The first shot of the movie introduces the main protagonist, Maximilian Cohen, who wakes up in front of his computer with a nosebleed. Viewers are instantly aware that he is an anxious and eccentric character.
Max begins stating his profession (math theorist) and his rules of life including three major ones: 1.) mathematics is the language of nature 2.) everything around us can be represented and understood as through numbers 3.) if you graph numbers of any systems, patterns emerge. Therefore, there are patterns everywhere in nature.
Because of his vivid perspectives, he holds a hypothesis: the stock market is a living organism constructed by living human beings, therefore there's a pattern within the stock market. Half of the movie deals with his obsession to crack the code.
Lenny, a faithful Jew, introduces Max to Hebrew's hidden number language, and the Torah. If the Torah is translated, it should have a hidden message from God. Max becomes interested.
Max continues his hypothesis of the stock market by coding his computer to crack the code, but his computer crashes and spits out a 216-digit number. Angered and confused, Max throws away the paper in a public trash bin. Upon inspection, he finds ant goo to be the cause of the crash of his computer.
Under inspection of the ant goo using a telescope, Max finds patterns. This proves his theory of patterns being found everywhere in nature, and the 216-digit code is a special code if it was produced from this substance.
Because he threw the code in a public trash bin, capitalists from Wall Street managed to get the number. They wish to recover the stock market, thus asking Max to give the translation. At the same time, Max mentions the translation to Lenny. Max agrees to help the capitalists, in exchange to further prove his theory.
Max gives part of the translated code to the capitalists which causes them to corner him. He is then saved by Lenny and a gang of Jews.
The Jews explain that the 216-digit code translated means the true name of God. If obtained, they are a step closer to the gates of heaven. Max refuses to give the code since his knowledge of the code has caused him to experience schizophrenic episodes. Harassed by the group, Max undergoes an episode which causes the screen to flash white.
Agitated with the pressure of knowing the 216-digit number, Max drills into his skull to erase the number. He gives into his madness.
The last scene shows Max peacefully observing nature without the constant rambling of his hypothesis, meaning he is free of the madness.
The film introduces the main protagonist, Maximilian Cohen, who is seen waking up in front of his computer screen with a nosebleed. A knock on his door alerts him of someone on the other side of the entrance, although before he opens it, he has to unlock four locks emphasizing that he appreciates privacy, but he’s also paranoid. He begins narrating his profession (math theorist) and his three rules of life: 1.) mathematics is the language of nature 2.) everything around us can be represented and understood as through numbers 3.) if you graph numbers of any systems, patterns emerge. Therefore, there are patterns everywhere in nature. Clearly, Max is infatuated with the theory that patterns can be found everywhere, which brings him to his hypothesis: if the stock market is coordinated by living organisms (human beings), then the stock market is a living organism, therefore there should be a pattern found within the stock market.
Max grows obsessed with this hypothesis, but he also learns about Hebrew’s hidden mathematics language through Lenny, a devoted Jew. Supposedly, the Torah (Hebrew bible) contains a message from God, if translated accurately. Max becomes further convinced math is found everywhere causing him to program the pattern of the stock market on his computer. As the computer spits out a number consisting of 216-digit numbers, it crashes causing Max to become angry and confused. He throws the paper away in a public trash bin. Further after this incident, the stock market crashes. Before mentioning the incident, Lenny talks to Max about a 216-digit number but Max does not comment about previously finding it.
Curious, Max inspects his fried computer which was caused by goo from ants. He takes the goo under a microscope and discovers that the ant goo contains patterns. Max rebuilds his computer with the goo and prints the 216-digit number again and mentions it to Lenny. At the same time, capitalists from Wall Street begin chasing Max down because they know about his hypothesis and 216-digit number through the piece of paper Max threw in the garbage can. They ask for his assistance to fix the market in exchange for helping Max further prove his hypothesis with a powerful hard drive for his computer. Max doesn’t successful report back the exact 216-digit number translation which causes him to be cornered by the capitalists. Lenny saves him with a group of Jews, who also need the 216-digit number from Max.
Apparently, the number contains the true name of God, which will help open the gate to heaven. Max refuses to give the Jews the number since he’s the one who witnessed it, and because of the number, he’s been having schizophrenic episodes. The Jews get agitated and force Max to give the number. Max goes into an episode and the screen flashes white. The next scene is Max drilling his head in order to (symbolically) get rid of the information. The last scene shows Max peacefully observing nature without narration hinting that he's past the hypothesis and madness.
The movie Pi deals with the consequences of knowing too much about the truth. Max is a devoted math connoisseur. His interest in determining the pattern of the stock market was not out of profit, but rather the satisfaction of being right. This obsession and devotion turns into a nightmare when he is being hunted by capitalists greedy for money from the stock market, and hunted by Jews greedy for the answers from God. The victim in this case is Max's mentality. Because of the pressure from both parties, we see schizophrenic episodes and the madness of man. The movie is unsettling and a thriller at best. We see close shots of characters, still second shots, and we see running movements. This movie makes viewers anxious, and leaves viewers with the question of whether knowing too much benefits an individual.
I want to add keyboard sound effects or even "computer" sound effects.
The numbers will change rapidly until it individually shows a letter.
I was thinking of having a sort of "highlighting" effect.
I plan to have different colors for the glitching effect so this isn't what I'm envisioning entirely.
The text will also glitch.
This is a transition into the grid I want to use...not sure if I want to keep the image in this video. I should find better ways to transition.
A grid is structured further adding to my theme of structure vs organic.
With the grid distorted, this relates to how the protagonist forces structure to real life problems; however, it's impossible and situations break out.
I want to finish with the golden rectangle because it's one of the important premises of the film. Max finds patterns (spirals) everywhere.
The camera would further zoom to the spiral where the viewer could see the title of the movie.