"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?"
A child of men was released on 22nd September 2006. It is directed by Alfonso Cuarón and stars Julianne Moore and Clive Owen. We watched the opening sequence of the film. The opening sequence of children of men is dramatic and engages the audience immediately and makes them want to watch more.
The opening sequence in the film is shocking the sequence leaves the audience with unanswered questions and wanting to watch more. This is known as enigma and is a good technique to be used in opening sequences. It doesn’t give the audience too much information on the story and only gives out basic ideas and little introduction to characters.
The opening sequence starts with a voice over of new alerts. This immediately sets a serious tone for the film and a sense of urgency. On the screen there are the credits, these are not paid attention two because the audiences focus is on the voice over playing in the background. The first shot shown is a medium shot of a crowded cafe. All the people in the cafe are watching the television this builds the seriousness of the film. They are all focusing on the news story being played on the television which is showing its main story “death of Diego Ricardo, the youngest person on the planet, 18 years old”. This immediately makes the audience wonder why he was the youngest person on the planet and why there wasn’t anyone younger than him. None of the characters are immediately introduced. The crowd in the cafe are static so that the focus is still on the voice over even though there is a picture on the screen. All the people in the cafe are wearing dull colours and office clothes so that the audience doesn’t focus on them. A character is established when one man moves through the crowd to the front of the cafe. The man stands out because he is the only one moving at that point. As he leaves the cafe we can see his importance as the camera follows him out onto the street outside.
When the camera reaches the outside of the cafe the audience immediately establish where they are. A caption comes up in the bottom right corner of the screen saying “London, 16th November 2027” This establishes the date and the setting. The camera pans across and shows what London looks like. Everything seems dull and has no bright colours or anything exciting to look at. There is a lot of traffic going by and the setting seems to be much polluted. Diagetic sound is used here from the cars to emphasise how busy it really is. None of the people in the background seem to show much emotion and the world appears to be quite down and depressed and this is emphasised when the character the audience is focusing on puts alcohol into his drink.
There is then an arc where in the background a bus goes past him with a moving advert image on the side of it. This shows how technology has moved on and how advanced the world has become. The audience then have a massive shock of the explosion and the camera moves in towards the smoke. The camera tilts as if from a person’s point of view.
The genre of horror is introduced towards the end of the opening sequence as a woman holding her own arm is shown coming from the smoke. Such a dramatic opening can give the idea that the genre of the film could be a thriller.
There is then the title of the film shown in big bold capital letters so it shows its importance. The title has been put in black and white to make it more striking and the complete focus is on the words and not of the picture itself.
In conclusion, Alfonso cuaron has used effective devices for the opening of his film. He has used enigma to make the audience want to watch more and I think that he has given the audience the right amount of information to complete his film opening.
By Sarah Groves
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