Thursday, March 12, 2015
Opening analysis of Nikita, season 3
By Ling Qi
Nikita season 3
Shot#
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Video (content, camera work, color)
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Audio
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1
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Nikita walks from a high-tech background
in the division, her image is not clear, Michael stands behind; long shot;
dark, blue
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2
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Nikita outside the division in an open
space, in black suite, her side face clear; close shot; grey and white
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3
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A screen of high-tech computer in the division,
with the target person and relevant data on it; dark, blue
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4
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Nikita aims the gun at unknown target;
mid
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5
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The muzzle; close shot
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6
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A woman in pink coat (Alex?) walks front,
with a bunch of men in black suite behind her, in lighted parking lot? Color
turns from colored to grey
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7
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A man (The head of division ) stands in
the division, with the hacker, Birkhoff, sitting behind, and a woman standing
on the left with her back to the screen
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8
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Nikita hiding besides a container, in
fight
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9
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In a dock, the target seen through
optical sight
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10
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Similar to the 1st shot,
Nikita in the division, but the image is relatively clearer
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11
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In the division, the head of division,
Nikita, Michael (Nikita’s partner), the hacker, Birkhoff, walking in the
midst of programmers
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Lyric: like a backbone, I hold my own
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12
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Nikita in fight, with a gun at hand,
hiding, moving in a corridor where there is no one, prepare to fight
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Lyric: like a backbone, I hold my own
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13
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Nikita climbs a rope down to somewhere
underground, maybe the sewer?
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Lyric: like a backbone, I hold my own
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14
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Nikita in fight, hiding, prepare to
fight, in black suite; colors turns from grey to lighted color
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Lyric: like a backbone, I hold my own
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15
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Similar to the 1st shot,
Nikita in the division, she walks closer, colored, lighted,
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16
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Nikita takes off her glass, colored, lighted
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17
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Nikita enters into a white car, in casual
suite
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18
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The car drives away, several ordinary
women watch it as it leaves
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19
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NIKITA, name of the show
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20
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Nikita hiding besides a big container,
similar to #8, but moving this time
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21
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Nikita on the right, the name of the
actress, Maggie Q shows up
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22
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Clearer, Nikita on the right, two headshots
on the left, images are clear
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23
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Nikita moving fast, in fight
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24
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Michael is arrested by someone, actor’s
name shows, vague image on the right
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25
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Michael’s image on the right gets
clearer, with a headshot on the left,
images are clear
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26
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Nikita and Michael kiss in front of a fountain
in a public space in a metropolitan city, with people around
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27
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A man (who?) with a gun, mid shot
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28
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Close shot of the man
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29
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Alex, the quasi-Nikita girl, aims her
handgun at the target, in public space
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30
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Alex takes off her glass, a clear
headshot of her in the up right corner, the #29 in the down left, vague
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31
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Nikita fires a
shot
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32
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The targeted man falls down
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33
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Nikita comes down through roof window of
a car, aiming at someone
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34
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Birkhoff, the hacker
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35
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Birkhoff, with headshots on left and
right, images are clear
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36
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gun shot
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37
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Nikita shuns the bullet
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38
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Nikita running away fast in the midst of
ruined bricks and fence
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39
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Alex fires gun shot in wooden fence
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49
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A man (Sean?) walks in
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50
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Sean, the head of Division, headshot and
actor name
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51
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Michael is brought down by masked enemy
(who?)
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52
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Nikita aims her gun
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53
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Two men fighting, one man seems to be
from the Division since he is in black suite, the other dresses like a terrorist
from a poor area
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54
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Ryan, the former CIA agent, later
becomes the head of the Division, turns around
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55
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Ryan, headshots on left and right, images
are clear
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56
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Nikita moving fast, similar to #23
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57
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Nikita jumps from high wall in a
seemingly deserted building, in fight
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58
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Two men fighting, a man from the Division
and a barbaric man
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59
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Michael fires a gun
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60
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Amanda, the former mentor but now enemy of
Nikita and Alex, a former head of
Division
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61
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Close shot of Amanda, headshot and actress
name shown
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62
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Nikita? is kicked out of buildingc
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63
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Nikita and Alex dress in suite, walking
confidently in Division
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64
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Michael fires his gun
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65
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Alex aims her gun, similar to a previous
shot
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66
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Owen Elliot, a former Division cleaner
and Guardian and Alex's lover, headshot and actor’s name
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67
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Michael aims his gun, in fight with a
group of people
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68
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Nikita aims her gun behind a wall
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69
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A car explodes
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70
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Nikita shuns the explosion
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71
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Nikita aims her gun, with rage
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72
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Explosion
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73
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NIKITA
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Generally
speaking, from the opening credits, it can be easily recognized as an action
drama led by a female protagonist since a large proportion of shots are given
to her. The overall pace of the opening is highly intense – averagely two shots
per second, which speaks to the themes of the show, such as gun fights and
physical battles.
