Limitless
Opening sequence analysisLimitless (2011)Directed by: Neil BurgerBradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, Robert DeNiro
We know that the protagonist is quite successful and smart, he has four digit IQ he has just moved into a luxurious penthouse apartment. Despite this he is considering suicide and has killer trying to break down his door. We learn that he was to near fulfilling his dreams.
The opening scene created several enigmas are created such as;
who is this man?
why are people after him?
how was he about to impact the world?
why does he have a flu digit IQ?
why is his stuff in boxes?
who is after him?
why is he contemplating suicide?
why would he rather kill himself than be killed?
why is he so seemly in control of the situation?
The narrative uses the action code (an action or event that implies something else is going to happen). Such as banging on the door suggests that the antagonist (or so the audience assume) are going to get in. Non diegetic voice over suggest he's going to tell his story, he is the protagonist as he got most screening time and he is telling his story through this movie. The scene where he stood on the edge symbolises suicide and the fractal zoom and fly by shot symbolises that the he will jump.
The atmosphere is a contemporary and very busy modern city. His condo is luxurious with top notch technology. Floating camera or the fly-by camera action scaling the building gives it a dreamlike quality, suggesting the protagonist's quick elevation to achieve his success and earning a place in the condo. The tension, violence and aspect of crime shown by the panning across the lobby revealing dead security guard, over the shoulder shot of his neighbour being shot and exaggerated diegetic sound of metal door being smashed, the credits were edited on the noises.
The atmosphere is a contemporary and very busy modern city. His condo is luxurious with top notch technology. Floating camera or the fly-by camera action scaling the building gives it a dreamlike quality, suggesting the protagonist's quick elevation to achieve his success and earning a place in the condo. The tension, violence and aspect of crime shown by the panning across the lobby revealing dead security guard, over the shoulder shot of his neighbour being shot and exaggerated diegetic sound of metal door being smashed, the credits were edited on the noises.
Protagonist's representation is established through the combination of micro-elements. The close up of a worried facial expression of him standing on the edge of the building suggests that he is going to kill himself. Along with the non-diegetic voice over telling us that he is successful and smart despite these aspects he is going to kill himself. The boxes and the clean, untouched furnitures suggests that he has just become successful, he is a new money. The bird eye shot shows how high the drop is and symbolises how high up in status and success the protagonist is, by jumping he will loose everything.
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