'Children of Men' Essay

The film 'Children of Men' is set in 2027 London, England. From the first 5 minutes that we watched, London in this time is represented by the dirty, dreary and dark surroundings. The buildings, pavements, sky and costumes are all grey and muted. The explosion seen at 2:12 minutes gives the world at this time a negative appearance. This negative atmosphere is created (especially on the street) by mise en scene.Rubbish bags are scattered on the pavements, old fashioned richshaws spew out thick black smoke and  people's clothes are grey, old and in some parts ripped. There is a large sense of protecting the past: people such as Theo's boss has kept a lot of his cricket memorabilia such as old cricket bats hung on the wall, a photograph printed onto his mug of himself and friends in cricket gear and cricket balls places into a jar on his desk. The general lighting of the sequence is dull and drab which links to the movie's depressing continuous theme.

In the first 5 minutes of the film, we have definitely been shown a main character but we do not yet have a defined hero- we have a protagonist. We know he is the main character because he is in the centre of the shot and when he is exiting the coffee shop at 1:30 minutes, he is followed by the camera out of the shop and onto the street by an originally still camera. The camera also reacts humanly to the explosion at 1:51 by darting to the side in shock then hastily running forwards to get a close up of the figure that walks out of the coffee shop into the smoke.

Our protagonist, Theo does not fit our established ideas of what a hero should be as we would expect the character to be young, fit, handsome and skilled whereas Theo seems to be your average office worker who dresses in ordinary and shabby clothing. On the contrary, in most modern films, ordinary people such as Theo do tend to reveal themselves as the true hero- this is intended to make the audience relate to the main character.

Women in this sequence are represented as emotional, crying and sentimental as one of Theo's colleagues is sitting opposite him at her desk, sobbing while surrounded by small figurines a child would have. This relates back to the plot- people can no longer have children and have become attached to the past.

The future in this movie is portrayed as negative. Humans have 'given up' on the world because women are no longer fertile. The earth is now polluted and there is a sense of anger and worry amongst the world. We know this because at 3:55 for 20 seconds, we see a tv screen showing images of disaster and  violence with countries written on top. However, the world has evolved as there are modern video advertisements on busses and sides of buildings.

The main camera work in the beginning of the clip is still and is 22 seconds long showing a crowd of people in a coffee shop. As the protagonist leads the camera out of the coffee show it develops human-like features such as moving out of the way for people in the coffee shop, panning round to see the entire street before stepping out of the door way and when on the street, the camera develops a shaky movement which mimics a documentarian style. These camera shots have been chosen to personalise the sequence and also to tell the audience who our main character is efficiently.

There is a variety of editing in this short sequence such as the very first clip of a black screen with credits lasting 25 seconds. The sound over this combined with the blank screen gives the audience a sense of worry. Next, there is a continuous shot lasting a total of 52 seconds which would have to have been shot many times due to the lack of editing. CGI (computer generated image) also features in the first few minutes of the film. The shop windows are animations to advertise the shop. This would not be possible to create on set so CGI must be used on top of the footage during the editing process.

Sound has a large effect as the background of the story is described through a voice over in the beginning shot which enables the viewer to focus and clarify. Non-diegetic musics follows our protagonist out of the coffee shop and onto the street which then flows into traffic noise creating a realist atmosphere. A sound bridge occurs in the form of ringing linking the end of the shot of the explosion and a shot of his office. The sound at first seems diegetic as the sound imitates a ringing in your ear: this linked with the humanist features of the camera movements makes the viewer believe that he is in the shot.

This film falls under the genre of sic-fi, action and thriller for example, the explosion, the murder of an almost 'treasured' person and an armless woman walking towards the camera.

The way the narrative is structures in this film is that is begins with a black screen and the voice over of a news reporter. When it cuts to the first shot, it links to the devastation the news cast was previously discussing. We are shown the main character quickly and are secretly told that he is on a journey through the context of his appearance in the coffee shop and on his way to work. We then witness an explosion which contrasts with the mundane situation. We then follow our protagonist to his work place where we see many emotional people linking to the news cast heard earlier. This film opening would seem normal had it not been for its long opening shot and then it's use of humanistic characteristics in the following shot.

