Children of Men

Children of Men is a Sci-fi drama film directed by Alfonso Cuaron and released in 2006.  The film itself is set in 2027, London where women somehow become infertile and a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.

The first few minutes of the film is filmed in Regent Street, London.  Regent Street is presented as dirty, dull and heavily polluted with dark and grim, low key lighting; there are rubbished on the street, cars with black smoke coming out, people look depression and the explosion of the coffee shop. The colours on the screen are mostly grey and blue, which creates a sense of negativity and depression. We also feel that the people are trying to protect their past as we can see a woman’s desk is full of little figures of animals and cartoon character; Theo’s boss room is full of old cricket bat and balls.  The future is this movie is presented as badly polluted, dull and looks like people have given up on life and does not care anymore, however we can see some improvements in technology as there is floating TV screen, moving signs of buses and on side of buildings.

When Theo (Clive Owen) walks into the coffee shop, we instantly know that he is the protagonist because he is centre of the shot, he is also the first person who speaks in the film and the camera followed him when he walk out the coffee shop. We think that he is the un-likely hero because he looks too old, carelessly dressed and not particularly good looking, but this is what happens in films because he looks too ordinary and will get thrown into the hero-hood.  At this point of the film, we still do not know who the main female character is but all the women in the film are looking sad as they are crying as they are deeply affected by the event that happened. 

The camera work of the beginning of the film seems like it is hand-held as it is shaky which suggests that it is from a POV of a human who is following Theo.  This gives us, the audience a personal view and it looks like a documentary style film, making everything look more realistic as if you are in the film itself.  There are around 14 shots in the first 3:45 minutes of the film, I can see some shot reverse shot, continuing editing which makes it more real life and makes the audience feel uneasy.  The pace of the film also changes, it goes faster and faster which makes the audience feel nervous and knowing something big will happen.  There are also CGI which makes the explosion at around 2:22 minutes, the moving signs on the buses and on the buildings and the floating TV.

The sound of the film comes before the actual film itself; there is voice over at the beginning of the film when credits are played.  The voice over is the sound of the news which makes people focus on what is going on and notify the audience before the film start so they will have a sense of what is going on.  There is also sad music playing when the TV is playing the flashback of baby Diego which gives it an atmosphere, making the audience emotional and more realistic. After the explosion, there is a ringing sound which makes the film more realistic as it is what we get after we hear a really loud noise.  The ringing sound is also used as a sound bridge which connects into the next scene.

The story is begun in an unusually way but having voice over before the film starts, however we then see people starting of their normal day, going into a coffee shop which is quite normal for how film starts.  We then get introduced into the main character, Theo, when he walks into the coffee shop, but as a audience, he does not look like a typical hero as he looks too normal which in a way, this is what happens in a film. The explosion also surprised the audience because we did not expect it to happened as it was looking like a normal working day. There are a lot of unanswered questions in just the beginning of the film as we do not know why the explosion happened, why women are infertile….some of the questions are answer on the moving signs on the buses or the side of the buildings.   

From what I have seen, the film has the message of telling people to take care of the world and to reduce pollution. 

I think the target audience of this film is for people between 15-25, because it is at a fast pace combined with action and the fact that it is set in the future suggests that young adults is being targeted.  However, Cuaron’s emphasis on contemporary issues such as immigrants can also suggest an older target audience is being targeted as it is fast becoming a stereotype that today’s younger generation do not follow politics. If the film was made by Universal Picture, I think the range of audience from different countries will be wider as Universal Pictures is a global company with lots of studios around the world.