Children of Men Analysis using Mise-en-Scene and Sound

The poster of Children of Men

Children on Men is about a dystopian future where everything is as bad as it can be. It is directed by  Alfonso Cuaron and is a Sci-Fi film. It is set In 2027, after 18 years of global human infertility, civilisation is about to collapse as humanity faces the reality of extinction. 

The camera is crucial when introducing the main character as it follows him using a tracking shot out of the cafe. On top of this, the man is also central in the cafe scene, barging through the crowd so we automatically know he is the main character, this reflects his spectacular acting throughout this film.

The costume of the man is very rugged and has loose change which he pays for his coffee with, this backs up his tramp look. Additionally, he has very dull coloured clothing on which contrasts with the buses that are high tech and he is just completely the opposite. He could also be perceived as an alcoholic as he pours whisky into his morning coffee from a flask. This looks like a normal day to day activity for him as he was eager to stop where he first could to put the whiskey in. The clip we watched shows no make up. 

There is mixed elements of lighting throughout the clip. There is some elements of light to show the future and how high-tech and cool it would be to live like that in the future. On the other hand there is also a lot of darkness to show how boring the lives of the people are especially as the plot of the film is about having no kids.

I think London is a good place to have this movie set in because it is familiar as a city to many people. Subsequently the scene looks very realistic even with the addition of the dystopian future objects like the bus with movies on the side.

The sound in Children of Men shows the kind of character he is. As he walks into the coffee shop to order his drink, he is the only person to speak over the news which shows his disinterest to the world around him, this may connote that he is already a bit drunk. The actor is followed by white noise, whilst the crying people and followed by classical music to associate him with negative things. Furthermore, the classical music also acts as a trigger for our emotions which should be sad a sympathetic. There are lots of diegetic sounds like the motorbikes, the news reader and the coffee machines. There is also non diegetic music like the classical music. Finally the noise of the explosion creates white noise that acts as a sound bridge linking one scene to the next. This mean the explosion has affected him emotionally and shows the film from the main characters perspective.