Children of Men - Analysis

Children of Men is a science fction movie made in 2006. It was directed and
co-written by Alfonso Cuarn.
Children of Men is a movie based in 2027 where human infertility has left the
whole world on the brink of collapse.
The beginning scene for the whole movie is a where main character, Theo
Faron, walks into a crowded cofee shop where a news report is being shown.
In this scene the only splash of colour is the turquoise blue on the walls and
white writing. This draws your eye away from the characters slightly but is
suddenly put back upon them when Faron has to walk through the people
crowded in the shop. There is little noise in the shop apart from the news
reporter on the t.v. By not including major sound and making the sound
played diagetic you get a sense of that this report includes you and makes
you feel emotion.
During the frst few opening scenes we only get one large amount of noise
which is jumbled in-between other normal day sounds. This one large noise
is the explosion of the shop Faron walks out of just moments before. This loud
explosion is important in these scenes because it alerts you. It connotes that
something is wrong with this area and that essentially the world has become
corrupt.
The camera shots (hand held) in these scenes were all done as if someone
was walking behind Faron. There are two scenes where you can see this. The
frst scene is where Faron walks out of the shop, the camera pans up as he
leaves, to a small t.v. screen above the door to catch the report a little longer
just before panning back down to follow Faron. By shooting the scenes like
this you get to see the set as if you were there. The camera looks around as if
it were your frst time there and it makes you become more emotionally
attached to the movie because you feel like you are there with them.
The other scene where it is very much like a human is the scene just before
the explosion and it walks around Faron to the other side to get the explosion
in. By doing this you get the feeling that Faron is very important to the story
but also that you get to see and feel the explosion just as much as everyone
else in the scene.
The mis-en-scene is very much of a drab, boring and depressing place. There
is very little colour and what colour there is it is minimal and drawn out. This
Samantha Grebot
gives to the idea that the world has become corrupt and no-one is happy. This
however can be argued against due to the fact that just before the explosion a
woman and man embrace each other giving the idea that people still wish to
be human and still have relationships.
The people on the street move slowly betaking that they don t feel like they
are going anywhere important so are trying to shorten the time they have in
their destinations.
Samantha Grebot