G321 - Film Opening Analysis - Science Fiction/ Thriller: Children of Men

Children of Men (2006)

The opening sequence of this film begins with the revealing of the "Universal" institution logo. This would have been a deliberate choice made by the production company so as to present the audience with an idea of the standard of the film due to Universal's popularity and success within the film industry. However, unusually, the Universal theme sound is not used during the reveal of the logo. This complements the genre of the film and causes the audience to be unsuspecting of what is to follow. The second institution revealed is "Strike", a smaller, independent company that use Universal to distribute their films. The animation of the red, spiky shapes converging to reveal the title hints towards the thriller aspect of the film, therefore foreshadowing the narrative of the film.

From the opening of the film it first seems as though the genre of the film is to be science fiction/ action. This is due to the cold told created by the blue colour palette. The bold, block titles also mirror this genre, appearing to be strong and connoting power. However, the explosion followed by the woman walking out of the coffee shop holding her own arm which has been blown off causes the viewer to see the film as a thriller rather than an action film. However, the futuristic appearance of the city still rectifies that the film will be science fiction.



The advertising poster for the film reiterates
the target audience as being young men.

The targeted audience of the film appears to be men between the ages of 17 and 35 due to the use of explosions within the first few minutes of the film as this connotes that the film will contain lots of action and would therefore appeal more to young men. It also comes across that the film would be targeted at the middle class as it appears to be a film which would be better suited to showing in cinemas than at home and therefore the watchers would need to be in a financial situation which allowed them the opportunity to visit cinemas and pay out for tickets. However, the inclusion of violence so early on in the film makes it apparent that it would not be directed at the upper class.

The film opens on a disruption, the death of the youngest child in the world, and reveals that the narrative of the film is to be based around this matter. Aside from this, the narrative remains quite ambiguous as there is not much information given away about why this has happened and why this causes an issue in the story-world. This causes the audience to start asking questions and foreshadows the narrative including an explanation of this and that this will play a major role in the films narrative.

The opening of this film appears to be giving the audience a message to care for people's well being and focus not only on their physical state but also their mental state. The news story in the film tells the audience that the boy committed suicide as he could not cope with his fame which places importance upon the way in which we place too much pressure on celebrities and cause them to take drastic measures. It allows the audience to see that we are the cause of some people's downfalls, even when we believe we are doing the moral and correct thing.

The opening of the film reveals that the majority of characters in the film will be average and seemingly normal people. This is important as it will the audience to connect with the characters and therefore feel more engaged in the narrative. The only character the audience are given the opportunity to truly examine is a middle aged man who buys a coffee before adding in whiskey. This leads the audience to view him as the protagonist. He appears to be damaged due to his rough appearance, dark clothing and reliance upon alcohol connoting his potential failure within the film. This prevents the audience from being emotionally engaged with the protagonist and could imply that within the film the protagonist will prove his worth to the audience in the same way as he will to the remainder of the characters within the film.

The atmosphere within the opening sequence initially appears to be one of loss, sadness and confusion surrounding the death of the aforementioned child. This is shown by the blank looks on the character's faces in the coffee shop and their attention being focused on the television screen during the report. The blue colour palette helps add to the sad atmosphere and so was probably chosen to make it more obvious to the audience that these people are sad and their blank faces are due to disbelief as oppose to not caring. However, the atmosphere dramatically shifts to one of terror and fear when the coffee shop unexpectedly explodes. This drastic shift foreshadows a narrative filled with unexpected changes and reflects the thriller aspect of the genre.

The themes made evident from the opening of the film include that of death, loss, violence, fear and terrorisation. The unexpected explosion in conjunction with the news story about the boy's suicide work together to produce the evidence for a theme of death and loss whilst the explosion alone creates hints towards themes of terrorisation, fear and violence.


The setting of the film is established as being in London due to the red double-decker buses which are usually associated with the British capital. The setting of London has probably been chosen as it has connotations of both crime and success. This combination foreshadows the narrative of the film, including both destruction and success, potentially linked to the protagonist's success levels within the film. The use of this location makes it evident that the film is of a high budget as the location would have had to have been secured or edited in using green screens, both of which would cost a lot of money.

The sound remains quiet until the explosion in the coffee shop. This allows the viewer to focus on what is being said in the news report and helps to create an atmosphere of calm and sets up the equilibrium. However, the sudden loud explosion offsets the balance and connotes that the tone of the film is set to change.

Editing within the opening is continuous and slow paced causing the audience to expect this from the rest of the film. This signifies that the films narrative will be continuous and will follow a single protagonist throughout as it has in the opening of the clip, making the protagonist appear more important and setting him to be the "hero".

The lighting in the opening sequence is very naturalistic which allows the audience to connect to the characters and the narrative more as it feels more real and presents a façade of verisimilitude. It's a façade because the genre of the film is Science Fiction and therefore we know that the film itself is not going to be realistic at all, rather that it will appear as if it could happen in a very distant future as oppose to the present time.

The variety of different shots used within the opening takes away from the realistic feel of the film due to the many different angles used. However, the tracking shot of the protagonist allows the audience to feel involved with the society and the surroundings and therefore this adds to the verisimilitude of the film. It causes the audience to connect with the narrative more effectively and pulls their attention into the film.

The opening represents a futuristic London, year 2027, in a very negative way. The news report tells of how there are no more children being born as well as how the deportation of immigrants has become a social norm. This causes the audience to believe that our society is collapsing back into prehistoric ways of thinking and shows that our species is slowly dying out. The women in the clip are represented as being emotional and easily affected by the news story. This could reflect upon the narrative of the film and foreshadow future events. it could also hint towards why there are no more children and how this is affecting them.

The titles within the opening stand out from the black background and are not integrated into the clip making them appear to be unrelated and therefore not as important to the narrative. This allows the audience to infer that the narrative will require attention and therefore the titles are placed before hand so as not to detract the viewers attention.

From the evidence provided I have come to the conclusion that this opening contains both some aspects to strive towards and some aspects to avoid. I intend to also create a sense of reality and verisimilitude within my film opening so as to allow the audience to connect to the narrative however I would like to avoid the style of titles used within this piece as I feel it does not provide the audience with enough information about the film and rather distances the characters from the actors and does not provide the crew with any credit prior to the main title sequence at the end of the film.