Dead Man's Shoes Review

In the Dead Man's Shoes the editing varied substantially. The scenes cross fade into the memories, or so called flashbacks, that the brothers had when they were children. The transition from reality to memory creates a longing suspense and arousal of interest. The memories were made like old home style videos and they made this by adding a grainy effect to them. This primarily contrasted with the filming of the two brothers walking into the distance, as we could see that the director wanted to focus the audiences’ attention on their journey together, and how they are inseparable. The title was enforced to be quite large as it is one of the key factors of the opening sequence, whereas the editors and producers names were less emphasised.

The long shots in this opening sequence portray isolation and loneliness, they show contrast from them being surrounded by their loved ones to complete empty casual scenes. There were a lot of very long shots used, as the producer wanted us to see the contrast between the two different types of scenes being used. The very long shots were used to show the landscape and their surroundings, evidently they also focused the audiences attention on the emptiness of the shot itself. Also, a couple of medium long shots were used, but throughout the whole current sequence we were unable to see the brothers' faces. The home footage included close ups, medium shots and medium close ups, it gave a very personal feel to the videos. This was very different to the shots that were set outside with the grown up brothers.

The music in the sequence is slow and sad, it juxtaposes one of the flashback scenes as in it the people are so happy and are enjoying each others company. The song itself is an acoustic western American song and it is non-diegetic. The song makes the audience sympathise as we see the contrast between the flashback footage and the current footage of them heading somewhere.

The mise en scene varies in the opening sequence; it starts off with a bright light that suggests that it's a new life. The lighting is gloomy so this implies that the movie could be a drama, as there are no bright colours attracting attention. Although, the old footage is primarily bright, which implies that life use to be alot more positive than the present. There were a couple of props used in the old footage; it suggests that the brothers could have come from a well-established family/household. Another juxtaposition was encountered when the establishing shots faded from the old footage to the current footage. We can clearly see through their facial expressions that life was alot happier and joyful in the old footage and in the current footage we see how the two men only have each other. As well, one of the brothers is always following the supposedly older one. In the home style videos we see the two boys together not leaving each other’s side and the exact same thing is portrayed in the current scene.

Overall, the opening leaves the audience with many hints and leading questions. The two brothers are unbreakable but we see how their family fizzled out of their lives. We assume that they are on a journey to some place forbidden or a place close to their hearts. It is difficult for the audience to be able to relate with the two brothers as we don't see their faces, but the music implies that it is very likely for this movie to end up being a drama.