Analysis of film opening - Children of men

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, 16^th 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.