Movies - TV
Alfonso Cuarón's Philosophy For Children Of Men Carried Over To The Cinematography
By TYLER LLEWYN TAING
Loosely adapted from PD James’s novel of the same name, “Children of Men” is widely regarded as Alfonso Cuarón’s dystopian masterpiece. Working with his regular cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, Cuarón uses his signature style of the floating camera, dense frames, and one-shots, but in a significantly larger scope than his previous films.
Where movies typically use close-up shots to peer into a character’s soul, Cuarón believes there are other ways to invoke a person’s psychology. The director likened this film to his previous project, “Y Tu Mamá También,” saying, “This production was going to be the same in the sense that character is as important as social environment. That means that there are no close-ups, everything is seen from a distance.”
Cuarón described another technique used: “We are trying to avoid editing seeking for an effect. Rather than that, we tried to create moments of truthfulness and to have the camera registering that moment of truthfulness.” The lack of editing was vital to the director’s control over pace and immersion, giving the audience a sense of living and breathing with the characters.