Dead Man's Shoes: 'elephant man' scene analysis

'Dead Man's Shoes' is a crime thriller produced in 2004, directed by Shane Meadows. It follows the story of an ex soldier who returns to his hometown to get revenge on the thugs who brutalized his mentally-challenged brother. On IMDB, this film has a user rating of 7.7, however having seen the whole film, I would personally give it a higher rating of 8 or 9, because I feel it had a unique storyline, and yet still managed to utilise common thriller conventions. I am going to analyse the scene where Herbie, one of the thugs, sees the 'elephant man'.

The scene begins as Herbie leaves the flat where he has been taking drugs with two of the other thugs. He exits onto a stairway, which, as it is night time, is dimly lit. This creates an eerie mise-en-scene, and adds to the claustrophobic space. Stairways are a generic thriller convention as they are quite small spaces and a character can easily fall up or down them, slowing down any sort of attempt to escape. Also, passing other people on stairs is associated with bad luck, so this could be used in a thriller to forebode a character being faced with bad luck. Herbie stumbles down the stairs, suggesting he is a vulnerable character.

As Herbie gets to the flat platform on the stairs, in line with the camera, a high pitched noise begins. This almost drowns out the diegetic sound, reflecting symptoms of a drug induced state, drawing the viewer further into the character, putting them in his shoes, and increasing their feelings of vulnerability. This in turn adds to the viewers level of tension and fear as the scene develops.

As he reaches the door, the scene cuts to an over shoulder shot of him approaching. Within this shot, there is a reflection in the glass of a face in a gas mask. The mask creates an enigma as you cannot see the characters face; it is devoid of facial features, which makes the figure feel all the more threatening. The fact that this face is reflected creates a transparent look, also allowing the reflection of Herbie to be seen within it. This pre-empts the fact that Herbie is to be 'engulfed' by this character.

The masked character points at Herbie directly, and beckons him forward. This creates the impression that Herbie is being taunted, that the masked figure is in control and is enjoying mocking his fear. The reflection in this shot creates the sense that the masked figure is not only in front of Herbie, but is also behind him. This suggests that Herbie is being hunted and surrounded, with no route of escape.

This cuts to a close up of the masked character, where the audience can clearly see the human eyes behind the mask. This reinforces the fact that this is a real person, and not just a drug induced hallucination. The character then hits the window at head height, and shakes the door as if trying to get in. This further increases Herbie's state of panic, which is also being felt by the audience as, during this scene, they are living vicariously through Herbie.

When the character hits the glass, the sound of the impact reverberates, sounding similar to an explosion. This mirrors the point at which Herbie's 'fight or flight' instinct kicks in, and he decides to run. This, paired with the continual high pitched sound, increases the audiences feelings of rising panic by drowning out even more of the diegetic sound. Herbie calls out while running up the stairs, clearly showing his fear of the masked man.

Next, the scene cuts to Herbie running back into the flat. The mise-en-scene is chaotic, created by both the continual, now louder, sounds and the handheld unsteady movement of the camera. Herbie's dialogue reflects his panic and shock, as he is breathless and stumbles over his words, trying to explain what he has seen. The other thugs' first reaction to this is to pick up a weapon, which connotes their violent nature.

As soon as the three characters get outside, all the non-diegetic sound fades out. This brings the situation back to reality, and also creates an eerie stillness to the mise-en-scene. As the camera is facing at the three thugs, the audience does not yet know if the masked person is there or not. This builds tension as the characters 'disappear' behind the camera, creating a sort of vanishing point.

This then cuts to the final shot from this scene, where the camera shows beyond the vanishing point, revealing the fact that the masked character is no longer there. This creates more suspense, as the audience saw the character themselves so are anticipating its reappearance. As the masked man is not here, the other thugs believe that it is not real, and simply is the effect of Herbie having taken drugs.

This scene creates the sort of enigma that is common in thriller films; the sort of situation where you think you see something and then it disappears. This plays on fears that people have of seeing things in peripheral vision that isn't there. Another thriller film that plays on this fear is 'The Strangers'. In this film, the camera pans a room, and there is a masked figure standing in a corner, then the camera jumps back and it is gone. This creates a constant on-edge feeling, as the audience never knows where the threat is going to come from next.

I feel I could use this technique within the opening to my own thriller film, by creating the villainous character as an enigma, possibly using a hat to cover their face, and by having shadows pass by windows. This will give the subtle impression that someone is there, without
just plainly showing the threatening character.