Children of Men Essay

"How effectively does the opening sequence from 'Children of Men' (2006) use the forms and conventions of film openings? What is your personal response as a member of the audience?"

Children Of Men is an American science fiction film directed by Alfonso Cuaron. The film is starred by Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Pam Ferris, Clair Hope Ashitiey, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael` Caine.

The film is set in the United Kingdom in the year 2027, as this image is given by moving billboards on buses and buildings that is not currently seen in the UK. This shows a change of technology, which could possibly be seen in the year 2027.

This film is likely to be blockbuster, as we see the universal studio in the opening sequence, which gives the audience the impression that it should be an exciting film with the likes of characters such as Michael Caine featuring. As part of the audience I was expecting Children Of Men to be an great film, as also the creators of the film would have had a huge budget to spend in order to keep the audience engrossed in the film until the very end. I also began to ask myself questions after seeing the opening sequence which also contained credits, by telling the audience at the beginning who the directors were etc. As the film began the camera movements immediately gave the audience the impression that Clive Owen was going to be a main character as he was not worried as he walked into a busy café which was full of members of the public who looked very upset due to the death of the youngest person on the earth as this information was given from the news report which was being watched inside the café and the news reporters repeating “the death of the youngest person”, an this immediately gave me as the audience the impression that the film is likely to be an film which is likely to contain a lot of action. After Clive Owen left the café with his “black coffee” the camera showed the audience an image of a boy on a building, which made me begin to ask myself questions e.g. is this the youngest boy on earth?, This was followed by the camera immediately turning around and following Clive Owen until he stopped to put his coffee down as he poured something into his drink as I believe it was alcohol which is shortly followed by a massive explosion in the café where he had just been to purchase the coffee.

There has been the use of some music that has been used to create an image for the audience; to also create an emotional image as the use of music is used when the film shows the character (which is the youngest person in the world) Diego Ricardo. I believe as part of the audience the music that was used was really suitable and appropriate for the purpose of its use and really created an emotional feeling for the character Diego Ricardo.

The pace of the film is very slow, as I believed the reason for this was due to the amount of information the film was trying to get across to the audience and there fore the use of slow pace, would make it easier for the audience to understand what is going on in the film.

A narrative function which the director Alfonso Cuaron uses is when main character Clive Owen was being introduced, as he was shown as not interested about the death of the youngest person, compared to the rest of the public in London. Clive Owens response to the death compared to the rest of the public creates enigma, making the audience ask questions such as:

·      Reasons for his behaviour? (Uninterested)

·      What is planning to do?

·      Why is the camera focusing on him?

Possible questions which the audience may ask themselves like I did myself when watching the opening sequence were listed above. I believe the audience asking themselves questions, begins to make them more interested and make them feel like another character in the film, by thinking of what’s going to happen next.

The look of London which is given is dusty and looks run down outside, with the use of animated ads on the red buses which shows this is futuristic, as the colour of the busses and police uniform connotations britishness. We are shown that the date which is 16^th November 2027, as the London roads are very busy and congested which makes it look like a third world country. London looks completely different compared to today where it is dirtier which could possibly be due to the amount of vehicles etc. London also looked dark, dull and very miserable and this image was created by the graffiti on telephone boxes etc, which is not noticed today in 2010.

Movement of the camera was well used as it continuously followed Clive Owen as the use of the camera movement shows the audience he is a main character and helps us as the audience to understand what the film is trying to show us and also in this case I believe the use of the camera movement in this film was very good and helped me understand more about the characters view towards things and created enigma.

Overall as part of the audience I was very interested in the film from the moment the opening sequence begun, as it kept me interested from the questions I was asking myself, as I know I would have to continue watching the film to discover the answers to my questions. The beginning of the sequence which was very emotional due to the death of Diego Ricardo, made me want to also continue watching this film as I wanted to know whether the was some happy scenes in this film and to also see identify any new changed other than animated billboards etc by the year 2027. My image from the start was that the film could ONLY get better and the more I began to get interested in this film and intend to see the whole film soon.