Children of Men

The 2006 thriller “The Children of Men” was at the forefront of cinematography in the early 2000’s with its impressive use of long takes, tracking shots, and other cinematographic techniques. The impressive use of long takes must be discussed before other techniques. Many instances throughout the movie when the protagonist and others are in the car, the scene will be a long continuous shot that spins around the inside of the car. One of the most famous scenes in the movie occurred when Theo, Kee, and the other members of the group were riding in the car when they are ambushed as a flaming vehicle blocks the road. While they are attacked the camera pans around in all directions to show the attack. We see Julian get shot by a man on a motorcycle while others throw rocks at the car as they try to flee. The way they captured this scene was considered a technological breakthrough for that time. According to the Behind the Scenes from the movie they built a giant rig on top of a car to allow for free movement of the camera, because the camera man would not be able to fit in the car and move around as they needed. This scene was groundbreaking and took so long to do that they only had one chance to film it. Similarly long scenes take place later in the movie. One such scene that was taken in one long shot is when Kee gives birth to a baby in the Bexhill Refugee Camp. Another very remarkable long take occurred towards the end of the movie when Theo, Kee, the baby, and others try to reach a boat by travelling through the streets of Bexhill as a war between the rebels and police wages between them. This shot is perhaps the most impressive as it lasts for over 6 minutes. The shot follows the group from them starting to head out all the way to Theo rescuing Kee from the building the fishes are fighting in. This scene is shot in a way that makes the viewer perceive it as a POV shot. The chaos of the scene is increased by having a wide angle shot allowing more destruction to be captured at once, thus overloading the viewer with new information and dragging them into the feelings the characters would have. The shot is equivalent to the viewpoint of a person following the characters in the street would see. The shot is eye level with the camera shaking and even being splattered with blood. Much of the rest of the movie is filmed in a similar format with the camera acting like the POV of a witness to the events. There are also times where it acts like the POV of a character in the car, such as in the farm escape, or a character sitting down and talking to another character, like Theo and his friend speaking at the beginning. The POV shot is used quite often because the Cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, wanted it to seem like a raw documentary. These POV shots were also tracking shots because they followed characters, such as the beginning cafe scene, the farm escape scene, and especially during the final long shot of the war ridden refugee camp. The filmmakers and cinematographers wanted us to feel like we were witnessing the events firsthand. They achieved this through their use of POV tracking, as well as filming the movie to appear through the lens of the main character’s experiences. We were not privy to information the main character did not know. We witnessed what Theo witnessed the way he did, such as him overhearing the Fishes’ plan at the farm. We don’t cut away from Theo to a seperate scene of the Fishes speaking we instead see them through the window Theo is looking through and barely hear what they are saying. In a sense this cinematography allows us to feel we are in Theo’s place. This same effect is best expressed during the scene where Theo is walking through the soldiers in the warzone with Kee and the Baby. The Soldiers are looking directly at the camera and we are seeing everything from Theo’s POV. In conclusion, the cinematography of POV shots makes the viewer feel like they are really in the circumstances of the movie, while the long takes break new ground in the field and awe the viewer.