Children of Men Essay

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

The movie “Children of Men” is a science fiction film that was released in 2006 and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The film is set in the United Kingdom during 2027 and focuses around the population not being able to give birth to children. The opening scene of the film uses forms and conventions effectively to influence the reception from the audience. 

At the start of the opening we hear a voice over that sounds like a news reporter describing the worlds affairs. Starting at 0:33, the editor uses a black screen instead of showing the audience the source of the voice. This is because the director wants the audience to focus on the sound rather than the visuals on the screen. I believe that this is effective because the sound details a lot of the setting and describes what kind of place the world is at the current time. Straight away, this gives the audience an idea of the narrative, captivates their interest and provides enigmas that the about the things that the news reporter says that leave the audience hungry to find answers for.

During the opening we also see a title used that gives the user more information about the time and place that the film is set in. At 1:50 we see the outside world for the first time as well as the time period and the location that the film is set in. This is effective as it feeds information to the audience and presents more questions to them. The audience now knows that the film is set in the near future and is currently suffering from crisis.

The colours used in the opening are mainly filled with dark and gloomy colours that add to the atmosphere of the film. We see at 1:54 that the editor has painted the world in reflection to the state the world is in. We had heard from the news reporter that there is a lot of trouble in the world and the colour of London encourages this. This is effective as the audience sees the capital of a country as grimy and dirty, which shows the audience the kind of state the country is in. The colour of the costumes follows this trend as it may show the feelings of the citizens of London. This is effective towards the theme of misery as it adds to the gloomy atmosphere of the city as there are no bright colours to contrast with the dull colours.

The pace of the camera during the opening is very slow until the end when it begins to pick up in pace. At 1:37 the camera begins to follow Clive Owen out of the cafe into the streets. This may represent how slow the main characters life is going or it could represent how slow humanity is going with its people becoming older. This is due to the fact that no more children are being born. It slowly follows him without any cuts until 2:14 where an explosion takes place in the cafe he was just in, the camera then begins to speed up in contrast with the slow movement it had done before. This is effective as it represents how suddenly the mood can change from being slow into a quicker pace. It also brings us closer to the scene of the action as we can clearly see a woman without an arm. By doing this it captivates the audience’s interest as this is the first act of violence in the film and it comes in strongly with an explosion, followed by a women screaming, which can be an icon of the horror genre, while holding her arm. It also begins to present enigmas about who could be doing this.

Sound plays an important role in establishing the mood in the opening sequence. Non-diegetic music is begins at 1:23 which overlaps the voices of the reporters who are documenting the death of the youngest man alive. This is effective as the music is also very slow and pensive, which matches with the pace and colours of the setting. It helps create a miserable atmosphere. Non-diegetic sound is heard during the music from the news reporters as well as a women sobbing at 1:28 which only adds to the sadness in the atmosphere. It can also be shocking to the audience as a woman is brought to tears due to the death of someone who may have no connection to him. This music is quickly drowned out by the diegetic sounds of the streets of 2027 London. Sounds range from bike horns, cars and helicopters which is slightly similar to the London of today. This is effective as the audience can relate to the setting in which it is set in; this makes the opening more powerful because the audience may feel that this is a possibility for the future. 

The introduction of the main character is not the most important feature of the opening; instead it focuses more on the narrative. This is shown as the main character is not seen until 1:02 where the audience has already been introduced to the world and its problems at the beginning. The main character does stick out from the rest of the characters though because as he enters the cafe he is not fazed by the death of the youngest man in the world but simply carries on with his life. We also know he is an important character because the actor is clearly seen as Clive Owen who people will recognise.

In my personal opinion, I think that the opening of “Children of Men” is very good because it is able to present a lot of questions to the audience and engages their interest. I also find it easy to identify and relate the 2027 London with the London today. This is because at 2:09 we can easily see a red double decked bus, which is an icon for London, which has a moving advertisement on the side of it. This is relatable to today’s London buses as they also have advertisements on the side but it is also believable that in the near future we will have moving adverts. The moving adverts are also seen at 1:50 where they are spotted on the sides of buildings. I think this was clever and effective of the director as he purposely showed this to the audience to try and make them feel connected to this London that he has created.

 I also found that there were a lot of questions and enigmas that were created just by watching two minutes of the film. There are a lot of subtle things that I found that made me question what is happening in this world. For example, at 1:50 we can clearly see a helicopter in the sky above London. This confuses me as today helicopters would not usually fly over London if there is no emergency. This could represent the kind of disaster that the country is in. Another question that I found was the way the youngest man had died. During the news broadcast at 1:06 where we here he was killed by a fan and the fan was then beaten to death by the crowd. This shows just how bad civilisation has gotten that crowds of people aren’t policed and that people can be killed on the street. 