This film would mostly appeal to adults and teenagers, mainly male due to its violent feel. The film seems political due to it's main theme: the world being destroyed by humans and only one government is left in-charge.  People who enjoy action-packed films may enjoy this due to the large explosion at 2:22 minutes as this suggests the film is full of vicious destruction.

This film was produced in 2006. The film centres around the plot that in 2009, the last child was born due to infertility and now, in 2027, the world has fallen to anarchy because it has not found a cure. Because it was written for the future, this film may have been intended to have warning like messages about protecting and saving the earth otherwise, the world will fall into disaster.

Universal Pictures created this film which makes me wonder why such an enormous film company who usually caters for demand would produce a movie for such a certain group of people who enjoy the futuristic/sci-fi genre. Although, having the same director as the film 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban', the film may appeal to more although it caters to a niche market.

Film opening idea 2

Starts in a art museum walking through rooms. Taking photos (at first, looks like taking photos of art but its actually then revealed later they are looking at security cameras and guards etc.)

About stealing a piece of art.

1. Actor walks from one end of the shot to the other looking at pictures.
2. Close up of face taking photo of art, takes camera down and walks away
3. shot of security camera
4. then face on, taking photo upwards

*I pitch this idea to my class and friends outside of media studies. Both groups thought the idea was intriguing, but I soon came to realise that it would be near impossible to be allowed to film in a real art gallery after calling a few local galleries. I later decided that this was not an appropriate way forward. However, my media class said to stick with the art theme as we agreed nice close-ups of painting could be shot and would be very effective.

Editing- How subtle it is

Editing is films are something that you would not really notice when you are watching a film, that's why we called it the 'invisible art'. When it is well-practiced, the viewer can become so engaged that he or she is not even aware of the editor's work.

A main feature used in nearly all areas of video is the establishing shot: usually used in the beginning of a film to inform the audience about the location of the next shot. Eg. If a following shot was between two students in a class room, the establishing shot would be outside of a school or classroom. 

An example of quick cutting is that of this music video:

An editor can used editing to the movie's advantage. The length of shots usually determines their feel. (Short shots are used to express intensity and excitement.) They can also manipulate time; if the director wants to express time moving slowly the editor may include shots like a man tapping his fingers on the table or the ticking of a clock. By doing this, he has extended the film time, making the audience believe that he was been waiting instead of showing the man sitting still at a table for 5 minutes letting the audience get bored. 

With my film, I want to use quick editing and changes between shots like the music video in order to keep the audiences' attention as too many long shots may bore the them.

Sound in our favourite movie - The Illusionist.

Blurb:
Vienna 1900: Eisenheim (Edward Norton) is a brilliant stage magician, the greatest illusionist Vienna has ever seen. When is childhood friendship with the Duchess Sophie von Teschen (Jessica Biel), now betrothed to the power-hungry Brown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell), is rekindled he finds himself a target for the Prince's anger. As the clandestine romance continues, Leopold orders the shrewd Chief Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti), the head of the secret police, to close down the theatre and make Eisenheim vanish. But as the net tightens around him and tragedy strikes, Eisenheim prepares to execute his greatest illusion yet.

Sound - The first 3 minutes:
The sound in the film starts with a non-diegetic, grand piece of string music over the top of the titles. The music suddenly rises in tempo then come to a sudden halt- the black screen fades out and we see a shot of 'the illusionist' sitting on stage, on a chair. It is silent, all we hear are the coughs and shuffling of the audience and the flickering of the candle. We hear violent whispers which seem to be non-diegenic for the audience but diegenic for the illusionist as we see his face turn stern and his eyes widen. The tempo rises again as we see a figure behind the illusionist appears. A woman from the crowd breaks the music and it quietens to concentrate on her voice. The music keeps up it's eerie tempo as police start to surround the outer walls of the theatre hall and the stage. The scene cuts to the chief of police walking down a cramp hallway made cramp by the stag antlers protruding from the wall. The rhythm of the music matches his footsteps. The tempo slows and fades out quickly as the chief of police enters an office and walks towards a desk- this makes the audience expect a conversation. Under the conversation, we hear the ticking of a desk clock, most likely dubbed on top later. Music then cuts in when the shot changes to an informative secret - a flash back. The music is soft yet medium pace and we hear the police officer's voice continue as a voice over. Through the flashback, the music rises in tempo as the key points of the story progress. Light flute music and dubded over horse shoe klonking play over as he meets a girl riding on a horse.

