Analysing Opening Sequences - Limitless

LIMITLESS

 “Limitless” by Neil Burger falls into the category of thriller; I chose this movie to analyze its opening sequence because it shows how to create a sense of tension.

Scene Summary

The movie kicks off with an unorthodox tracking shot through a city, which is played behind the credits; the shot is zooming through objects like cars and shops. This shot is disorientated/blurred, this has been done using editing. The disorientation of the shot is clever, as it makes the audience feel that their vision is also disorientated like they are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, this soon hints the viewer that the film is based around drugs. After the tracking shot, the camera focuses on to billboards which are displaying images of the structure of the brain, and stimulated neurons, this reinforces the fact that the movie will be drug related, or about the impacts of the drugs towards the brain.

The credits are faded into the opening shot of the film using a graphic match, which is an establishing shot of the city/area which the film will be set in. The establishing shot is like a transition from a satellite view of a landscape to an aerial view of a city. This is an establishing shot because the audience gets the view of the city/area which the film could possibly be set in.

The camera on a high angle then focuses on to a middle aged man, dodging past cars in order to cross the road, and then there is an immediate zoom on to the character, which is played by Bradley Cooper. The high angled shot gives the impression that someone is looking down on the character, and then the close up of Bradley Cooper could be used to give the audience a chance to define the character he plays. For example, using the close up, the audience can see that the character is a smoker. Furthermore, the close up is most importantly used to emphasize the character to the audience that he is the main character of the movie.

The mise-en-scene of the location and the character indicates that this scene is set in an urbanized city, and also the character by appearance looks like a person with alcohol/drug issues, moreover the clothes worn by the character looks old and tattered which suddenly implies to the audience that he is broke. We can also tell from the dialogue and the scene that being a writer has taken a tool on his life and he has taken up smoking.

The cigarette is a key prop used in the opening sequence as it is used to show that he has an unhealthy lifestyle and moreover it creates questions inside the audience’s mind, for example: Is he depressed?

We then cut to a wide shot in his small flat, where the character is seen typing on his laptop, the character is barely seen as his desk is cluttered with items. The mise en scene of the location suggest that he lives in a small flat, also due to the state of his room the audience can infer that he in unorganized. .

Then, the location changes to a pub were the main character is talking to two other men about his book. The conversation is captured used shot / reverse shots; this is also an eye line match, because it gives the audience a chance to see what the main character is seeing. Also the use of the shot reverse shots are really effective because it used to show the emotion of the main character, who seems really enthusiastic about his book, and the other men who bored of listening to Bradley Cooper. This specific part of the opening scene adds to the characters mise-en-scene, because the audience feels that others find him unimportant, this is evident when Bradley Cooper was talking and the other characters were giving him puzzled looks and inferred to be not valuing his judgments.

Also alcohol is another prop used to show the kind of lifestyle the character leads and the kind of person he is. It also shows that the character does not care if it harms his body or not

The cross cuts between location is very useful for the audience because it helps the viewer to understand the characters lifestyle. This tells the audience that the main characters life is very simple, as he goes to the pub for drink, then back to the flat to continue writing on his book.

In conclusion the opening scene of limitless adds a slight tone of mystery to the main character, and little information is revealed, this leaves the audience engaged and excited.

Sound

A lot of sound is used within the opening sequence of Limitless, which suggests to a lot to the audience. The opening credits music is high tempo and it is building up to something and this is creating suspense. This use of non-diegetic music keeps the audience engaged in the film.

There is also a lot of ambient noise of the cars going past and people talking on the sidewalks. However these ambient sounds distorted this could be because we are flying past them, this ambient sound also sounds like that the person who is listening is under the influence or high from a drug as the words and noise are distort and hard to understand.

There is also narration from the main character that is talking about how he was a year ago and what he was up to the year before and how he has changed. This gives the audience the impression that the character is reflecting on what and how he used to be, this narration is a very clever way to show time passage.

1.      This screen shot shows the tracking shot of the city, this runs in the background while, the credits are displayed in the background. This is like an establishing shot, as this shows the audience a city, and this could be where the film is taking place.

2.      The opening establishing shot is a long shot that shows a specific area of a city. We see modern and urban building and surroundings, which gives the impression that it is set in present day metropolitan city.

3.      The camera on a downward tilt  focusing mainly on to a middle aged man, dodging past cars in order to cross the road. This is the first glimpse of the possible main character.

4.      The immediate close up of the man, indicates that he is the main character, and this close is used to show the importance of him.

5.      This screenshot show a combination of two shots, these two shots make up the shot reverse shot, this is also an eye line match. This is effective because it used to show the emotion of the main character, who seems really enthusiastic about his book, and the other men who bored of listening to Bradley Cooper. Also using editing shallow focus have been put in place, this is to add emphasizes on the characters rather than the background.

6.      These two screenshots are when the camera is in perspective of the character, so first we see the character typing then and then looking at a blank screen. The two point of view shots are cross are there to make the audience feel like they are a part of the movie, this keeps them engaged.

7.      The last shot of the opening sequence is at the characters flat, this is a mid shot as it allows the audience to see enough of the character as well as the background setting.

 

Titles and Credits

There are actually a lot of credits before the film actually begins, but there are two separate slides for production/distribution company logos and credits. Out the tons of credits which include main actors, the novel it was based on, the last was the directorial credit. There is no real transition between the slides, just a simple cut, the colour scheme in a black slide with white text. The slides provide necessary information and nothing more. Just before the movie actually starts a tracking shot through a city start, and then on top of that the name of the movie appears in white.

This was a good one to watch to see how many credits there can be. The approach here is to put a lot of them in a block right at the beginning. I think we will have to do something more creative than that, but I don't think doing them like this film is a bad thing. It helps the audience settle down and concentrate.