Children of Men Essay.

Children of Men was released in 2006 and was directed by Alfonso Cuaron; starting Julianne Moore and Clive Owen. The film is set in London 2027, we find out in the first opening scene about London and the World at the time, the human race has come to a standstill, no new life can be formed.
Right at the start of the opening scene we are fed information about the world crisis. This is done by a voice over of several news reports. It is played on a black screen which then makes the audience focus in on what the people are saying more. The audience then know this information that they are receiving is vital to the rest of the film. It explains to the audience in just the first few seconds what is happening in the world of 2027. On the news report we hear about the death of the youngest person in the world, him only being 18. This automatically grabs the audiences attentions and makes them then start to ask questions about why is the youngest person 18 and why did he die?; Creating drama and interest in just several seconds.
The shot then shows a large group of people crammed into a small coffee shop, watching the TV where this information is coming from. This straight away makes the audience think about why they are all cramped into the small cafe.
We then see Theo Faron; actor Clive Owen, enter the cafe. He pushes through the crown which grabs the audience’s attention and makes us think that this person is the main character. When in the shop he buys a coffee and then leaves, by the camera following him out to the outside it is confirmed that he is the main character.
The outside is a typical city, tall buildings, cabs and red buses; however this city is very different to the cities of now days. The roads are breaking, buildings falling, and people everywhere there are cars and bikes on the roads as well as more futuristic buses. The colours are all dull and grey creating a depressing environment which also then sets the tone for the film. There is a bit of colour from the red buses, but there is no natural light. The area looks polluted by the grey sky.
The camera follows the main character down the road, it then pan round showing his face and the direction he has just come from. The reason for this is so that the audience can see the explosion from the cafe. This then brings more questions to the audience, why has it exploded? Why in the cafe? Etc.. The camera goes towards the explosion to see what has happened to the people in side, many run out in terror, cut and bloody, but also many have died. This is the last cut shown in the opening, it bring questions to the audiences mind and makes them want to carry on watching it to find the answers.
Throughout the whole opening there are only ever two cuts, the director had done this so the audience’s attention is there for the whole opening. If there were more shots the audience may get confused and be put off by the film. Non-diegetic sound is mostly used throughout the opening, to build suspense and keep the audience watching. This stops when the explosion happens creating a more dramatic scene and building impact on the audience.