Dead Mans Shoes

 Dead Mans Shoes 

Director: Shane Meadows

The opening title sequence of 'dead man’s shoes' starts with a black screen and a gentle non-diegetic sound track of a British folk/country song. This immediately sets a nostalgic, reminiscent atmosphere. Which is then proven correct when different shots of old home video footage that has a scratchy warm filter over the top. This feels inviting,comfortable and familiar to the audience as everyone has some form of experience of watching old videos or looking at family photos from years ago. It then cross cuts to a wide shot of two men walking in the countryside. The cross cutting tells us that they men walking are most likely the boys in the home videos as babies. This is enforced when a dissolve is used to connect the shot of them walking to a home video of two babies hugging which makes us think that the two men are brothers. In all of the shots the brothers are walking from right to left and away from us which tells us they are perhaps returning home or are on a journey to somewhere familiar.                          

The younger brother dressed in black appears to be following the other brother suggesting the older brother is more dominant and the distance between them tells us their relationship might be strained. The long distance of the path and depth of field emphasises the long journey. The old video footage of the Christmas trees connotes that perhaps they struggled with money due to the small tree. We also notice that the brother dressed in green is carrying an army duffel bag which brings with it hints of violence and pain that may have come with being in the army. This contrasts the atmosphere that has been set by the soundtrack and the old home movies. The two brothers are dressed in opposite colours and never once look at each other or speak to each other, this makes it clear that something must have happened between them to cause this and intruiges the audience becuase they want to find out what it is. Once they arrive to their destination they walk into the distance and the shot fades to black.