In conclusion, I think that the opening sequence of “Children of Men” uses forms and conventions effectively to create a gloomy mood to the film right from the start. I also found that it was effective in the way that it engaged the viewer’s interest and presented questions that the audience needed answers for.

Fringe Vs Pillow Talk

How are the sequences from “Pillow Talk” and “Fringe” different?

 

In my essay I will be talking about the differences and similarities in sequences when it comes to certain extracts in the two films “Pillow Talk” and “Fringe”. “Pillow Talk” is a 1959 romantic comedy that was directed by Michael Gordon while “Fringe” is an American TV series that was first broadcasted in 2008. Many factors influence the audience’s reception with the style of editing, camera angles, pace and the target audience.

The style of editing used in each film is very different as both films use a very diverse range of cuts that appeal to their own target audience. In “Fringe” we see that a conversation is split up into many clean cuts to close-ups that last only a few seconds, they also show the characters faces as they speak and sometimes when they are spoken too. By doing this the director allows the viewer to watch the character’s facial expression in reaction to the dialogue of the other character. This helps attach the audience to the characters emotionally as we can see their own emotion clearly displayed on their face. An establishing shot is also used in the extract as we see something weird happen outside. This is important for the series as the location of the events that will unfold is important to the plot of the story. It also provides a link between the show and the audience as since it is an American show the American audience will automatically recognise the location in which it is set in. In “Pillow Talk” we see how the amount of cuts drastically decreases in contrast to “Fringe”. In the conversation over the phone we see how the director uses a split screen instead of constant cuts to each character. It carries a similarity to “Fringe” in the sense that they use close-ups to capture the emotions of the characters to create a link between the audience and character. It achieves this effect by using the split-screen to emphasis their facial emotions at the same time. The date of the film may have influenced this decision as multiple cuts in films hadn’t fully integrated into films yet due to the technology. Another difference is that “Pillow Talk” as the camera angles mainly focus over the shoulder and doesn’t really revolve around who is talking. In some instances we will see the back of the head while they are talking, which rarely happens during “Fringe”. This extract also manages to achieve the effect of a scene change which differs from Fringe’s establishing shot by using a dissolve edit into the next scene. The director does this as it moves quite softly into the next scene, keeping the audience focused on the conversation at hand rather than where they are having this conversation.

The pace of the extracts also differs as the pace in “Fringe” is very quick in contrast to “Pillow Talk”. In “Fringe” we see how the average of the cutting is about 3 – 4 seconds. This happens mostly as the conversation progresses. This is because it helps build up the tension and the suspense that the audience has, making it seem more intense. The time period in which the TV series was broadcasted in has an effect on the pace. The target audience of the programme is mostly aimed at a younger generation of people so they are looking for fast-paced action because they are able to keep up with it. Therefore it assumes that the audience is watching, intensely, to what is going on and that they are up to date with the storyline. It also fits into the genre of the TV series, an action sci-fi show making fast cuts a convention of this genre. This contrasts a lot with the pace of the cuts in “Pillow Talk” as the average of the cuts is about 11 seconds. The pace also represents the age in which it was broadcasted in. Action paced shows weren’t fully developed unlike the action shows that we can watch today. The fact that this film also is a romance film indicates what the pace of the cuts will likely be. The slow pace of cuts also represents the intensity of the conversation. The first conversation is simply one shot so it represents how the conversation may be light-hearted between the two who are most probably friends. The second one includes more cuts as the conversation becomes more serious as the man provokes the woman. Although the last conversation is serious it isn’t as intense as the scene from “Fringe” therefore it isn’t as quick but a lot of cuts happens to show the emotions on the characters faces, similar to “Fringe”.

The audiences’ response differs greatly between the two extracts due to the huge time gap in which they were both created. “Pillow Talk” was shown to audiences in the 60s so the style of editing isn’t as diverse as it is in modern films. Therefore people who have only ever seen the modern films of their own time will receive the film differently than someone who was of age during the 60s. The slow pace of editing and simple camera shots are perceived as good from people who are from the 60s because that was the best that they had in that era of time. This is similar of the reception of “Fringe” from someone who was born in the 90s or much recently. This is because they have been brought up watching films to similar to this particular series with face pace editing and a lot of different camera shots & angles. For someone who has grown up with films such as “Pillow Talk” they will not believe that “Fringe” is as good as “Pillow Talk” and vice verse. Gender plays a huge role in the audiences’ reception. Men are more likely to prefer “Fringe” over “Pillow Talk” due to the intensity and action that comes with it. While women may prefer “Pillow Talk” because the genre is a romance so the film has been directed for that specific genre. So the appeal towards women is greater than the appeal towards men.

In conclusion, the sequences from “Pillow Talk” and “Fringe” are directed very differently due to the time period that they were created but still hold the same meaning, for example, capturing facial emotions.