Sweet Music Centre

Limitless is a film with so much going for it. Great plot, interesting camera techniques and shots and the acting isn’t half bad. So then why has it not reached the perpetual level of film greatness? This film has it all and yet is missing the key ingredient to bind all these elements together. And what is this key ingredient you ask? Well it’s not ‘Chemical X’ (sorry for the power puff girl’s analogy) or anything complicated for that matter. All this film is missing is an ending. Of course Limitless has an ending, but I mean a ‘real’ ending, one of substantial relevance that would pack a punch and catch the viewer off guard. I have my own ideas for an alternative ending, but we’ll come to that later.

Plot

Limitless is basically about a struggling writer (which is apt as the film is based on a book) who takes some magical pills that allows him to access inconceivable super human brain power. And thus he becomes an overnight success, finishing his book in less than a week and instantly becoming a dab hand at anything he puts his mind to. But with great power comes great responsibility, oh wait no, that’s Spiderman. But Uncle Ben does have a point. Eddie Mora (Bradley Cooper) does inherit great responsibility. His newly acquired powers are put to the test against formidable foe’s including loan sharks, a mysterious stalker, the financial tycoon Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro) and the drugs devastating side effects. And thus marks the start of Eddie’s drug induced, action packed rise to greatness. This of course brings us on to the ending.

The end

The final scene takes place ten years later where we see that the main character has become a senator and is running for president courtesy of those mighty little tablets. Eddie appears to be a new man, stereotypically presidential looking. He comes face to face with Van Loon who has now solved the riddle regarding Eddie’s unexplainable intelligence. Van Loon has bought out the labs which produce the ‘pill of limitless power’ or NZT as it’s called in the film meaning that Eddie would be form here on indebted to Carl Van Loon. If I was directing this film the end credits would begin rolling at this point. But as I am not director the film plays on. We see that Eddie no longer needs NZT. And thus he no longer needs Van Loon. The end credits instead roll after a victorious Eddie passes an un-subtitled joke with a Chinese waiter.

Many people are put off by the thought of trying to edit videos, much less taking on the more complicated features in the programs. But if you keep it simple and just take it step by step, you can have a lot of fun and turn out something reasonably good.

Internet marketing, affiliate sales, and many other ventures can benefit from video content. It works two ways: one is the fact that Google loves video content, and it owns YouTube, so websites with good visual content of this sort typically rank higher. The other is that people often like to see and hear people convey a message through video, they are accustomed to the format.

Once you have a camera, and start taking footage, you’ll be happy to know that Windows Movie Maker is included in all Microsoft operating systems bundles. iMovie is great also, but I don’t know much about that program, but it is what you need if you have a Mac.

One way to solve a lot of video problems in advance is to download the freeware DVD Video Soft. This is a fantastic set of about 40 programs that is completely free, no spyware and no obligations, much less the obnoxious efforts to sign up for other stuff before you get to use the program. And there is no period you can use it before you have to buy it, no “watermarks” that are embedded in the images. Just remember when installing it to decline the toolbar it wants you to allow, and then install it.

The reason you need this set of programs is file conversion, a critical capability if you plan to edit different types of footage from different makes of camera. The 30 gig HDD Sony camera I use creates files that Windows Movie Maker can use immediately, but the my Cisco Flip camera footage needs to be converted. In addition, WMM does not work with the DVD format, that also must be converted. AVI is the gold standard format WMM and many other editing programs prefer to work with.

You hook your camera up to the computer, usually through a USB port, though some older Panasonics go through a 1394 firewire connection, which not all computers have, especially newer ones. If your camera does have the firewire requirement, only buy a computer with that type of jack, or be prepared to buy a box that converts firewire into USB, and more complexities.