FILM OPENINGS

During the lesson, we brain stormed about the codes and conventions of a typical film opening. This is what we came up with.

The main purpose of a film opening is to entice the audience into carrying on watching the film.

'CHILDREN OF MEN' OPENING ANALYSIS

We analysed the opening of the film 'Children Of Men' and came up with a fair amount of ideas.

In the very beginning of the clip, we hear a voice over of news reporters talking about the dystopian features:

• Army occupation of Mosques
• Day 1000, Siege of Seattle
• British boarders closed for 8 years

We also know that the film was located in London in the 16th of November 2027; we are able to identify straight away that this film is set in the future.

The fact that it is the 'Siege of Seattle' foreshadows a negative vibe. This is because Seattle is seen to be a 'nice city' where the area is calm and less polluted.



According to our conventions of the future, we expect to see improved technology, modern buildings, clean streets/roads etc. However is this clip, Seattle seems like a very busy city with polluted air and full of rubbish lying around the streets. This may suggest the carelessness of the people, and the lack of organisation within the city.

In this scene, we can also see 'Chinese carts' and 'tuktuks', this shows the diversity in culture because we don't usually see these type of transportation in London.

In this scene, we can see a military helicopter, this gives an impression of how monitored and oppressed the city is.

Firstly, we are able to identify the man in the middle as the main character because the camera follows the him throughout the clip. He is also positioned slightly to the left but the still covers the middle area of the frame. 

Other than recognising the main character, we were also able to figure out his personality briefly. 

   - Careless (about the news / in general): He is facing the opposite direction to the others; which are giving full attention to the news. He also bumps into the lady on the left and ignores her instead of apologising.

   - Lives near the coffee shop: It seems like he comes to this coffee shop everyday as if it is his daily morning routine. We know this from the way he already has the correct amount of change in his hands ready to pay. This means that he comes to this coffee shop very often that he knows the price.

    - Alcoholic: He takes out an alcohol bottle from inside his coat and pours it into his coffee.

QUESTIONS 
After watching the opening, we came up with many questions. This suggests that this film's opening was a success due to the fact that it creates curiosity for the audience. 

1. Why is the death of baby diego a big deal?
2. How can he possibly be the youngest person?
3. What caused the explosion?
4. Who planted the bomb?
5. Why the coffee shop?
6. Who's is this man?
7. Why doesn't he care?