'Children of Men' Essay...

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?

‘Children of Men’ was released to the UK in 2006, it was directed by Alfonso Cuaron, who is also known for producing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Main stars of this film include: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Chiwetel Ejofor. Although in the opening sequence we only meet Clive Owens character.

The opening sequence is the most important part of the film, as during that time is when the audience decide whether they want to continue to watch it or not. Therefore the director has to make sure they reveal a little of the plot to the viewers and catch there attention and draw them in. The opening sequence from ‘Children of Men’ effectively engages the audience and cleverly gives them and insight into the film knowledge. The audience can establish the narrative of the film and are intrigued by the opening sequence and want to watch the rest of the film.

Straight away the director uses a common technical code, a voice over and a blank screen. The effect this has on the audience is that, it makes them focus purely on the words being spoken and they listen to the information being given to them. Using a blank screen at first makes the audience concentrate on the words instead of watching the frames and being distracted by the characters and setting. The information given is important to the rest of the opening sequence, as the audience need to know what is going on. Only when the director feels they have heard enough, he uses a sound bridge to show them the news report on the TVs.

The news report informs the public and the audience that the youngest person, Diego Ricardo, has died! It is obvious to the audience that something bad has happened in the world for the youngest person to be 18yrs, 4 months, 16 days, 4hrs and 8mins old. This signifies the fact that there are no children being born anywhere! The news report implies the 18yr old to still be ‘baby Diego’, although to us being 18 means you have become an adult. The audience can tell that it is a news report as when the TV screen is shown, there is a bulletin at the bottom of the screen and BCC the name of the new channel is very similar to news channel BBC. Just to confirm and make sure the audience know the time period, there is a date at the bottom of the screen ‘2027’. This is how the narrative of the film is cleverly conveyed.

We establish the setting of the film, as the sequence continues, looking at the set the audience can see the sign on the wall ‘Caffee’. As it’s the year 2027, the audience know it’s in the future so there are slight differences, for example what we would call a ‘Café’ is now a ‘Caffee’. This shows developments. The audience can also see the red buses driving past from the shop window in the background. Red buses are associated with London, therefore the audience have now established the setting of the film within the first few minutes. However, again just to make sure there is informative writing on the screen telling the audience the location and exact date: ‘London, 16^th November 2027’. The audience get a glimpse of what London is like. They see police helicopters, lots of policemen walking around, lots of fumes from buses and cars and rubbish on the sides of pavements and roads.

We are introduced to the main character when he walks into the coffee shop. How do the audience know he is the main character? Clive Owen is a star, has performed in many films and is well known by a vast majority of people. Although for people that are not familiar with him, will know he is the main character by his actions. The audience notice him immediately, as he walks in alone and makes his way past the shocked people towards the front of the shop. It is apparent that everyone is traumatised by the news, however Clive Owens character is not bothered and carries on with what he is doing. The audience learn a bit more about his character as we see him pour alcohol into his coffee. This could suggest to the audience that he is an alcoholic or there’s something depressing going on in his life.

During the opening sequence it is difficult to determine a genre, as we don’t see enough. There are hints of a few genres such as: disaster, as there are no children in the world; action, as there is a explosion in the coffee shop and horror, as there is a woman that comes out of the explosion holding her arm covered in blood.

Camera movement, in the opening sequence of ‘Children of Men’ is very important as the director has made it so that the audience feel as though they could be there with Clive Owens character. The camera follows him out the shop door and along the street. The director has used a handheld camera to make it more realistic. Certain camera techniques also help the audience pick up on the small details, such as Clive Owens character pouring alcohol in his coffee. The camera circles around him ready for the next part, which is the explosion.

Personally, I have never seen this film before and just by viewing the opening sequence I am eager to watch the rest of the film to see how things turn out. The directors clever use of the voice over at the beginning really made me pay attentions and started to get an idea of the story line. The opening sequence reveals part of the story but without giving to much information. You get to know the setting, the character and then you’re hooked. The director gives the audience just the right amount of information so that they stay engaged and continue to watch the rest of the film.

Pillow Talk and Fringe Comparison... Essay

“How are the sequences from ‘Pillow Talk’ and ‘Fringe’ different. Discuss the differences in pace and style of editing as well as the effect the editing has on meaning/the audience’s reception of the extracts?”

Both extracts ‘Pillow Talk’ and ‘Fringe’ have many differences however they do have a few similarities. Mainly, to do with the timings of frame changes. At the beginning of the ‘Fringe’ extracts the frame changes every few second as the two guys are having a short serious conversation. The frames change according to what character is talking, showing there facial expressions. Similarly the ‘Pillow Talk’ extracts frame changes according to what character is speaking, and therefore showing the facial expressions as in the ‘Fringe’ extract. However this does not happen until the middle of the extract. The beginning of the extract has a mixture of short and long frame shots. This shows the pace of both extracts. 

