Introducing setting

Introducing setting in a film is essential, it gives the audience a sense of comfort and can also contribute to establishing the genre. On the other hand, sometimes setting and location aren't introduced as some directors prefer to have an unconventional opening to portray a sense of mystery. 

As an audience, we instantly see fully armed soldiers wandering the abandoned streets of Dunkirk trapped in a warzone. We come to the understanding by the help of taglines that these soldiers are 'trapped at Dunkirk... hoping for deliverance.' Subsequently, we hear loud gunshots and in the space of seconds everyone but Tommy are gunned down. We feel pity for Tommy in this hopelessness state, as tension builds we urge for Tommy's escape. Using these techniques the filmmakers establish not only a hopeless mood, but also what its likely in the empty warzone. They are lonely and outgunned.

The scene ends when we move away from the town itself and towards the beach, where the majority of the film will take place. In the town, we were introduced to both the dangers of this setting (enemy soldiers and the sense of lonliness) and the advantages it gives them (places to hide). Now we're introduced to the vast, open beach, there is no longer anywhere to hide, and there are thousands of soldiers here. Yet the shot composition, music and lighting to not convey a sense of relief at being here. This emptiness is just as claustrophobic as the town, and there may be thousands of people, but they are all feeling just as trapped as we are. By establishing a desire to escape the cramped situation, the filmmakers create an expectation that relief will be found in the open, but then subvert that expectation with the feeling of total despair at being trapped on this beach.




The scene begins in Thailand, and the presence of American tourists and cocktails tell us this is a holiday resort. There are children splashing, playing in the pool, everything seems very normal. This is a familiar setting to us as western audiences, and also creates an immediate sense of aspiration. We wish we were there with them instead of having to go to work tomorrow. This feeling of wanting to be there with them is quickly subverted by the sudden gush of wind that seems to blow one of the women's pages of her book across the pool. As she goes to fetch it there is a very perceptible change in mood, it seems as though everything stops in time. 

Out of nowhere a vast tsunami hits, taking the whole city with it. The tsunami's aftermath is shown soon after and results in a landscape full of carnage and destruction and the family, some with life-threatening injuries, are torn apart.

Now we are established to the real setting of the film; the post-disaster landscape of wrecked Thailand, with all the comforts of modern living stripped away.

Conclusion

In both of these instances, the filmmakers highlight what is exceptional and interesting about the setting by first highlighting its antithesis. In both cases, the setting is introduced on the ground level, allowing us to empathise with the characters and their plights, and we never see anything from an objective view; there are no birds-eye-views or establishing shots of buildings, We are squarely with our characters as they experience their surroundings.