Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men is not your typical sci-fi film. Instead of a typical technologically advanced future, the viewer is put in a dystopian reality where there is no future. Details such as billboards advertising suicide kits and political markings on urban walls aide the film in showcasing a world where people are coping with a collapsed society as they wait an impending extinction. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, alongside Cuarón, aiming for a documentarian tone used very few edits in the film.. This resulted in very long takes: the opening sequence, country road ambush, Kee’s birth, and the Bexhill escape. Gary Thieltges of Doggicam Systems invented a special camera rig to film the ambush scene which allowed a long sequence to be shot in a vehicle. The car was modified so that the actors’ seats and the front windshield could tilt out of the cameras path. Despite the utilization of some of these sequences requiring some digital transitions, they still required days of planning and preparation.

The desaturated, high contrast blue tint grading of the film aided to the grim reality that Children of Men is set in. Since medium to wide angle lenses were used, Cuarón and Lubezki had more real estate to insert more characters and environment into the shots which amplified the engagement of the audience. With the new camera technology, lenghty sequences, and an interesting story, it is no wonder Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men was nominated for an Oscar in Best Cinematography.