‘Fringe’ has a lot more movement that ‘Pillow Talk’ and shows it subtle in some places but in other frames there is a lot of evidence to support this. Frame shot 10 for example, the shot starts of very far away from the two men speaking and to someone who is not looking, nothing would seem to change. However, if you knew what to look for then it would appear that the camera was creeping forwards (very slow forward tracking shot) ever so slightly towards the two men talking. Although before the camera get to close for the audience to notice it changes frame again. On the other hand, frame 7 with in ‘Fringe’ shows a reverse track shot at a very fast pace. This makes the audience react to the disappearance of the blip in the background and wanting to see more. In contrast to that, ‘Pillow Talk’ frames are very still. The very first two frames the camera moves with the characters movement, this gets the audience engaged only for the frames to come to a stand (frames 4-21) when watching the rest of the extract, although they are now engaged enough to continue to watch, this being the case the camera doesn’t have to do much.

The pace of the cuts varies. ‘Pillow Talk’ at the beginning the frames change every 10-15 second, the as the extract gradually moves on, the frame shots become longer and longer. They go from being 10 -15 seconds difference then they get to being 30-40 seconds difference. Fringe on the other hand, the first 5 frame shots change every 4-5 seconds, every time the character speech changes. Then further on in the extract the shots are extended slightly but not by a great difference. There are a lot of questions and answers in this extract and that make the characters speech shorter and the frames, whereas ‘Pillow Talk’ there is conversations happening and they each have there turn in speaking, however it is a long speech and not just a short answer to a simple question.

The style editing of the extracts differ greatly. ‘Pillow Talk’ has a frame where you can see two different scenes at the same time. This lets the audience see the facial expressions and body language of both characters on the phone. Here you can see the relationship that the two characters have and this make the audience react in a different way when they watch this. However in ‘Fringe’ most of the shots are CU on the characters. There are only 9 out of 21 frame shots that are not close ups. There are also 5 out of 21 shots that are over the shoulder shots. These make the audience feel like they are there with the characters and experiencing the same as them.  

In both  ‘Pillow Talk’ and ‘Fringe’ the cut types are the same – jump cuts – however in ‘Pillow Talk’ there is a dissolve style of editing, this is only from the first frame to the second though. Similarly both ‘Pillow Talk’ and ‘Fringe’ use there camera shots/angles in a way that allows the audience to see the characters facial expressions. The type of editing that allow this are close ups/mid close ups and over the shoulder shot. These let the audience have a better response to the scene as they can see the characters reaction clearer with this type of editing. In both extracts the characters are never completely in the centre of the frame. ‘Fringe ’ has a very dark, mysterious atmosphere, their may be key lighting in the frames but it makes the scenes look mysterious and confined. In frame 7 however, the lighting is very bright, this is draw attention to the blip in the distance and when it disappears the camera zooms in (reverse track) and as the lighting and colour is brightened, the audience are looking into the middle of the light and then are shocked and puzzled to find that the blip is gone.  ‘ Pillow Talk ’ on the other hand, the scenes are not dark, although they are not particularly bright either. In this extract the frames light with natural lighting to begin with however when then scene changes to in the club/bar then they get a considerable amount darker. This differs from ‘ Fringe ’ slightly as there is more light and the characters are having a conversation about themselves and there relationship so that gives the audience a bigger insight on the characters.

‘ Pillow Talk ’ and ‘ Fringe ’ are different in the means of when they were made. Personally I feel that ‘Pillow Talk is rather old and the characters in it are wearing posh but more 80s clothing, whereas ‘ Fringe ’ is more modern and they are wearing more modernised clothes. I would say that ‘ Fringe ’ is more 2008 maybe a little earlier but it isn’t that old. ‘ Pillow Talk’ extract would most likely entertain and attract an audience of an older generation, although the audience that would most likely be attracted to the ‘ Fringe ’ extract is a generation of a younger age, this is because the films are more modernised now and people that are older would be use to all the old films that they had when they were younger. Therefore more interested in the ‘ Pillow Talk ’ extract. Younger people are interested in all the more modern genres like crime, mystery, action. The older generation on the other hand will prefere things like soaps, calm, maybe a bit of romance and something with a set storyline.  

To conclude, ‘ Pillow Talk ’ and ‘ Fringe ’ both have similarities and difference, but the difference aren’t just different because of the type of extract, but because of the editing and meaning behind the extract. Both of the extracts are very well portrayed and the effects that have been placed to make the audience enjoy the films more and create a positive and more appropriate reaction towards the extract and as they react positively the they are going to pass that emotion on to other people and make them want to watch it and that would create advertisement for the extracts. They both have a very interesting and well thought-out storyline.