Set Photos/Videos (Potential Spoilers)

The 2017 World War II thriller about the evacuation of British and Allied troops from Dunkirk beach.
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dormouse7 wrote:I agree.
Maybe that spot west of Digue du Braek was most suitable for filming the dangerous dune-edged outskirts of town (and/or more suitable for landing a spitfire), but maybe shorefront homes to the east looked better for filming the earlier part of the glide?
The Digue du Braek is a remote place. If you look on a map it's very close from the East Mole but in reality there's only one access by the road near Mardyck, in the west of Dunkirk. It's an artificial mole, which has been built in the 1960's to protect the Arcelor steel factory. So I think it was safer to make a landing and easier to secure than the actual De Panne or Bray-Dunes beaches which are very wide and crowded. And it was impossible for outsiders to take pictures or videos.

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Oku
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dormouse7 wrote:Actually - postcard was what I searched for when I found that, but based on the aspect ratio it is not a postcard. I relabeled it photo.
:clap:
YFR3 wrote:
okungnyo wrote:So the scene was flipped in post?

I wonder why they didn't just do it the 'right' way.
The Digue du Braek didn't exist in 1940. The Saint-Pol lighthouse is a part of what was called the West Mole in Dunkirk. It was a French sector during Operation Dynamo. In the movie, everything we saw on the Digue du Braek is supposed to happen on the east, around the French/Belgian border, in a deserted British area.
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1. What do you mean by "Digue du Braek didn't exist in 1940"? As in, it physically didn't exist, or it wasn't named yet?

2. Thanks for the information, but I don't see how that explains why they filmed it from right-to-left and then flipped it in post, instead of just filming it left-to-right in the first place??
YFR3 wrote:
dormouse7 wrote:I agree.
Maybe that spot west of Digue du Braek was most suitable for filming the dangerous dune-edged outskirts of town (and/or more suitable for landing a spitfire), but maybe shorefront homes to the east looked better for filming the earlier part of the glide?
The Digue du Braek is a remote place. If you look on a map it's very close from the East Mole but in reality there's only one access by the road near Mardyck, in the west of Dunkirk. It's an artificial mole, which has been built in the 1960's to protect the Arcelor steel factory. So I think it was safer to make a landing and easier to secure than the actual De Panne or Bray-Dunes beaches which are very wide and crowded. And it was impossible for outsiders to take pictures or videos.
1. How do you know so much about northern France's geography and the history of its buildings?

2. What do you mean by, "protect the Arcelor steel factory"? How does a mole do that?

3. "And it was impossible for outsiders to take pictures or videos." That must have been a big reason they picked that location, then. It's a beautiful scene and they probably didn't want a thousand shaky low-res photos/videos of it leaking a year beforehand.

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okungnyo wrote:They could have done something like this (no CGI required):

No, that would have never worked. Most of all because there is no rolling shutter involved but also because if ever this would be used as a trick to make it look as if a propeller isnt moving, there will always be motion blur. It was just allot of rotoscoping+ 3D prop composite.

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okungnyo wrote:1. What do you mean by "Digue du Braek didn't exist in 1940"? As in, it physically didn't exist, or it wasn't named yet?
It didn't exist.
2. Thanks for the information, but I don't see how that explains why they filmed it from right-to-left and then flipped it in post, instead of just filming it left-to-right in the first place??
Because of the west mole which stands there. It was safer and easier to transpose in a fictional "east of Dunkirk".
YFR3 wrote:1. How do you know so much about northern France's geography and the history of its buildings?
Because I'm living there. In Lille.
2. What do you mean by, "protect the Arcelor steel factory"? How does a mole do that?
The mole is protecting the factory from the waves. There's also a sort a canal between the factory and the mole for harbouring the ships providing the primary ressources for the factory or exporting the steel produced in that factory.
3. "And it was impossible for outsiders to take pictures or videos." That must have been a big reason they picked that location, then. It's a beautiful scene and they probably didn't want a thousand shaky low-res photos/videos of it leaking a year beforehand.
It actually partially leaked but the video was taken from the other side of the west mole. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0FBO87 ... tu.be&t=2m

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Oku
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Pioneerr wrote:
okungnyo wrote:They could have done something like this (no CGI required):

