Children of Men - Opening
At the start of
Children of Men we see the Universal film institution logo of which has sound
to it but here as you can see it is silent which is rather strange. Therefore,
this could suggest a sense of death or sadness as silence usually comes with
this. Furthermore, next we see a Strike advertisement which is also silent as
well, this continues to add to our pre conceptions of the film. Moreover, now
we can see a black screen with a voice over of a news reporter talking. This is
rather quite mysterious and connotes that something bad is going to happen due
to the black screen and the fact that we rarely get good news reports as they
are always bad. We then get our first title which is “Universal Pictures
Presents” this again gives us a pre conception that the film is going to be of
a high quality.
During the main news
story where we can assume the film is based around, we can see there is filming
as there is a cut from the black screen to a low key lighted room which
contains people who are seen to be sad and distressed. They are sitting in the
room all staring at the news report. During this scene we see that not one
character stands out as being the main character. Then we notice that a man
walks in and is the only one that is standing above everyone else which then
led me to assume that he could be the main character. This point in the film we
are still sceptical to what the narrative of the film is until the point where
the camera shot interchanged and then we see a floating TV. This connotes that
the film could be situated in the future and so that then tells us that it
could be a fantasy or sci-fi genre. When watching closely, you can see a picture
of a young child with numbers saying “2009-2027”, 2027 has obviously not
happened yet therefore this tells us that the now young adult dies in 2027
which consequently adds drama to the film opening and also suggests a sci-fi or
fantasy genre.
Further on, the camera
changes shot back to the distressed looking characters in the coffee shop. The
man we perceive to be the main character is standing at the front and therefore
is closer to the camera making him look larger in comparison to the other characters.
This then again suggest to us that he is one of the, if not the main character
and there will be a story with him in it. Moreover, in the background we
can hear a diegetic sound of a person crying which also connotes that the news
is not good and it is a bad time for these people. The character that we have
believed to be the main character is then tracked by the camera out of the
coffee shop. Also, the fact he is the only person moving again connotes to us
that he is important as he does not seem to be bothered by the news report
compared to the other people.
Additionally, the
camera then tracks the character to the street where the coffee shop is
stationed. When the camera is tracking the character a date and location
appears on the screen, it says “London, 16th November 2027”. From
this it evidently confirms the location and the fact that the film is based in
the future and then the camera then pans the street to connote to the audience
the surroundings of where they are.
Furthermore, in the
next scene the use of the camera pan gives the audience time to see the street
and from this it shows the audience that it is not London as we see Tuk Tuk’s
which are stereotypically associated with Indians as you see them a lot in
places like India. The lighting is low key to add to the effect to show that
the area is polluted and ark due to the pollution. Furthermore, the camera
soon after pans back to the main character who is walking along a dark looking
street of which the camera follows him to a lamppost where he places his coffee
on the floor and adds alcohol coffee. This connotes to us that he may have an
alcohol addiction as he is doing this away from the public eye. In the next
scene there is an explosion which straight away connotes to us that something
bad is going to happen. Lastly, we then cut to a title on a black screen with
white bold writing so it stands out and shows to us that it is important. This
dominates the screen and non-diegetic music is played over this, this adds a
dramatic effect to the scene.