NT. This movie also good for examples of trick camera shots (deception of the audience)

This film has a good use of eerie music which matches the scene well. I want to use this technique in my own film opening. Also, the use of other diegetic sound on top of the non diegetic music was very effective and something to consider.

Sound - Diegetic and Non-Diegetic sound

Sound effects are used in all types of film to create a sense of reality. For example, we see a car door open, we the viewer expect to hear is close. There are two types of sound in film: Diegetic and non-diegetic.

Diegetic.
Diegetic sound if the sounds and noises you would hear if you were in the movie such as dialogue and noises made from objects, processes and forces such as a clock ticking, a liquid pouring into a cup and the thud a person makes when jumping.

Non-Diegetc.
Non-diegetic sounds are the music that is overlaid to usually give suspense or evoke expectation and emotion within the audience. Another example is of when you can hear character's thoughts through a voice over- basically what no other character within the video can hear.

This clip is from the movie 'Strange than Fiction' which breaks the line between diegetic and non-diegetic sound. Will Farrell plays the character Harold Crick, an IRS employee who wakes up one day hearing a voice, narrating his actions to him. Voice overs are usually used to narrate to the audience in a non-diegetic way however, in this movie, the character can hear the voice.(SPOILERS!-which turns out to be an author, writing a book of which Harold Crick is the main character).


In my film production, I think it is important to include both types of sound as it makes a more realistic film. For non-diegetic, I could use eerie music over the top of silent parts of the film. For diegetic sound, I could use speech, or the sound of items interacting although the sound would have to be sharp to give the audience a shock.

Preliminary Task - Analysis

For our preliminary task analysis, we took the advantage to learn the techniques of filming and editing with a green screen. Most of the problems we encountered with the green screen was during editing in iMovie. We had to choose an appropriate photo/video to go in the background which looked as realistic so the person infront of the camera wasn't out of proportion to the background. In my section of the video, I put my continued audio over filming that Axel, the proffessional camera who critiqueted out preliminary tasks.

For our preliminary task analysis, we took the advantage to learn the techniques of filming and editing with a green screen. Most of the problems we encountered with the green screen was during editing in iMovie. We had to choose an appropriate photo/video to go in the background which looked as realistic so the person infront of the camera wasn't out of proportion to the background. In my section of the video, I put my continued audio over filming that Axel, the proffessional camera who critiqueted out preliminary tasks.

Mise en Scene and 'The Last King of Scotland'

During our lesson today, we watched a shot clip from the movie 'The Last King of Scotland' set in the 1960s. We saw a  clip of Nicholas Garrigan, a post-graduate doctor from Scotland, living in a small, basic home on the outskirts of Kampala on a missionary. He is then called by the Head of the Ministry of Health to travel with him to meet President Ili Amin in his home in central Kampala.

Journey Montage-
The clip shows the journey through rural Uganda to central Kampala. After reading an interview with Michael Carlin, we discover that this shot was in fact not in conjunction; that used several shots from several locations around Uganda including rural Kampala and Ginga, and built-up, central Kampala.

Colour-
From the interview with Michael Carlin, we learn that the makers of the film used colour to represent the travel through to central Kampala. In the beginning, the colours are brown, rustic and dry. As it gets closer to central Kampala, colours get brighter, lime green trees in a forest to later, bright white buildings and houses. Carlin makes the point that the colour blue is not seen until the last scene where Nichols Garrigan has arrived in President Ili Amin medical room "which ideally is a subliminal shock for the audience... hopefully doesn't hit you as a trigger that something else is happening and in comes Idi Amin, larger than life, and another part of the film begins."

Time-
The scene where the car Nicholas is in turns the corner into Kampala High Street was the film teams biggest problem as the art department had to hire 100 people to get
rid of al the post 1960 stuff and cover up things months before shooting started.

Mise en Scene in my own film opening-
With this film, miss en scene was very important due to it being set in a non-modern time. My film will be set in the modern day, making it easier and cheaper to find a place to set my film and props. Because thrillers tend to begin in a normal, average setting or time, I will have to include eerie like objects subtly into my scene. I feel it is important to set the scene as soon as the film starts, so with editing, I may be able to change the tone of the frame or make certain things seem more eerie than they really are.