Monday, 18 November 2013

Psychological Thrillers - Memento Opening

Although sparce in events that actually occur in the opening scene of Memento, it could tell us a lot about what happens in the actual film. The opening credits start off with ambient background music, suspenseful yet mornful. The credits are over a black screen which allows us to concentrate on the main actors and the music, straight away setting a tone for the film. The next shot is the shown is that of a man holding a polaroid photo, the sort seen usually on Crime scenes. Fitting with the nature of the photo, it shows blood staining the walls and some sort of forensic person in the foreground, expanding on this the next few scenes are that of the man shaking the photo, trying to remove what it shows. This is where the idea of the psychological comes in, it could either be showing that the man who is shaking the photo is trying to forget something that has happened to him, or that he is trying to remove all evidence of the event happening.
Although not entirely related to our opening, being minimalist in the events that occur and having them not actually mean anything without the context of the film, the idea that the opening can set the scene so well using only text, one shot and music gives us the idea that establishing a tone early on i the film is a nessecary occurence in an opening, and also emphasises the importance of music to do this.

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