After the credits, the screen stays black while diegetic sounds can be heard – news reports about the stabbing of the world’s youngest person, ‘Baby Diego’. The scene appears with no transition to a crowded group shot in a café, judging by the sandwiches in the shelves and the words ‘hot chocolate’, ‘cappuccino’ and ‘americano’ painted on the wall. The group of people appear to be stunned by the news, other diegetic sounds that can be heard in this scene are women sobbing and the occasional quiet murmur of a conversation. This shot is also taken from a high angle as if the camera was the television the people were watching from. The mixture of blues, greys, blacks and purples give the scene a dark and gloomy atmosphere, reflecting the nature of the news.
A man, who looks to be main character, makes his way through the crowded café to get to the counter and buy a coffee. His disinterest in the upsetting news is shown by him not looking up even once towards the television. After having received his coffee, he then proceeds to make his way out again, the camera from the high angle trailing after him. The viewpoint of the camera looks like a POV shot because the height of the view is almost the same compared with the main character’s eye level and before it went out the door, it looked at the TV above the doorframe and back down to its eye level.
Once out of the door, the camera creates an establishing shot by looking around the city – it depicts swarming pedestrians on the pavement and a jam-packed road. The subtitles, ‘London, 16th November 2027’ then appear, giving us more information about the setting. A futuristic vehicle then races past the shot, which the camera then follows and as the vehicle speeds into the distance, our attention is caught by the main character, who is now starting to walk down the pavement. The camera then goes back to following him, keeping a respectable distance between him and the camera, keeping the shot a long shot.
The setting is in a futuristic London, unlike other sci-fi films, Children of Men is almost as realistic as possible – the advances in technology is subtler, nothing more than floating holographic televisions/monitors, whereas other films have flying cars, robotic pets, communicating robots, spaceships. It also maintains the simple features of the modern world as we see it today i.e. the traditional way of making coffee, the use of cars and buses, lack of bins (there were abandoned blackbags on the pavement).
The costume is still neutral, similar to what we wear today and no robot-like shields or video enabled sunglasses. Most of the people who appear in the scene wear darker colours to echo the miserable atmosphere of a dystopian society.
The lighting used comes from artificial fluorescent bulbs and a ‘cold’ sunlight (due to the cloudy weather). These lights are emitted in hues of white, blue and grey which gives the environment a bitter and cold feeling, in contrast to warm sunlight where everything appears in colours of gold, orange and brown. The use of diegetic sound makes the scene seem ‘realistic’, such as the news reports, the music for the tribute from the news, the sobbing women, dialogue (transactional conversation) and sound of traffic – mixture of honking and sputtering engines from old cars.
Screenshots
A black blank screen. During this, news reports on the stabbing of ‘Baby Diego’ can be heard.
Crowded group shot, taken from a high angle. Everyone in the shot are looking up at the television, judging by the sombre expressions on their faces, they are affected by the news.
Same shot as above, but this time, with the main character in the middle, counting his change, not looking up even once at what everyone else is looking at. Not the slightest perturbed by the news.
Shot behind main character’s back, almost the same height of what main character’s POV would be like. Low angle, camera pointed directly at television, as if watching it.
Establishing shot #1, can see streets of London, easily identified by the construction and design of the architecture and the fact that people drive on the left and that the drivers are on the right. Shows cloudy sky – typical British weather.
Establishing shot #2, panned from Establishing shot #2, following motorcycle to transition to next scene. Subtitles ‘London, 16th November 2027’ to indicate setting.
Long shot of main character from behind, like the camera is following the main character, keeps a distance, as if stalking.
We could:
1. Start with a dramatic scene - the fallout from it dictates the rest of the plot
2. Track one character with the camera to feel as if weare in the scene with them
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