RESEARCH: Deconstruction of Dead Poets Society

Cert. PG, 1989
Director: Peter Weir
Genre: Drama

The film begins with the asynchronous soundof people muttering as a few opening titles appear on black.
It shortly changes to a close-up on a painting of young men in shirts and ties, the sound is the same, but becomes clearly diegetic, as the camera vertically pans down to a close-up of a youngboy. He’s wearing a cap with shirt and blazer, and a woman, who we assume to be his Mother, is doing up his tie. She also says “Remember, keep your shoulders back.” And this gives the impression that the boy is about to be part of animportant event.

Meanwhile, the credits continue slowly on top of the scene.

Camera jumps again to a cut-in of an opening briefcase, revealing a set of bagpipes, continuing the theme of an important and traditional event. Then there’s Match on Action, to a close-up on the teenage boy opening the case. He’s again, wearing a shirt and tie, as well as a Glengarry cap. Another Match on Action jump to an extreme close-up of the bagpipes as the boy prepares them.

A jump to a middle-aged male photographer, addressing the young boy from before, and another young boy who we are told is his older brother. They’re both smartly dressed and are having their photo taken, which cements the idea of the scene being preparation for a significant moment.

The camera then jumps to an extreme close-up on an unlit candle. We see nothing behind it, just darkness, in exception to a pair of hands which then light the candle. The film title then appears next to it. Slowly, the camera pans vertically upwards to show two elderly men. We clearly hear one briefly explain to the other about what he does with the candle in the apparent ceremony.

The scene jumps once more to two teenage boys. They’re both in uniform, showing they’re at school, and the fact their uniform is a shirt, tie and blazer, and they’re American, signifies that it’s a preparatory school.

Another jump to a wide shot of the entire scene showing: the two young brothers in front of closed double doors, the teenager with the bagpipes behind them and then four teenage boys in uniform and holding banners. There are also two women looking on (one of them is the Mother), as well as the two older men. The room is lit to look like natural daylight.

Then, the camera has a close-up on the four boys with banners, but it zooms on to the first boy, suggesting that he’s a main character. The camera tracks the banner as he lifts it up, showing the word ‘TRADITION’, reinforcing the setting of a traditional preparatory school and the event being a ceremony. The bagpipes begin as the banners are raised, but the sound remains diegetic and there’s no other asynchronous or non-diegetic sound.
This continues as a wide shot and shows the door opening and the procession going forward.

But then the scene shifts completely to a long shot of a full chapel, from the back of the room and then the camera jumps to the front of the room, as the procession walk down into the chapel. In this shot, there are more boys in uniform, standing at the back of the room.

After this, the camera jumps again to a horizontal tracking shot from behind a pillar to the procession walking down the aisle, at eye-level of the people sitting down.

Finally, at the end of the two minutes, the camera returns to the long shot of the entire room from the front, as the procession split off to the left and right at the front of the assembly.

Overall, the opening two minutes aren’t particularly exciting and Weir has focused more on ‘setting the scene’ and creating context. Weir has used close-ups to show particular details, like the young boy having his tie done up and the teenager with bagpipes, in order to create the environment for the film, i.e. a traditional, upper-class, American preparatory school.
It’s incredibly successful at doing this, however, I don’t feel like it is a particularly compelling opening. The audience isn’t introduced to any characters, meaning they can’t connect to or relate with anyone immediately, however the fact that the opening is preparation for an event, the audience may want to continue watching just to discover what’s actually happening, which then leads to the introduction of characters and story.