Children of Men Analysis Opening Scene

by 003212 (student)

How are cinematography and media language (including visual codes, technical codes, audio codes and narrative construction techniques) used in the opening sequence of Children Of Men, to position and create meaning for the audience?

Children of Men Analysis

I have chosen to analyse cinematography, visual codes, technical codes, audio codes and narrative construction used in the opening sequence of Children of Men because the opening sequence itself is intriguing and is emphasised and developed using film techniques to connote a more extensive meaning.

All of these are used to position the audience and create meaning in the sequence. They make the audience empathise with characters, understand the environment and become drawn into the narrative and feel more sympathetic towards characters. They also help the audience understand the connotations of the film techniques used that emphasise the main protagonist’s feelings and gestures towards the narrative events.

The target audience is young adults to 40-50 year olds, particularly 18-21 year olds as that is the age range focused on within the film.

In the shocking opening sequence of Children of Men, you follow the “hero”. The narrative construction leaves the audience with unanswered questions called an enigma. It doesn’t give the audience too much information on the story and only gives out basic ideas and little introduction to characters as it positions the audience to feel intrigued.

Obviously throughout this film the main character is going to encounter narrative obstacles with the way the iconography emphasise drama and his psychological troubles.

That there is diegetic sound at the beginning of the clip but no visual, emphasises that the audience is thrown into this harsh reality blind, clueless in the modern world the film is set in. When the man enters the shop and watch the news, non deigetic music has been added, to emphasise the sadness with the death of ’Diego’ which constructs the films storyline.

Mid and long shots show the audience the gestures and look of the main character. The main characters upper body gestures shows audiences how he moves and what his actions are like. A long shot is also used to show his entire body and a little bit of the scene around him, could also be seen as an establishing shot and this gives the audience a sense of what the characters about by the way they present their self also how he looks and behaves with the people around him. The hero or main protagonist is mainly focused on in the opening sequence and this is emulated in the way when the man is in the café surrounded by other members of the public he is still the centre image.

The opening scene of Children of Men consists mainly of mid shots and close up shots showing body language as well as background, like the setting and location, such as cars and buildings giving a natural effect and showing the characters, be that primary or extras facial expressions.

There is also a pan camera movement left and right as the main character leaves the shop to give the audience idea of the setting and location. Just before the end of the scene a point of view shot has been used, and this gives the audience the perspective of the main character and how as the lighting changes as he walks out of the shop, the way the new world is being thrown upon him, and it opens up the setting like you are being thrown into a world you do not fully understand and you are just ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

The camera used in this part of the sequence would be a handheld camera because there is constant shaking and movement of the camera. This sporadic shaking and movement of the camera indicates that the shot is supposed to mimic someone running or escaping from a narrative event, they do not entirely wish to encounter, like with the main character being shocked and spooked in some way, this is also referred to in the way he puts alcohol in his drink and this indicated he is a rather rough man, with an attitude if he is upset in some way.

There is diegetic sound in the opening parts of Children of Men, when the man is in the coffee shop and the sound of the T.V is heard by the main character. But, as he leaves the shop the sounds of the coffee shop are left behind and the sounds of street like buses and cars are now being heard, this creates this sense of realism, and reiterated the way he is being thrown into an unfamiliar and harsh new modern world, and this gives the audience a perspective on the new world from his eyes.

When leaving the shop all the audience hears is diegetic sound. Cars, traffic, horns, people talking. This makes explosion more shocking and out of the blue. The non-use of image or text only dialogue increases the anticipation to see what is being heard however, with a plot such as this you expect to see continuous action or action right from the beginning so this goes away from the traditional idea of feature film of this genre.

There is limited editing in the opening sequence because only one cut has been used and this is when the shot cuts from the people in the shot to the TV, and as you are looking at the peoples reaction to the narrative event occurring on television, you can notice that everyone emulates a stereotypical British person in the shop. You can see a man with an open blue collar, and this indicates that he is skilled in his job but not professional, it indicated that he is working class, and this is another stereotypical portrayal of a British working class citizen, and the collar is a visual code with a particular connotation of working class background and life. The people in the shops faces emphasise how they are hoping for a better future for the human race, but have been shot down with the youngest boy’s death.

It is unusual for there to be a lack of cuts in a major film like this. You would usually expect more cuts and editing to be used in a major feature film. With the bits that have cuts and quick focuses on points of interest the editing changes pace for a few seconds when the man leaves the café as it is stationary in the café until he leaves the camera follows him with a tracking shot.

In the opening sequence there are things such as automobiles (red buses) and black bin bags. These things indicate that the setting and location of the film is themed around the stereotypes of London, as you can see from the iconography. Location of the opening sequence is London because of all the iconography in the opening sequence. This also tells us that London has become a dirty environment in the new world and it shows that the world is in a state of turmoil and upset as London is a major city and it emphasises how bad the world is, just with the portrayal of one major city. The technical codes show cultural diversity is shown outside the coffee shop in London.

