Children of Men report
Report
In modern day television (both television and movies) sound is on the same level of importance as visuals. Without the use of sound, a film/television show would have no where near as much effect
Throughout the entirety of the opening scene, there are many types of sound that are used. These include: Sound effects, spoken word and music. All three different types of sound add up and help to create meaning, whilst also adding emphasis to key moments/scenes within the movie. The first type of sound that i'm going to be analysing is spoken word; quite simply, this means anything that is said by a character.
When we look at the opening scene of the movie, we're able to notice off the back that there isn't any conversation going on between the characters in the shop. This was done on purpose, as it was a good way to show how immersed and focused the characters were on listening to the news - moreover, it allowed us to be able to clearly understand the news. Another thing that the audience is made to notice is that in the first piece of dialogue that we hear is the sound of a news reporter speaking the current situation that the world is in, and that Diego Ricardo has now become the youngest person on the planet... this is important information as it sets the scene, and gives us (the audience) an idea of what's going on in the world. However, there is a couple of things that are said, and that is by Theo. They chose to make Theo say the only words as it portrays his as the main character. The dialogue that comes from Theo is naturalistic, as he's simply asking for a coffee. Although there isn't that much dialogue in the opening scene, the parts that we hear actually do have significant meaning; allowing us to get an overall idea of what we should expect in the upcoming scenes of the movie. Overall, it gives us the idea that we're in a Sci-Fi world, which is rather post-apocalyptic looking.
The next type of sound that we encounter in the first scene is the music. It's evident that music is used in films to help add meaning and emotion, and it's used in the same manor for this film. In the opening scene, classical music starts to play when the news reporters are talking about the death of Diego Ricardo (the youngest person in the world). Evidently, this is a sad moment, and the music was added to try and emphasise the emotions that the characters within the coffee shop were feeling. We can tell that the music that came on was diegetic due to the fact that it started when the reporters were talking about Diego, then faded out when Theo walked out of the televisions vicinity. To conclude, there isn't a large amount of music that is used in the opening scene, but the music that is used is used effectively as it helps to increase the emotion that we should feel.
Last of all, we have sound effects. These on their own have three different purposes when used in a movie: to simulate reality, to create something that isn't actually there and to create mood. When the scene opens, we can hear the sounds of a coffee machine in the background - although we can't see the coffee being made, we can tell what it is from the fact that Theo says "coffee please". This gives the audience the feeling that it's just a normal day for our protagonist, and he's just living his peaceful day-to-day life. Furthermore, we hear a plethora of vehicle engines outside in the street... these also help to create a more realistic and casual feel to the movie. Once Theo walks out of the coffee shop and out onto the street, there are a lot of synchronous sounds (sound that we can see within the scene) e.g. the cars, buses, motorbikes, helicopters etc. Finally, we come to the explosion. This part of the scene is truly something that catches everyone by surprise, and the intensity of it is amplified by the loud sound effect; if we just saw the bomb explode with no sound effect with it, there wouldn't be anywhere near as much shock to it as there is with the sound effect added to it.When we look at the opening scene of the movie, we're able to notice off the back that there isn't any conversation going on between the characters in the shop. This was done on purpose, as it was a good way to show how immersed and focused the characters were on listening to the news - moreover, it allowed us to be able to clearly understand the news. Another thing that the audience is made to notice is that in the first piece of dialogue that we hear is the sound of a news reporter speaking the current situation that the world is in, and that Diego Ricardo has now become the youngest person on the planet... this is important information as it sets the scene, and gives us (the audience) an idea of what's going on in the world. However, there is a couple of things that are said, and that is by Theo. They chose to make Theo say the only words as it portrays his as the main character. The dialogue that comes from Theo is naturalistic, as he's simply asking for a coffee. Although there isn't that much dialogue in the opening scene, the parts that we hear actually do have significant meaning; allowing us to get an overall idea of what we should expect in the upcoming scenes of the movie. Overall, it gives us the idea that we're in a Sci-Fi world, which is rather post-apocalyptic looking.
The next type of sound that we encounter in the first scene is the music. It's evident that music is used in films to help add meaning and emotion, and it's used in the same manor for this film. In the opening scene, classical music starts to play when the news reporters are talking about the death of Diego Ricardo (the youngest person in the world). Evidently, this is a sad moment, and the music was added to try and emphasise the emotions that the characters within the coffee shop were feeling. We can tell that the music that came on was diegetic due to the fact that it started when the reporters were talking about Diego, then faded out when Theo walked out of the televisions vicinity. To conclude, there isn't a large amount of music that is used in the opening scene, but the music that is used is used effectively as it helps to increase the emotion that we should feel.
Overall, the use of sound in the first scene has a humongous impact on what the viewer feels and how they react to different events. Spoken word is key as it allows us to gauge an understanding of their personality and what they're going to be like throughout the movie. Music also plays a big role, due to its way of allowing the viewer to know the surroundings/situations that the characters are in. Finally, we have special effects; possibly the most crucial type of sound in any movie. The sound effects help us to establish the type of area someone is in, can create an image of what the viewer cant see and also intensify the mood of the scene. Sound plays an extremely important role in movies, and most of them wouldn't be anywhere near the same if there wasn't any sound.
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