No, that would have never worked. Most of all because there is no rolling shutter involved but also because if ever this would be used as a trick to make it look as if a propeller isnt moving, there will always be motion blur. It was just allot of rotoscoping+ 3D prop composite.
Oh cool, thanks.
YFR3 wrote:
okungnyo wrote:1. What do you mean by "Digue du Braek didn't exist in 1940"? As in, it physically didn't exist, or it wasn't named yet?
It didn't exist.
2. Thanks for the information, but I don't see how that explains why they filmed it from right-to-left and then flipped it in post, instead of just filming it left-to-right in the first place??
Because of the west mole which stands there. It was safer and easier to transpose in a fictional "east of Dunkirk".
YFR3 wrote:1. How do you know so much about northern France's geography and the history of its buildings?
Because I'm living there. In Lille.
2. What do you mean by, "protect the Arcelor steel factory"? How does a mole do that?
The mole is protecting the factory from the waves. There's also a sort a canal between the factory and the mole for harbouring the ships providing the primary ressources for the factory or exporting the steel produced in that factory.
3. "And it was impossible for outsiders to take pictures or videos." That must have been a big reason they picked that location, then. It's a beautiful scene and they probably didn't want a thousand shaky low-res photos/videos of it leaking a year beforehand.
It actually partially leaked but the video was taken from the other side of the west mole. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0FBO87 ... tu.be&t=2m
How could it not have existed in 1940?! Is Digue du Braek a man-made beach? How?

What do you mean by "the west mole which stands there"? I thought the movie was about the east mole. How would the west mole being there help "transpose in a fictional "east of Dunkirk""?

I'm confused, so where was that video was taken from?:

Image

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okungnyo wrote:How could it not have existed in 1940?! Is Digue du Braek a man-made beach? How?
What do you mean by "the west mole which stands there"? I thought the movie was about the east mole. How would the west mole being there help "transpose in a fictional "east of Dunkirk""?
Digue = dyke in French. It's man-made, yes. You had a beach there, near the west mole, but it didn't had the same extent, nor the same shape. It wasn't so straight.

In 1940, it looked like this.

Image

Now, it looks like this.

Image

(Wider)
Image

(wider-wider)
Image

On the right of this dyke (Digue du Braek), you can see the west mole, which stands like a wall (the "Feu de Saint-Pol" is the name of the lighthouse).

Image

Landing from east to west is safer, because the beach is very long and is becoming wider by low tide. If you try to land from west to east, you may face the west mole and it's getting narrower.

Moreover, if you film from west to east, you will see that west mole on screen which "breaks" the beach.

Image

When you film from east to west, you can get a "continuous beach".

Image
I'm confused, so where was that video was taken from?:

Image
The video I posted was taken from the east of the east mole. The lighthouse you can see on the video is on the west mole.

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That trick is absolutely amazing!

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Oku
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YFR3 wrote:
okungnyo wrote:How could it not have existed in 1940?! Is Digue du Braek a man-made beach? How?
What do you mean by "the west mole which stands there"? I thought the movie was about the east mole. How would the west mole being there help "transpose in a fictional "east of Dunkirk""?
Digue = dyke in French. It's man-made, yes. You had a beach there, near the west mole, but it didn't had the same extent, nor the same shape. It wasn't so straight.

In 1940, it looked like this.

Image

Now, it looks like this.

Image

(Wider)
Image

(wider-wider)
Image

On the right of this dyke (Digue du Braek), you can see the west mole, which stands like a wall (the "Feu de Saint-Pol" is the name of the lighthouse).

Image

Landing from east to west is safer, because the beach is very long and is becoming wider by low tide. If you try to land from west to east, you may face the west mole and it's getting narrower.

Moreover, if you film from west to east, you will see that west mole on screen which "breaks" the beach.

Image

When you film from east to west, you can get a "continuous beach".

Image
I'm confused, so where was that video was taken from?:

Image
The video I posted was taken from the east of the east mole. The lighthouse you can see on the video is on the west mole.
Ah, so in 1940, the west mole was surrounded by water, but today, the west mole is surrounded by the man-made beach/sand?

And didn't that risk (that "you will see that west mole on screen which "breaks" the beach") still exist when they filmed east to west? Only the risk would be flipped, i.e. you would see the west mole at the start and not the end.

And whoever took that video was standing on the beach that is at the southeast of the east mole?

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