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?
The purpose of a film opening is to introduce a character, establish a narrative structure, capture the audiences’ interest, and establish core themes. These are achieved by using certain narrative film opening conventions such as a significant sound track that will set the mood of the film and which will ultimately indicate what genre the film is. Children of men (2006) was directed by Alfonso Cuaron and grossed $35,286,428. This high revenue was due to the gripping opening sequence that set the tone for the rest of the film. The main star in the film was Clive Owen, and the story entailed that the world was on the verge of extinction, due to worldwide infertility. A woman miraculously falls pregnant and it is up to Theo Faron (Clive Owen) to escort her to safety and deliver the baby.
The cinematography and technical codes used in the opening of children of men make the opening sequence highly dramatic and add a substantial amount of tension and suspense. The sequence starts off with commences in complete silence. Even as the credits for the production companies roll on there is no theme music or a significant soundtrack played. This idea of complete silence may be used to grab the audiences attention as they strain there ears to try and hear something that is not there. The only sense used in 32 seconds of the opening sequence is sight, but then sight and the sense of hearing are substituted as the screen fades to black and a non Diegetic commentary of what seems to be a news broadcast is played. The elimination of the sense sight, forces the audience to listen carefully to the new broadcast. The fact that it is the only thing played right at the start of the opening sequence signifies its importance.
The scene straight cuts from the black background to a high angled shot of a cafe inhabiting a lot of stunned people. The fact that a news broadcast was played to the audience before this scene, will indicate that the people in the shop are listening to the same thing and this gives the reason behind why they are so shocked and gives clues to what the story will entail. The uses of camera techniques are used to make the most of the first shot of the film. A high angle shot is used to capture the still emotions and facial expressions of the people in the shop. Every person in the shop has the same depressed expression on their face which immediately sets the mood of the film and tells the audience that this will not be a happy comic Rom-Com. The high angle shot also gets the background in the picture which establishes the setting which is a cafe. The use of silence remained constant apart from the news broadcast and a few words mumbled by Clive Owen all the way until 1 minute 23 seconds when non Diegetic empathy music is played to match the mood and the sound of crying in the cafe. The use of silence indicates that what is happening on the news broadcast is so shocking and heart rendering that it has left the entire shop speechless.
The pace of the sequence is very slow, with only 6 cuts in the whole 2 minutes and 25 seconds of the sequence. Instead of cutting, another technique is used to keep the scene at a steady slow pace. As Clive Owen walks into the cafe the camera focuses on him. As he begins to walk out of the shop the camera follows him. This gives the effect that the viewer is there in the film following the character. The fact that the camera follows Owen shows the audience that he is an important character. As Owen exits the shop, instead of cutting to an establishing shot of what was outside the cafe, the camera follows him through the door and moves around and looks at the scenery to establish the setting of the film. This gives the effect that the viewer has walked out of the shop and has looked around as anybody would do as they exit a building. Then the camera continues to follow Owen down a busy London street.
Mise en scene is used to make the setting feel familiar to the audience and give them something to relate to. The police man in uniform in the cafe and that were walking along the street resemble the uniform that police officers wear today, but are slightly modified which shows that it is set in the future but the nearby future. The buses and buildings with digital advertisements and the motorised pedal bikes also signify that the film is set in the future but not a future that we would envision for ourselves as the streets look dirty, bust and chaotic. The news bulletin on the television uses a generic font and layout that people recognise as the news with the red banner running along the bottom of the screen with the headlines on it. As Owen walks down the road, the words ‘London 16th November 2027’ are displayed at the bottom of the screen. This indicates when the film is set and also that this particular date is an important date in the film. Owens’ character is portrayed as troubled as he is putting alcohol in his coffee in the morning. The pace of the opening sequence has been very slow and nothing exiting has happened that will grab the audiences’ attention, until the camera does a 180 degree spin on Owens’ character. The audience will be expecting something to happen but don’t know what will happen or when. The extremely slow pace was used deliberately to build up the scene and get the audience ready for the main event. The audience are preoccupied with what Owen is doing to his coffee when a loud blast from a bomb inside the cafe sends shockwaves through the screen making the audience jump out of their seat. The slow pace and camera movement was all done to build up to that climax. This film is shown to be a hybrid film as conventions of horror are shown after the explosion as a woman walks out of the wreckage with her arm in her hand but clearly this film is not going to be just a horror and will have other genre integrated in it.
As a member of the audience I found that the slow pace built up the feeling of expectation. Nothing major or exiting happened towards the end so I was anticipating something dramatic to happen. But the moment it happened it left me shocked and instantly wanting to continue watching to see what caused this tragedy to happen.
