Children of Men Opening Analysis

Today we were grouped together as a 3 then were set on a task to identify the codes and enigma code of the opening of the movie "Children of Men".

      Firstly, we know that this fictional world is a world of disruption through the micro elements of sound by the sound of the news report. we were then introduced to a group shot with the TV in the background which shows exactly what is being shown to the people in the film. We were then given a hint that this is the future when the news reporter mentioned that the youngest man on earth was born in 2009 then followed up with a handheld shot sort of like somebody is filming the TV which gives audiences a sense of being in the situation when we were confirmed that this is the future because the death was in the year 2027. The majority of the film opening tend to focus more towards the diegetic sound more than the non diegetic sound; this might be the choice in order for audience to feel more like they are in the situation of this fictional world.

      The man, who we seen in the first scene to have walked in and order a coffee who doesn't seem to care about the situation, he walks out the shop with a tracking handheld shot following him. The confirmation of the exact date and location was then confirmed through the subtext when the man walked out and we see a long panning shot of the environment. The evidence that this is the future is that we see vehicles such as Tuk-Tuks, tricycles and some more foreign vehicles that are not typically found in London which suggest that London has been occupied by many other cultures. However, evidence that suggest that it is still London was through the mis en scene of double deckers, post box that the man places his coffee on and European cars.

     We were then introduced to the disruption of equilibrium through the last 20 seconds of the opening which was when the mid shot of the man pouring what looks to be sugar into the his cup of coffee then several buildings to the right side of him exploded which causes everyone to panic. The handheld shot was definitely very effective as it shows the audience how a real person would act in the case of this situation which emerges the audience more into the film.