Memento analysis

The very first few seconds of the opening of Memento create multiple enigmas for the audience, it makes us think about questions like; who is he? Why has he killed him? And who has he killed? These answers are slowly unwrapped throughout the film. Time then starts to rewind giving us the insight to what is exactly going on. The Mise en scene helps us to understand what the movie is going to be about, the director uses extreme close up shots of significant items such as the broken glasses, blood, a Polaroid photo and an empty bullet casing. These props all fit into what would be a stereotypical crime/thriller, as well as fulfilling the codes and conventions of a thriller narrative. The Polaroid photo in particular is probably the most noteworthy prop used throughout the opening and across the entire film, during the opening scenes we see him holding a developing photo but it soon turns into nothing; this connotes his illness of memory loss and explains to us as the audience why he is constantly taking photos.

The titles used are of a light blue colour which stand out against the bloody red background, the colour blue is often associated with health, healing, tranquility and  understanding.These ideas of tranquility and understanding  contradict with the protagonist as we see that he is never at peace as he is always confused and unstable with his surroundings and situations.

The cameras angles used intensify the situation throughout the opening, the majority of them being close ups or extreme close ups of significant objects such as the Polaroid picture as mentioned before. But we also see a point of view shot being used whilst the protagonist shoots the antagonist, this shot shows the barrel of the gun pointing down to his head which portrays weakness among him. A very low tilt shot is also used which would have been in perspective of the victim who looks up to the antagonist, this shot shows a sense of dominance among the protagonist.

The non diagetic music used fulfills the conventions of the thriller genre as it sets the atmosphere, the music used is mysterious and theatrical which doesn't give any clues to the viewer about what is going to happen. Strings are used to build up the suspense like most thrillers do, the music starts off quiet and gradually builds up until the gunshot is fired.