Memento (Nolan, 2000, USA)

Sound:

The score at the beginning of the sequence, demonstrated by the soft use of violins creates a gloomy and melancholy atmosphere. As the audience doesn’t have much to look at visually, the sound crafts a sombre and melancholy mood towards them as they expect the rest of the scene to be filled with depression or eve death. This will also make the audience feel sympathy even though they haven’t visually seen anything to signal this. 

The diegetic sound of the camera shutter changes the mood from a sombre to a mysterious atmosphere. This leaves the audience asking the questions: what’s happened, why has the mod changed from sombre and mysterious and what has caused this to happen. 

Editing:

With the use of the scene playing backwards/ rewinding, it demonstrates how the director is immediately challenges the audience and prepares them for how the film will go on. This makes the audience confused at first but after they have realized and seen what has gone on, they will understand why the mood has changed.

Also, at right of the beginning of the sequence, as the man is looking at the picture, the shot goes on for a longer duration, therefore very slow paced. However as the scene moves on and we see different objects, the scene becomes much more fast paced towards the build-up of the climax. This relates to the seriousness of the situation as the fast paced sequence relates to the danger and damage that has taken place. It leaves the audience thinking why and what happened to the man being shot.   

 Cinematography:

Right that the beginning, the extreme close up of the picture demonstrates something bad has happened due to the amount of blood splattered everywhere and leaves the audience not know what has gone on. Furthermore as this it creates a tense atmosphere and makes the audience anxious as they are unaware of what has happened.

  

Conversely, this long shot of the car pulling up to the abandon building creates an intense atmosphere as the audience are left to wonder where this building is, what is its purpose and what’s going to happen when inside. This also may confuse the audience and make them wonder what the build is in relation to the characters and what its purpose is. 

Mise en scene:

In this extreme close up, we see and pair of glasses covered in blood. This reveals that something has happened to the owner of the glasses. The amount of blood plant an idea of death, towards the owner. Also the idea of the glasses can create a sense of vulnerability towards the character as glasses can be a symbolize of weakness and a power imbalance. This makes the audience feel sympathy towards them, and are asking the questions: what happened and why did it happen to him, was it something he did or was it because of who we was.

Moreover, the extreme of the of the Polaroid camera adds an element of mystery to the sequence. It gets the audience thinking about, what is the protagonist doing with the camera, why does he use/need it and what relevance does it have to do with the character. It also covers the characters face, also creating mystery as the audience kept waiting even longer to take their first look at character. This also creates tension ad the director has waited a long time to reveal the protagonist so the audience and link the objects to the character and what situation he is in.