This gives the idea that the rest of the film will consist of drama because the environment shows there is obvious complications happening at that time. In the opening sequence only one main character is identified, we know this because the camera tracks him as he enters and leaves the shop. It seems that he could be the protagonist of this film but does not fit the established idea of a hero because he does not show empathy when he hears of the boy’s death and when the explosion goes off he does not initially have a normal reaction, his initial reaction was not to help.

When he leaves the shop, as I mentioned before, there is an arc where in the background a bus goes past him with a moving advert image on the side of it. This shows how technology has moved on and how advanced the world has become. The audience then have a massive shock of the explosion and the camera moves in towards the smoke. The camera tilts as if from a person’s point of view which makes the audience feel as if it is them in that certain situation.

The genre of horror is introduced towards the end of the opening sequence as a woman holding her own arm is shown coming from the smoke. Such a dramatic opening can give the idea that the genre of the film could be a thriller. The film is futuristic and tells us that it is set 2027; this gives the audience an idea of the Sci-Fi genre.

There is then the title of the film shown in big bold capital letters so it shows its importance. The title has been put in black and white to make it more striking and the complete focus is on the words and not of the picture itself. The location of the film seems to be London city you get this impression because of the big red buses and black bin bags on the floor and also the British accent in which the news presenter talks in, but this accent is very posh and not normal, it is over emphasised and this emulates and reiterated the fact the director is trying to show that it is set in London.

It is noticeable that in the narrative structure for Children of the men there is no image only dialogue of the news report in the café and all the reports you hear are negative stories. The political side of this is also seen to play on his mind often because he looks as if he is saying in his head, what is the world coming to.

You can gather the theme from the opening sequence and it seems to be death, murder, drama and relinquished hope. You come to this conclusion because of the youngest person alive tragically dies at the start of the scene and also in the later on in the sequence there is an explosion in the coffee shop. You get the idea of drama because all these narrative events with dramatic stories are happening in quick succession.

There is a dim gloomy and mysterious light in the opening sequence which gives the idea that the scene is supposed to give the impression that it is early in the morning and also resembles and emulates later dark events in the narrative that may occur. Apart from the negative and harrowing news report in the opening sequence there is a serious lack of dialogue in this clip, therefore; the dark lighting could be contrasting with and in with the negative text, and this helps to build tension as well as indoctrinate a negative feel.

You can tell that the genre of the film is thriller, drama and adventure in terms of the iconography used to show this. You come to this conclusion because it is clear that the main character will have to go on some sort of quest or adventure in the story to uncover some information about why this stuff is happening and how it can be fixed as it is creating a harsh environment for the world, this is shown in the way he is presented with low power shot angles and is followed like point of interest and is calm and collective about everything that happens in terms of narrative in the opening sequence.

Due to occurrence of the narrative events that contain a lot of drama in the opening sequence this is a prominent indication that this film will be mainly drama and dialogue based, this indicates that London and the rest of the world are on the verge of complete anarchy and it will be displayed with dramatic events.

The negative vibe will be forced upon the audience due to the contrast of dark lighting on negative text and they will be encouraged to take it on and empathise with the main character as well, because of the way he comes across as the protagonist and they will side with him and also with the negative environment around him and this reflects the way the audience could relate to the film in the feelings that the main character expresses.

The majority of the camera work in the opening sequence piles up of mid shots and close up shots to mainly capture the characters facial expressions and also capture some of the background within the setting. A crane zooming shot occurs part way through the sequence and it focuses and zooms into the man alleged to be the main character/hero but the shot taking place does not disturb the picture or anything else happening.

The editing in the opening scene works alongside the media text and setting and it emphasises the borderline meaning. It uses lots of short sad moments and this affects the audience and positions them to take on the emotion portrayed in this part of the opening sequence.

The sound in the opening sequence for children of Men is purposely constructed in a certain way, and this is resembled in the way that the street doesn’t seem to be just as busy as it actually is, this is a film anomaly where you are positioned to think something that isn’t happening to help create an impact, which implies non-diegetic sound along with diegetic sound.

All of these things in terms of film language have been used for dramatic effect on the audience for example, shock, sadness, insecurity, nervousness and curiosity.

In terms of Mise-En-Scene everything within the scene can be shown as; props in the café; coffee maker, televisions, cups, a dog, glasses. With Outside; buildings, cars, motorized rickshaws, electricity boxes, telephone boxes, street lamps, all of these can act as iconography for stereotypical British shop, or a crowded London multicultural morning.

What is there to attract different audiences for example, age, gender or lifestyle?

Gender: Women/girls attraction to the film’s intense fantasy plot. Without women children would not be created and born and vice versa for men/boys. The attraction to this audience would be witnessing such a loss, the end of humanity and this fear and dark mysterious narrative would attract people who enjoy a challenging complex film.

- Joe Moorcroft 12G