Case Study 1: Children of men

Children of men

Beginning scene: The opening of the films begins with a black screen with news reports playing talking about illegal immigration into the being banned for another eight years, the screen then lights up and we get to see a coffee shop as a crowd of watch the new as it reports on the death of Diego Ricardo the youngest man alive as he was stabbed after not giving a signature to a fan. We then see someone pushing through the crowd to get to the front of the counter to order a coffee. Once he has order the coffee he steps out of the coffee  and walks down the road were we can see this is the future, the man then stops to put some alcohol into this coffee then an explosion goes off from the coffee shop the scene then fades to black and the title "children of men" is revealed.

Spoken work: In the start of the film spoken word if used to establish the tone and  themes of the films. We find out about the death of Diego Ricardo through a news report it is then revealed that  Ricardo is the youngest man on the planet which lets use an audience member understand  the world the film is set in. We are also introduced to are main character  Theo we learn that he is the main character as he is the only person in the scene who speaks a whole sentence in the coffee shop.


Music: the music in the scene starts to play quietly once the news report on the TV begins to start. The music that is used is classical music is used to help to add emotion and meaning to the scene , the sound used is this scene is diegetic as the music starts with the news report and begins and fades when Theo begins to leave the coffee shop.

Sound Fx:There are  many sound effects used in the opening scene of the film. The sound Fx used are to make the world the film is set in seem more grounded for example the first sound Fx we hear is Theo pushing through the crowd we then hear his rustling through his pocket to get out his change to pay for his coffee. Once Theo steps out of the coffee shop  we hear the sound of motorbikes as the drive past him. The next sound affect we hear is the explosion this  is the loudest sound Fx in the whole opening scene this is followed by a high picked ringing sound to show the affect of the explosion on Theo's ears.