Children of Men (2006) film opening analysis
As the opening to ‘Children of Men’, the audience are introduced to the film, which is represented in the future of year 2027. The film starts with credits and then a black screen with voice over of a newsreader explaining to us the year and what location we are watching and a death of baby Diego. The film is situated on a London Street in England. It is represented with a negative atmosphere; very dull lighting, gloomy skies and a sense of darkness create this. It is believable to us that it is a London street in the future as the buildings all have a futuristic television screen on the side of them, as well as on the red buses, and the sky is very polluted from streets, which are full of cars and motorised pick-up bikes. The streets look filthier as we can see there is rubbish everywhere; this is different to the London streets today. This suggests to the audience that the society does not care so much about the world anymore and have given up.
Being represented is a man named Theo; the camera is constantly focused on him following his every move. The audience may see him as a hero as he approaches us as the main character. Although some may disagree, as he shows no hero characteristics and we know he has virtually no power at his work as he had to ask his boss to go home. Theo’s appearance is very grubby and ordinary, he doesn’t stand out from the crowd and this is not who the audience would expect to be the hero. Some may suggest that he has two roles of identity in the film; he could be a hero as well as an ordinary individual, and that any one can be a hero in the right circumstances.
In ‘Children of Men’ women are recognised as equal to men. It is not until later on when Theo goes into work that we as the audience notice that most women are crying at their desks. There is a close up of one woman who is crying about the death of baby Diego, as she watches the news on her very futuristic transparent television. Above her desk are nursery type ornaments such as a lamb or a teddy bear; all this suggests women are the weaker sex. We can immediately tell that there is a big difference between the men and the women, this may raise interesting questions about the roles of women in this society.
Future is distinguished by seeing more hi-tech computers, televisions and even motorised pick-up bikes; this could actually suggest that there was more immigration because motorised pick-up bikes already exist in India. This shows London as maybe more unattractive place to live because of this. The technology has been gradual and not surprising to make the location feel more believable, than unrealistic. The film producers had to think carefully in not making the film seem too futuristic but an understandable amount of advanced technology.
On the whole, there are very few social groups. There does seem to be an increase of immigrants in the population, the audience can suggest this from the motorised pick-up bikes, which are presently used in India.
The lighting in this text is continuously dim making a very dull and unfriendly atmosphere. It makes the text seem more powerful and dramatic, as the audience would feel unsettled, knowing something is wrong and intrigued to find out.
The camera work for this film is mostly slow and steady before the explosion in the café; usually to make the filming this smooth they use a track. Immediately after the explosion the camera is much more quick, uncontrolled and shaky. The camera stumbles backwards and then moves forward to the explosion, the audience can sense a lot more movement, which could be interpreted as Theo’s movement. The camera work does not conform to my expectations of a major action film because it is much too calm. Although this changes to a more hand held and quick camera work as expected in an action film, it makes the film seem much more lively and exciting. I believe that the before the explosion camera shots had been chosen to introduce us to the text, to understand what year it is and where Theo is. The later camera shots were chosen to bring the audience into the film and see the first bit of ‘action’.
The editing that I can recognise, is a television in the café scene attached on the wall, it looks extremely futuristic and obviously done by editing. It is clear to see the new technology therefore the editing worked well to making it believable.
In particular I noticed something about the sound that had been constructed in this clip. At first we hear a loud and powerful female newsreaders voice explaining to the audience important details like what the date is and what it taking place in the world, this is a very important start to the text for the audience. Another sound, which stood out to me, was the very uncomforting, eerie screech like the sound of a vehicles brake. It started immediately after the explosion and carried on to the next scene where Theo walks through his work security. It was an unsettling sound making the audience feel uncomfortable, this was a good start to the film.
A film set has created the locations; they have made the set look almost exactly the same to the London today street. There are commonly known buildings such as St Paul’s cathedral, so it is clear to know they are in London. There are also sides of the red buses and sides of buildings, which show hi-technology, we can see it most definitely could be the future of year 2027.
It is clear to know the genre of the text is action and adventure. As support to my assumptions of the genre, was the explosion in the café and on the televisions in the train they were showing fires in nearly every country. The newsreader narrative talk about baby Diego at the start of the text, builds up tension and excitement to know what has happened, it seems very adventurous especially because it is a black screen still the audience feel excited of the upcoming events.
The text is targeted at an audience over the age of fifteen as under that age are not advised to watch the film as it is unsuitable for them. This is because the text contains a lot of swearing words and violence. The film could be targeted at both women and men but maybe in the direction of men a bit more because of any fighting which could occur later on in the film. The film can be for any lifestyle or life stage and any financial situation. From this clip different things could attract the audiences such as the new technology and life of the futuristic 2027 or the action bits for instance the explosion in the café. This film might not have been a box-office hit because it is hard for the audience to follow a story line where women have suddenly become infertile.
The messages the text seems to be giving to the audiences, is what London could become. London seemed very dirty with rubbish everywhere and highly polluted air, the explosion, which seemed like a common thing to happen. There was evidence of lots of immigration because of the motorised pick-up bikes, which exist in India already. The film gives people a chance to compare the ‘future’ and today’s world, it could be seen as a slight warning to all.
The film was made in Universal pictures, which is a well-known film company. This is an audience appeal; people may believe that the film is going to be good because of who the film was made by.
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