In the opening sequence to a ‘Dead Man’s Shoes’, the editing technique used throughout this sequence in reference to the music is that it is cut against the beat, this means the cuts flow, instead of when a cut is on the beat it has a more pronounced feel. Aside from the cuts the director uses a cross fade, which is the technique of merging two shots over each other, this transition can be used to contrast the two realities. The fade begins with the two young children together then ends with two grown men walking, which the audience presume is the young children grown up. The use of this transition could, arguably, emphasise the vast difference between the reality and the memories of the two characters The director chooses an old-film effect, for the baby videos, which increases the feel of nostalgia, these effects aren’t when the shots change to the men walking, this emphasis the years passed to when these men where small children to now. The final shot is a fade to black, together with the subtle approaching silence, bringing a close to the opening sequence of the movie.
The movie begins with a close up of two young children filmed in a home-video style, this unique style establishes the past of the two characters creating a nostalgic feeling.The home-videos continues on for around fifty seconds till we get a long shot of the two characters grown up. This establishing shots displays that the two characters are going somewhere, however unlike the home-videos the camera now lacks that previous amateur home-video camera shake, now the camera is isolated. There is a sense of isolation and a feeling of an absence of life that is portrayed due to composition, having only one tree in the centre of the shot as the characters walk from right to left. There is little head room for the characters and more field then sky, this portrays a feeling of claustrophobia, making the audience feel trapped. The two characters are walking, one behind another, along the road, their unique features are unapparent at this distance, creating intrigue. The following shots follow a pattern of the ‘present’ and a flashback home-video style shot, this compares the to realities, building the story creating an interest from the audience.
The opening sequence uses an old folk non-diegetic sound, with an almost melancholic tone of reflection. The artist of the song compares himself to a ‘vessel in vain’, which is a metaphor for feeling lost in life.Therefore, the audience already draws certain conclusions about the characters. This as well is backed by the camera work of the two older characters walking along a road which relates closely to this metaphor, demonstrating that they are on a journey.
The mise on scene through out the opening sequence is very telling. The remote surroundings could demonstrates the isolation of the two characters, while in contrast to the home videos which are all inclusive family loving, these two scenes juxtapose each other throughout the opening sequence. For example the two young children in the family videos are close together and are having fun while in the ‘present’ picture the two are walking a far distance apart from each other and are looking very serious, complement with the gloomy dark and un saturated colour grade.
Throughout the opening sequence the director is teaching the audience of the past and the present of these two characters which establishes the characters to the audience. The overall impact of the opening sequence is thought-provoking, it leads to an arousal of interest in the film, which results in the viewers desiring to continue watching it.
