“Children of Men” Behind the scenes of a long take that depicts the overwhelming “situation”

Long climax and miraculous gore

I also have to mention the legendary long climax (379 seconds).

　According to an article published in Vulture , they had a 14-day schedule to film the scene, which features a battle in a refugee detention area that had been turned into a battlefield. It took 12 days to prepare, and although they didn't start shooting the camera until the afternoon of the 13th day, Cuarón made a cut midway through and the film was finished. Once the flow was stopped, it would take five hours to restore the site to its original state, so it was not possible to take pictures again that day.

And the fateful 14th day. In other words, this is the last day of this scene. During the shoot, which started in the morning, a camera operator tripped and dropped his camera. From then on, it took another five hours to recover, and in the afternoon, the last Being There finally came, with all the staff holding their breath as they watched.

“Children of Men” © Photofest / Getty Images

Things seemed to be going smoothly until halfway through. However, in the scene where the main character, Theo, tries to escape from gunfire, he ends up escaping into a bus, and yet another incident occurs. The blood glue mechanism exploded and left a red stain on the camera lens. At that moment, Cuaron apparently yelled "Cut!" but, for better or worse, his voice was drowned out by the gunfire and explosions, so the camera kept rolling and the shooting continued. became.

Cuaron thought that the bloody footage was useless, but his long-time friend and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki responded, ``You idiot! This is a miracle!'' Perhaps he was taken aback by these words, and as a result, this take was continued as it was, and was successfully adopted in the main story. The camera's gore became the ultimate element that gave the audience a sense of realism, as if they were really there.

By the way, this blood glue remained on the film until the end of the long take, but that's not the case. When the main character enters the room and the light shines from the ceiling, it magically disappears. If so, it is reasonable to think that the video was skillfully switched somewhere before this point. When I rewatched the main story again with this in mind, I noticed that there was a point where the screen went completely black for just a few tenths of a second when the main character jumped from outdoors to indoors. Perhaps at this point, the blood-stained image switches to something else, and CG blood was intentionally added to obscure the transition, and it was removed in the subsequent scene where light shines through, without making it look strange. (This is just my speculation, though).

There are probably several other switching points in this 379-second long take. No matter how many times I watch the movie in an attempt to find out these points, the cutoff remains a mystery, but each time I watch it, I find myself getting more and more fascinated by the movie instead of getting bored with it. This is all because of the "situation" that the creators, including Cuaron and Lubezki, have depicted without allowing any compromise. In front of such lofty aspirations, questions such as ``whether or not it's really going to take a long time'' seem inconsequential.

Although ``Children of Men'' was so thoroughly crafted, its worldwide box office revenue at the time of its release was only $70 million, despite the production cost of $76 million. If we consider only the theatrical revenue, it would have ended in the red. When that happens, it becomes difficult to shoot the next work. However, Cuaron was able to return to the forefront with `` Gravity '' (13), even though it took seven years to complete, and the film industry was able to appreciate the true value of ``Children of Men.'' This must be because there were many people who supported him and still believed in Cuaron's further potential.

In 2018, he releases his first new work in five years, "Roma." I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of work it will be, and how rich and eye-opening the situation will be depicted.

*Reference: http://www.vulture.com/2016/12/children-of-men-alfonso-cuaron-cvr.html

Text: USHIZU ATSUNOBU

Born in Nagasaki in 1977. When he was 3 years old, he saw ``Superman II'' with his father and became fascinated with movies. After The Graduate from Meiji University, he worked for a movie broadcasting channel and then became a movie writer. Currently, in addition to writing for Eiga.com, EYESCREAM, Real Sound Movie Club, etc., he also contributes to media press and theater programs.

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*Information as of August 2018 article publication.