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team also made a few period Bedford truck cut-outs in full scale to hide unwanted things and activities on the beach. They came in very handy and were easy to manoeuvre, as the beaches of Dunkirk became crowded and full of spring activities, exactly at the same time filming started. A thousand cut-out soldiers were created to help the assistant directors in multiplying their number of extras on the beach. They came in rolls of ten each that were set up on the beach. The general rule for them to work, visually, was to keep them approximately three hundred feet away from camera and have a couple of real people wander around them. I think you could say that those fellows became a pleasant surprise of the filming. THE MOLE The main stage for the events of the story and what could be called the spine of the film was a 900-foot long pier called the Mole, where the ships and boats would come in to rescue the troops that were under constant attack by the Germans. Nathan and the port authorities of Dunkirk had done a thorough technical study on the foundations for the pier. He wanted to build into the ocean in the middle of one of France's largest ports. The Mole would be built in two different parts: nineteen units that were twenty-one feet wide and twenty feet high each, reaching into the sea, and another part that would be cosmetically built on an old foundation closer to the land. The Mole was engineered in AutoCAD early on in France, Iceland and Hawaii; the plans were then sent to the mill and the timber forested in late January. The one-foot square pre-cut timber was then assembled in the workshop and on the harbour bank. A crane barge was used to transport and place the ready-made units onto the old foundation. It came as a surprise that the units standing in the open ocean endured much better than those supported by concrete walls. Although the original Mole was a concrete structure, it was decided to use timber, which gave more freedom, and the lighter weight material made it possible to finish in time. Timeframe and budget were tight; the construction of the Mole took twelve weeks from start to finish. WIND AND TIDE Early on, it was realised that Dunkirk is the centre of wind sports in the north of France, and soon, the crew would witness the harsh winds that could possibly destroy our sets, especially the ones which had to be built in the tidal zone. A. Convention Centre cover-up in progress. B. Convention Centre at the beginning of construction. C. Convention Centre with finished cement factory façade. D. Bedford truck cut- out, used to mask distant elements. E. Cut-out soldiers. F. Cut-out soldiers on the Dunkirk beach. G. A Mole module being loaded onto the beach. H. The outer Mole in place at low tide. I. The 900-feet long Mole in the process of being aged by scenic painters. I G H