There is a series
of contradictions of signs, though admittedly the line is not that neat
sometimes. For instances, people in suits VS. people in less formal clothes; individual
agents VS. collective enemies; advanced digital technology VS. physical force; and
high-tech space VS. less inhabited/civilized space. In shot #7, which is an
early one, a man in suit stands in the high-tech space where the female
protagonist also belongs to (evidenced in shot #11), and he is positioned in the
middle of the image. This indicates that the man is an important character – he
is the 3rd character who appears immediately after two female
characters in the sequence, and he holds high position on the good side. The
leading female character, often dressed in streamlined outfit, is often shown
cautiously hiding, calculating the best opportunity to fire the gun, and adroitly
moving on her own. In contrast, those unknowable enemies, though not given
substantial shots, are represented as dressed in a nasty, casual style, appear
in groups, and mainly use forcible weapons rather than computer programs. The
general pattern here is, civility, individuality and technology are associated
with the leading characters of the good side, while the opposite, that is, incivility,
collectiveness, and cumbersome physicality, are associated with the characters
of the bad side. Such pattern of sign connections naturalizes the capitalist
order as inherently more civilized and intelligent and underpinned by
individualism, and juxtaposes it to the de-individualized, less civilized
entities who rely mainly on physical power rather than brain/technology.
Space and boundary
politics can also be identified in sign contradictions. The fighting usually
take place in a non-civilized, no-human, non-livable space such as the
underground sewage system (#13), the deserted building (#57), the ruined bricks
(#38), the fence (#38, #39), the dock (#9); while the kiss of the leading
couple takes place in a metropolitan space defined by modernist buildings and lively
people (#26). To execute her tasks – tasks that seem to be, and can be inferred
as of superior morality to those of the enemies’, the female protagonists often
need to intervene into those places that are anything but modernist (the high-tech
base of the organization that she belongs to, the metropolitan city, etc.). The
border separates these two types of space is probably the state. Admittedly, the
sign of the state is not self-obvious, but we can speculate from the above
shots to certain extent. For instance, the dock in shot #9 is a sign of
international trade, and the dock seems to be in China. Also, the non-modernist
signs, such as the fence, the ruined bricks, the deserted corridor, the
underground sewage system, seem to somewhat suggestive of terrorism. Plus, the tasks
that the characters participate in seem to involve rather high interest
conflicts – otherwise they won’t have abundant powerful weapons and a secret high-tech
base. Based on these signs, I suppose that the narrative would involve state
boundary work that juxtaposes the modernist capitalist society and its
opposite. Meanwhile, it is true that sometimes, the battle field is in
modernist metropolitan cities, but there is no sufficient evidences to give
more speculation about it at this point.
The opening
indicates that this series highlights female power. The two leading female
characters are shown before other male characters in sequence. The leading female
character is portrayed as possessing both physical adroitness, weapons, and a
secret high technology team behind her. The first sentence of the music lyric
“like a backbone, I hold my own” accompanies a sequence of shots featuring the
female protagonist in both streamlined fighting suit and casual, more feminized
clothes, thus making a balance between the genres of action drama and women’s
genre. There are significantly more shots showing the females, particularly the
leading character, firing shots than of showing males’ fighting capability. Also,
male power is downplayed. For instance, the leading male character is shown as
being physically controlled by the enemies twice in the opening credit (Shot
#24, #51). In traditional narrative of romance, the male protagonist is
supposed to be the rescuer and the protector of the female protagonist, but
here, such positioning seems to be destabilized. It is interesting that the
powerful female protagonist is not paired with the man possessing superior power
- the man in suit appearing in the center among other leading characters in their
secrete underground base (shot #7). He is the core of the organization, and the
female protagonist is subordinate to him in rank. This suggests that this is a television
series touting female power, destabilizing the “strong men, weak women” notion,
but the highest position still belongs to a man who represents the U.S., middle
or upper class interest.
To sum up, the
semiotic analysis seems to suggest that this is a story about a “daughter” of American
capitalism, who also bears feminist pleasure, fighting against its opposite –
those collective, less civilized entities and ideologies, in the name of
justice.
# posted by Unknown @ 9:19 AM 
