Memento (Nolan, 2000, US)

Memento (Nolan, 2000, US)

At the start of the opening sequence we are shown the titles which is played along with some music, the titles faded in fast in a pale blue and then turned to a dark blue when fading out. This gave the audience a cold and death like approach towards the next scene. The titles also fade in and out in timing of the music which creates a calming atmosphere effect, but the use of serif font shows the audience the seriousness of the coming scenes.

During the beginning of the opening sequence of Memento, the music playing in the background gave us as an audience a great insight of what the film was going to be about and gave us a idea of what we would expect when the picture arrived on screen. The music playing was very slow paced and dragged out which set the mood for the viewers, a sad and depressed place where a feeling of death is upon us. In our heads the music gives us a thought of death or someone dying due to the slow rhythm, which would later be revealed, when the man gets shot in reverse (the film seemed to be rewound, so we saw the ending instead of the beginning).

This then leads to the scene being non-linear, this scene starts off with the ending and showing us the story in reverse to what actually happened, we notice this in the first long duration shot where the character is looking down at the photo he has just taken and the ink disappearing.

This photo he has just taken gives us a clue of what has just occurred and what is about to be shown, the image fades out very slowly giving the audience enough time to realise what is in the photo, ask questions, guess what has happened and to connect to the character; from the camera angle being an close up, over the shoulder which makes us believe that we are seeing through the characters eyes.

Then we are introduced to the hyperbolic sounds used in the killing scene, the exaggerated sound of the bullet casing rolling across the floor back into his gun. The diegetic sound of this has been increased, this tells us that the place/area they are in is very quiet and has no one around, and this leads the audience in asking even more questions. Where are they?

In memento, they have used a vast range of different shot types and angles just during the opening sequence. These include close ups and extreme close ups which show the audience the importance of the object/action shown, they also show the facial expression of the actors. Low angle shots this emphasis the amount of power/hierarchy the character actually has, The first/main character is shot with the low angle shot to show the power and authority he has over the other man, as well as him being on the floor. High angle shot which is the opposite to the low angle shot, which show the lack of power and authority. Also, the mid shot which just shows the whole character so that you don’t miss anything and you can clearly see what they are doing and what’s going on.

By the end of this opening sequence we/the audience are asking many question like who is he? Where are they? Why did he kill him? What has happened to lead to this? The last question is the main/important one, so that you continue watching the film in order to answer it.